Nutrient Management In Effluents Derived
From Agricultural Industries:
An Australian Perspective
Author(s)
R. Matheyarasu, B. Seshadri, N. S. Bolan, & R. Naidu
Abstract
The effluents derived from agricultural industries are major sources of
wastewater with significant amounts of nutrients and organic load. Australia’s
agricultural industries have experienced rapid growth in recent years, with nearly
152 abattoirs, 1798 wine industries, 9256 dairy farms and 1835 piggeries in
operation. Agricultural industries require huge volumes of water for processing
the farm products towards commercial value and quality. For instance, around
200 L of water required for processing a cattle in an abattoir; around 2.4-2.5 L
for producing 1 L of wine; 500-800 L for 1 L of milk; and 12-45 L for sow and
litter management in piggeries. As a result, these industries generate huge
volumes of wastewater. For example, Australian meat industries produce an
average of 4000 m³/day wastewater, with high concentration of nitrogen (N) and
phosphorus (P). The annual average N and P loads in some of the farm effluents
are: abattoir – 722 and 722 t; winery – 280 and 280 t; dairy – 150000 and
110000 t; and piggery – 72895 and 5075t. With Australia’s average fertiliser
consumption being 1 Mt N and 0.5 Mt P, the huge amounts of N and P from the
agricultural effluents can be re-used as a potential alternative for fertiliser usage.
Sustainable management of nutrients in the wastewater irrigated soil is a critical
step to prevent contamination of both surface and ground-water. The available
technologies for wastewater treatment require high investment. Hence, using
high biomass-producing plants (e.g., Pennisetum purpureum and Arundo donax)
as remediators, which also has the potential to uptake high amount of nutrients
and heavy metals, can serve as a cost effective technology. Consequently, the
Keywords
agricultural industries, wastewater, nutrients, low-cost technology, sustainable, phytoremediation, biomass and bioenergy
Related Book
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