Lactic Acid Fermentation of Human Excreta for Agricultural Application Nadejda Andreev LACTIC ACID FERMENTATION OF HUMAN EXCRETA FOR AGRICULTURAL APPLICATION Nadejda Andreev Thesis committee Promotor Prof. Dr P.N.L. Lens Professor of Environment Biotechnology UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft Co-promotors Prof. B. Boincean Habil. Dr. of Agricultural Sciences, Research Professor Research Institute of Field Crops “Selectia” Balti, Republic of Moldova Dr M. Ronteltap Senior Lecturer in Sanitary Engineering UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft Other members Prof. Dr G. Zeeman, Wageningen University & Research Prof. Dr W.Verstraete, Ghent University, Belgium Dr Tjaša Griessler Bulc, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia Prof. Dr J.O. Drangert, Link ӧping University, Sweden This research was conducted under the auspices of the SENSE Research School for Socio- Economic and Natural Sciences of the Environment Lactic acid fermentation of human excreta for agricultural application Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Academic Board of Wageningen University and the Academic Board of the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education for the degree of doctor to be defended in public on Friday, 29 September 2017at 1.30 p.m. in Delft, the Netherlands by Nadejda Andreev Born in Nisporeni, Boldure ști, Republic of Moldova CRC Press/Balkema is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017, Nadejda Andreev Although all care is taken to ensure integrity and the quality of this publication and the information herein, no responsibility is assumed by the publishers, the author nor UNESCO - IHE for any damage to the property or persons as a result of operation or use of this publication and/or the information contained herein. A pdf version of this work will be made available as Open Access via http://repository.tudelft.nl/ihe This version is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution -Non Commercial 4.0 International License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by -nc/4.0/ Published by: CRC Press/Balkema Schipholweg 107C, 2316 XC, Leiden, the Netherlands [email protected] www.crcpress.com – www.taylorandfrancis.com ISBN 978-1-138-04989-5 (Taylor & Francis Group) ISBN 978-94-6343-057-9 (Wageningen University) DOI: https://doi.org/10.18174/401835 Dedication This thesis is dedicated to the research community interested in resource oriented sanitation. v vi Aknowledgements I would like to express sincere gratitude to my promotor Prof. Dr. ir. Piet Lens and to my co-promotors Dr. Mariska Ronteltap and Prof. Boris Boincean for scientific support, guidance, encouragement and critical interpretation of the data, who enabled me to earn an open minded research thinking and helped in a systematic way of finding answers to questions. I am also very grateful to prof. Elena Zubcov, Nina Boichenco and Natalia Borodin from the Laboratory of Hydrobiology and Ecotoxicology, Institute of Zoology of Moldova; Dr. Lidia Bulat from the Department of Sustainable Farming Systems of Crop Research Insitute, Selectia, Baltsy, Moldova; Dr. Larisa Cremeneac from the National Insitute of Zootechny and Veterinary Medicine, Moldova as well as Svetlana Prudnichonok and Olga Cote ț from the Laboratory of Sanitary Microbiology, National Centre of Public Health, Moldova for the research advise and support during crucial parts of my field and laboratory research experiments. Many thanks to Christopher Canaday, biologist at the Fundación Omaere (Puyo, Ecuador) for proofreading the thesis and providing valuable comments for its improvement. Special thanks to my relatives Elena, Vladimir, Nadine, Vasile and Ana Vrabie, Semion Varani ță as well as Vera and Boris Suciu who offerred valuable help during the field work. I am also indebted to Sergiu Andreev who provided support in graphical design of the thesis. I am also very thankful to my beloved children, Alina and Sandu for their patience and understanding during my absence for field work or when being abroad. I give all the respect to my departed mother and father, who gave me a lot of encouragement during the start of my research. Nadejda Andreev Delft, 24 March, 2017 vii viii Table of Contents Dedication ........................................................................................................................................ v Aknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... vii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... ix Thesis summary .............................................................................................................................. xi Samenvatting ................................................................................................................................ xiii Chapter 1. General Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 1.1 Research justification ................................................................................................................ 2 1.2 Scope of research ....................................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Thesis outline ............................................................................................................................. 6 Chapter 2. Increasing the agricultural value of human excreta by lactic acid fermentation, composting and biochar addition (literature review) ................................... 9 Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... 10 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 11 2.2 Nutrient and resource challenges in sanitation .................................................................... 14 2.3 Applying excreta and biochar to agriculture ........................................................................ 16 2.4 Challenges in agricultural reuse of excreta ........................................................................... 23 2.4.2 Loss of nutrients, carbon matter and odour issues ..................................................... 25 2.5 Lactic acid fermentation of human excreta .......................................................................... 27 2.6 Post treatment of lacto-fermented human excreta ............................................................... 35 2.7 Agricultural effects of lacto-fermented excreta .................................................................... 40 2.8 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 45 Chapter 3. Treatment of source-separated human faeces via lactic acid fermentation combined with thermophilic and vermi-composting for agricultural application ........... 47 Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... 48 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 49 3.2 Materials and Methods ........................................................................................................... 52 3.3 Results ...................................................................................................................................... 56 3.4 Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 61 3.5 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 65 Chapter 4 The effect of lacto-fermented faeces, biowaste and addition of biochar soaked in urine on soil quality, growth, yield and yield components of Zea mays L. ................... 67 ix Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... 68 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 69 4.2 Methods .................................................................................................................................... 73 4.3 Results ...................................................................................................................................... 84 4.4 Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 101 4.5 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 109 Chapter 5. Lactic acid fermentation of human urine for improving its fertilizing value and reducing odour emissions in urine diverting dry toilets ............................................ 111 Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ 112 5.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................