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Knowledge of the small-scale nutrient status of arable land is an important basis for optimizing fertilizer use in crop production. A mobile field laboratory opens up the possibility of carrying out soil sampling and nutrient analysis directly on the field. In addition to the benefits of fast data availability and the avoidance of soil material transport to the laboratory, it provides a future foundation for advanced application options, e.g. a high sampling density, sampling of small sub-fields or dynamic adaptation of the sampling line during field sampling. An innovative key component is the NUTRI-STAT ISFET sensor module. It measures values for the ions "NO3- ”, “H2PO4- " and "K+ " as well as the pH. The ISFET sensor module was specially developed for soil nutrient analysis. The phosphorus measurement was further developed for the project "soil2data". First results from the ISFET sensor module show a measurement signal settling time of significantly less than 100 seconds and a further consistent stable measurement signal. The measurement signal dynamics of approx. 58 mV per factor 10 of concentration change is given for the measured variables pH and K+. For the measured quantities of NO3- and H2PO4- , the measurement signal dynamics are lower.
Biogas plants produce nutrient rich digestates as side products, which are usually used as local fertilisers. Yet the large amount and regional gradients of biogas plants in Germany necessitate management, conditioning, and transportation of digestates, in order to follow good fertilising procedure and prohibit local over-fertilisation. With a membrane-based treatment chain, i.e. centrifugation, ultrafiltration, and reverse osmosis, digestates can be separated into a solid N,P-fertiliser, a liquid N,K-fertiliser, and dischargeable water. Up to now, the high energy demand of the process chain, in particular the ultrafiltration step, limits the economical market launch of the treatment chain. A reduction of the energy demand is challenging, as digestates exhibit a high fouling potential and ultrafiltration fluxes differ considerably for digestates from different biogas plants. In a systematic screening of 28 digestate samples from agricultural biogas plants and 6 samples from bio-waste biogas plants, ultrafiltration performance could be successfully linked to the rheological properties of the digestate’s liquid phase and to its macromolecular biopolymer concentration. By modification of the fluid characteristics through enzymatic treatment, ultrafiltration performance was considerably increased by factor 2.8 on average, which equals energy savings in the ultrafiltration step of approximately 45%. Consequently, the energy demand of the total treatment chain decreases, which offers potential for further rollout of the membrane-based digestate treatment.