The ESNI Working Groups

As core part of this initiative, the ESNI community set up 4 Working Groups, led by European projects, discussing major challenges with an impact on the nutrient recycling and recovery.

The ESNI Community currently holds 4 working groups.

This working group focuses on revising and discussing innovative technological approaches for recovering nutrients from different side streams. It aims to boost collaboration among different projects by sharing their scientific findings, bottlenecks and limitations identified, solutions and cases of success.

OUTCOMES

Webinar series on monitoring and mitigation of ammonia emissions related to sustainable manure management practices:

• 17/03/2025 | 14h00 to 16h00 CET – Towards harmonised emission monitoring methods.
  Click to watch the recorfing of the webinar (first part)
• 24/03/2025 | 14h00 to 16h00 CET – Best Available Techniques (BATs) for emission controel at farm level: clarifying the status and successful case studies.
  Click to watch the recording of the webinar.

 

• Brochure on stripping and scrubbing webinar
• Brochure on algae systems webinar
• Brochure on membrane-based systems webinar
• Brochure on thermal and hydrothermal conversion webinar
• Brochure on anaerobic digestion and biogas valorisation webinar

Projects in this working group cooperate towards finding common approaches for assessing sustainability aspects of the technologies and recovered nutrients. In this regard, efforts are made to discuss common goals, scopes and methodological choices for developing coherent life cycle inventories.

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

• Webinar on Nutrient impact in the application: emissions modelling of and yields in LCA  (2025 – TBC)
• Experiences of LCA in bio-based and mineral fertiliser industry  (2025 – TBC)

OUTCOMES

• 16/01/2024 – Webinar on ‘Biogenic carbon accounting modelling‘  with presentations given by several experts

This working group aims to gather all the knowledge related to assessing the agronomic performance of fertilising products, including laboratory and field testing. Discussion on methodologies used, analysis done, quality assessment etc., are relevant aspects of its activities.

OUTCOMES:

• 29/05/2024 – Webinar on Quality assessment of bio-based fertilisers with presentation given by Boris Jansen.
• 10/02/2025 – Webinar on tailor made fertilisers (TMFs) at European scale, in which Oscar Schoumans presents the possibilities of the Soil-Crop Nutrition Tool developed within the Fertimanure project.
  Click to watch the recording of the webinar.

This group aims to thoroughly analyse the regulatory framework affecting the practical use, application and commercialisation of potentially recovered products. Identifying regulatory bottlenecks and potential solutions is expected to work on preparing joint position papers of the projects participating in reaching policymakers and regulatory stakeholders.

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

• Implications of the revised EU- UWWTD (urban wastewater treatment directive) – TBC
• Webinar on first outcomes of the study on new CMC materials and processes under the FPR (fertilising product regulation) – TBC

 

OUTCOMES

• 02/07/2024 – Joint Feedback of EU research projects on the Draft amendment of Annex II of the Nitrates Directive
• 08/03/2024 – Joint Feedback of 7 EU funded research projects within the European Sustainable Nutrients Initiative (ESNI) on the Nitrates Directive Evaluation, based on the R&D and policy advise mandate of the subscribing projects.
• 30/10/2023 – Feedback on draft text for COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) …/… of XXX amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards adding processed manure as a component material in EU fertilising products
• 07/06/2022 – Joint Position of European Projects on the need for an unambiguous definition by the European Commission regarding the waste/manure status of ammonium salts derived from off-gas cleaning associated to treatment of manure or manure-derived products