International engineering and project management consultancy Royal HaskoningDHV and Dutch water supply company Vitens are working to help drinking water companies around the world recover humic acid, an organic fertilizer.
Humic acid is often discharged currently as a waste product during the drinking water blanching process from Vitens, which enables it to be reclaimed sustainably in its pure form, providing an organic soil improver.
Royal HaskoningDHV will be marketing this unique Dutch technology, which won the international Aquatech Innovation Award 2013, on a global scale.
From waste product to soil improver
The drinking water production company Spannenburg, in the Dutch province of Friesland, provided the platform for Vitens to apply its innovative combination of unique technologies – ion exchange and various existing membrane technologies – to blanch drinking water.
This process creates a residual stream of water and salt as well as humic acid, a highly valuable organic substance from peaty soil that gives water a yellowish hue.
Water and salt are completely reused during the production process while the humic acid, once regarded as a waste product, can now be utilized as a soil improver in the agricultural sector.
“Thanks to the sustainable usage of humic acid, we are able to reduce the use of artificial fertilizer and phosphates in agriculture and horticulture,” says Lieve Declercq, chair of the Vitens Executive Board.
“This will improve the ground water used to produce drinking water, and the growth of crops, as well as being better for the environment. ”
International opportunities
“Royal HaskoningDHV has identified a market potential for this sustainable chain technology. Take Spannenburg for example. An average of 25 million cubic meters of water is pumped up here every year, incorporating enough humic acid to serve all of Dutch agriculture and more,” says Esther Bosman, the company’s director Water Technology.
“And we have identified opportunities in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, and Scandinavia as well. There is also a financial advantage as a residual substance costing money is being replaced by a valuable product.”
Humic acid occurs in coal and lignite as well peat, and Europe currently usually uses a chemical process on lignite imported from the US and Australia to extract the acid.
This process has an adverse effect on the environment, and is also expensive because of transport costs.
The new technology will help drinking water companies recover humic acid from their own water, while also reclaiming a sustainable and local product – easily and without any chemical effect on the environment.
Besides, humic acid can be used as a soil improver and may also contribute to healthier livestock farming, due to a more efficient use of fodder and the reduction of antibiotics.
For example, studies have demonstrated that piglets will remain healthier and their growth improved when humic acid is added to their fodder.
