Impact of sewage sludge impoundment and co compost amendment on soil nutrient enhancement

Abstract

Recycling waste organic materials for nutrient and energy recovery newlinehas received a lot of attention in the last few years, across all areas of newlinedevelopment. This is particularly applicable to the sewage treatment plants newline(STP) which are struggling to treat the receiving quantity of water effectively. newlineIn addition to this, the safe disposal of partially treated/untreated excess newlinesludge has become another challenge due to the existing constraints on direct newlineland applications. It is observed that the soils in the vicinity of communitylevel newlineSTPs are often susceptible to receive a significant quantity of newlinewastewater, capable of causing a radical shift in the structure and nutrient newlinedynamics. New developments in the management of faecal sludge highlight newlinethe need for enhanced co-composting facilities with municipal waste that newlinecontains spatially and temporally diverse constituents under changing newlineenvironmental conditions. Co-composting is gaining popularity as a costeffective newlineway to transform organic waste into nutrient-rich manure. However, newlinethe efficacy of their direct field application can be impeded by environmental newlinelosses and chemical instability of the nutrients resulting in unprecedented newlinenutrient loss and contamination. Nonetheless, co-composting provides a newlinesustainable soil modification system that synergistically safeguards the newlinebiochemical ecology of soil and crop with increased productivity. When newlineamended with stable carbon materials such as biochar, they attribute newlinesubstantial benefits for crop development, soil nutrient retention, carbon newlinesequestration, and environmental preservation. This combination of two newlinecarbon-based entities with high surface activity and abundant nutrients seems newlineto improve soil characteristics and crop productivity when used in agricultural newlineareas together or individually. newline newline