Sustainable Fertilisation

After a little more than five and a half years, the Horizon 2020/CBE-JU project SUSFERT came to conclusion in December 2023.The project successfully developed novel bio-based fertilisers that aim to integrate fertiliser components and products into existing production processes and EU agricultural practices. In selected field trials over several years, SUSFERT demonstrated the effectiveness of its novel prototype components combining biodegradable coatings, probiotics and struvite as a replacement for phosphorus and iron supply, as well as lignosulfonate-based nutrigels, evaluated the economic potential and sustainability of the tested products, ensured compliance with legal regulations and finally evaluating the potential for market entry.

BOKUs Biomaterials and Enzyme Technology Groups Georg Gübitz and Renate Weiß developed not only the biodegradable controlled release coating for the novel fertilizers to ensure a more controlled phosphorus release but also a biodegradable, bioactive soil improver. Both technologies were extensively tested in field trials which were performed in cooperation with BOKUs Institute of Biotechnology in Plant Production Hermann Bürstmayr and Sebastian Michel. The findings of the project were published in high impact journals Green Chemistry, “A biobased, bioactive, low CO2 impact coating for soil improvers” and ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, “Physicochemical Insights into Enzymatic Polymerization of Lignosulfonates”.

 To get a look behind the scenes of the SUSFERT project visit http://www.susfert.eu or watch the SUSFERT video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5l4SExGMm4