Enhancing Soil health and Nutrient Circularity in Europe: Hints from the Algaebrew Project

Reliance on synthetic fertilizers for crop production harms soil health, humans, and the environment. The AlgaeBrew project aims to promote sustainable animal feed and fertilizer production and a circular bioeconomy by effectively managing nutrient-rich wastewater and spent grains from brewing industries for nutrient recycling and zero-waste generation. We successfully formulated a novel fertilizer with an optimized C/N ratio by using lipid-extracted microalgal biomass residues belonging to Nannochloropsis spp. The future step for the completion of this project is plant germination tests and ecotoxicological tests, which will be conducted to assess the potential toxicity of novel fertilizer, whereas plant pot experiments will be performed by using Lactuca sativa to assess the impact on crops and soil health. The final aim is to reduce dependence on synthetic fertilizers while promoting cost-effectiveness and sustainability in the long term.