This project is a direct response to the food shortages being experienced in many communities. The self-provision of a familiar form of fertiliser from human urine provides an opportunity for households and communities to grow nutritious produce and over a period of time have an income stream resulting in a route out of hunger and poverty.
Fresh human urine contains the majority of the nutrients which were ingested. These nutrients originated from the foods consumed. In principle they could be reused in a circular process to provide a sustainable food system. The practical difficulties relate to the ‘yuck’ factor, the concentration of the nutrients in the urine, loss of volatile ammonia, the presence of pharmaceuticals and hormones and pathogen and antibiotic resistance concerns. Fresh urine contains urea which is chemically stable but is readily decomposed to ammonia by the ubiquitous presence of urease enzymes. Ammonia which is volatile at high pH values is then lost from the system. Pioneering work by Jenna Senecal at the Swedish Agricultural University (SLU) has shown that fresh urine captured in a bed of hydrated calcium oxide (lime) inhibits the action of the urease enzyme and allows the evaporation of the water. The resulting dry material (urinated lime) has a mineral nutrient content (on a mass basis) equivalent to commercial fertilizers. The high pH value of the lime deactivates pathogens. Urine can be directly captured informally, from urinals and urine separating pedestals (which are the focus of other WRC research projects). The analysis of the pharmaceuticals in the urine and the products along the whole value chain is the aim of a project submitted by Fick (Umeå University) to the Swedish Research Council (Formas) and supported by the Toilet Board Coalition. Thus potentially this source of fertilizer is readily available. Being a dry solid it is stable and can be stored and transported similarly to conventional granulated fertilizers.

This project aims to investigate:
1. Provide a proof-of-concept for directly capturing and treating urine with an alkaline substance, through literature review and small scale laboratory and growing trials.
2. Develop a hypothesized business model for up-scaling, based on the current literature.
3. Identity challenges and gaps for further work.