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Plenary 02: Using Biotechnology to Make Phosphate Fertilizer More Sustainable by Bruce E.Rittmann

480 views · Published 17 May 2017 · 30:55 · Indexed 29 October 2026

Channel: OCP Group · 2017 · Education

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Speaker's biography:

Regents’ Professor of Environmental Engineering and Director of the Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology at Arizona State University, USA.
His research focuses on the science and engineering needed to “manage microbial communities to provide services to society.” Services include generating renewable energy, cleaning water and soil, and improving human health.
Dr. Rittmann is a member of the National Academy of Engineering; a Fellow of AAAS, WEF, IWA, and NAI; and a Distinguished Member of ASCE.
Dr. Rittmann was awarded the first Clarke Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Water Science and Technology from the NWRI, the Walter Huber Research Prize and the Simon Freese Award from ASCE, the G.M. Fair Award from AAEES, and the Perry L. McCarty/AEESP Founders Award.
Dr. Rittmann has published over 610 journal articles, books, and book chapters, and he has 16 patents. With Dr. Perry McCarty, Dr. Rittmann co-authored the textbook
Environmental Biotechnology: Principles and Applications (McGraw-Hill Book Co.).
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Abstract:

Sustainable phosphorus (P) means optimizing P use so that abundant, nutritious food coexists with healthy aquatic ecosystems. The concept of sustainable P has been gaining
traction in recent years, and Arizona State University is leading the Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance (SPA) to bring together industry, academic, and government actors who wish to work together to promote sustainable P. Only a small fraction of mined P ends up in human food; most of it is lost to run-off from fields and to animal wastes.
While animal operations can reap strong economic benefits from P recovery in concert with energy recovery, capturing lost P from run-off is technologically and economically
difficult. Therefore, producing phosphate fertilizer that is more available to plants and less likely to be lost as run-off is the best way toward more sustainable P.
This talk will describe two promising approaches based on microbial biotechnology. Both rely on preventing the precipitation of phosphate into mineral forms that are poorly
available to plants.
The first takes advantage of the ability of microalgae to rapidly adsorb large amounts of phosphate, which is then readily available for plant use. The second involves fortifying the fertilizer with nitrifying bacteria, whose metabolism naturally produces acids that lower pH and minimize precipitation of mineral solids.
In both cases, making the P more available lowers the application rate and the risk of P loss to run-off.

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