First results from SYSTEMIC field work on recovered bio-based products

The first results from the SYSTEMIC field and laboratory work to assess the agricultural and environmental performance of recovered bio-based fertilisers, including nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) incubations and GHG emissions experiments, have come through.

This has so far included the testing of various products as substitutes of synthetic N fertilisers in maize field trials at three of the SYSTEMIC demonstration plants and one of the outreach locations, namely:

  • Raw digestate and ammonium sulphate: at Acqua & Sole demo plant in Italy;
  • Liquid and solid fraction of digestate: at Bojana outreach plant in Croatia;
  • Nitrogen and carbon incubation experiments on solid fractions: at AM-Power, Belgium and Groot Zevert, the Netherlands, demo plants.

Results from these experiments indicate that about half of the initial C in the solid fractions was left in the soil after 81 days of incubations, while N mineralisation was slow but steady.

The final results from the field work will be monitored throughout the project and made publicly available at its end in 2021.