Tag Archives: sustainable development

1451-1463 G.S.D. Berna, C.R. Pereira, E. de Oliveira and C.M. Hüther
Comparative approach for assessing the soil quality in an urban conservation unit
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Comparative approach for assessing the soil quality in an urban conservation unit

G.S.D. Berna, C.R. Pereira, E. de Oliveira* and C.M. Hüther

Universitdade Federal Fluminense, Programa de Pós-graduação em Engenharia de Biossistemas, Rua Passo da Pátria 156 sala 236, 24.210-240 Niterói, Brasil
*Correspondence: eltonoliveira@id.uff.br

Abstract:

This study aimed to verify the quality of the soil according to different stages of forest regeneration. Urban conservation units can be of great importance in land management and in the sustainable development process of cities. Monitoring soil quality in these spaces can help to define strategies in the forest recovery process. A management performance evaluation method and consequent soil quality was applied, using data envelopment analysis (DEA). Soil was collected in the three stages of forest regeneration observed, land with established forests, reforested land, and open land, at three different depths. In the set of 54 analyzed observations, soils with low levels of fertility were verified. However, an area with reforested land showed the best performance in maximizing the selected variables and consequently better soil quality scores. The open lands showed the lowest performance in soil conservation. In this way, the revealed performance scores accompanied the Sum of Exchangeable Bases and Organic Matter values. This quality score can help to define soil management strategies, which may be applicable to a wider audience and wider contexts in environmental management.

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490–500 J. Nagy and A. Zseni
Human urine as an efficient fertilizer product in agriculture
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Human urine as an efficient fertilizer product in agriculture

J. Nagy¹* and A. Zseni²

¹Széchenyi István University, Faculty of Mechanical, Informatics and Electrical Engineering, Department of Applied Mechanics, Egyetem tér 1. HU9026 Győr, Hungary
²Széchenyi István University, Audi Hungaria Faculty of Automotive Engineering, Department of Environmental Engineering, Egyetem tér 1. HU9026 Győr, Hungary
*Correspondence: nagyju@sze.hu

Abstract:

Flush toilet based water infrastructure, which handles blackwater and greywater together, causes a lot of environmental problems. Among these, the loss of valuable organic material and nutrient content of human excreta (faeces and urine) is not sufficiently emphasized yet. Utilization of human excreta for agricultural purposes is based on the separate collection of greywater and human excreta. As urine contains most of the nutrients of human excreta, researches focus mainly on urine’s treatment and utilization for agricultural purposes. We reviewed the data in literature about the nutrient content of human excreta. In this paper we present the content of macro and microelements of human urine to show its potential value as a fertilizer. To confirm the necessity of urine’s utilization in agriculture instead of treated it by traditional waste water treatment methods, we have collected and compared the most important advantages and disadvantages of traditional wastewater treatment, separated handling of greywater and excreta as well as human urine’s agricultural utilization.

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