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Human urine as an efficient fertilizer product in agriculture

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 Agronomy Research 15(2), 490–500, 2017

Human urine as an efficient fertilizer product in agriculture

J. Nagy1* and A. Zseni2
1
Széchenyi István University, Faculty of Mechanical, Informatics and Electrical
Engineering, Department of Applied Mechanics, Egyetem tér 1. HU9026 Győr, Hungary
2
Széchenyi István University, Audi Hungaria Faculty of Automotive Engineering,
Department of Environmental Engineering, Egyetem tér 1. HU9026 Győr, Hungary
*
Correspondence: [email protected]

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.

Key words: human urine, human excreta, agriculture, wastewater treatment, dry toilets, urine-
diversion dry toilets, sustainable development.

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays one of the most important topic in environmental protection is

sustainable development and environment, and part of that are the problems of
wastewater treatment and the inappropriate treatment of human excreta.
Distribution of pollution load of urban wastewater shows that 99% of bacteria
originates from faeces; 11% of N-content originates from faeces, 87% from urine and
2% from greywater (GW); 40% of P-content originates from faeces, 50% from urine,
10% from GW; 47% of organic matter content originates from faeces, 12% from urine,
41% from GW (Toilettes du Monde, 2009). So 99% of bacteria, 98% of N-content, 90%
of P-content and the total amount of drug residues and hormones are in the human
excreta, which is less than 2% of the total wastewater volume. We dilute these 2% human
excreta to 15–20% black water because of flush toilets, and after this, the 15–20%
blackwater is mixed with 80–85% of greywater (exact proportion of greywater and
blackwater depend on the types of toilet tanks and household water consumption habits).
Because of these dilutions, the total amount of wastewater needs to be treated by
the well-known treatment technologies. Greywater would not require this degree of
purification. Qualitative characterization (total solids, biochemical oxygen demand,

490
dissolved organic carbon, nitrate, phosphate, potassium, calcium, sodium,
microelements etc.) of household-generated GW streams (collected from bathing,
laundry and cooking) of Hungary showed high variability for the analysed parameters
(Bodnar et al., 2014), but have much more lower content than blackwater has.
Nevertheless, black water and greywater are together in the sewer systems and in
wastewater treatment plants.
We got into a vicious circle discharging human excreta to freshwater: waste water
treatment converts human excreta to water pollutant, while we replace missing nutrients
to soils artificially, which leads to the exploitation of soils in the long run.
Annual amount of urine and faeces of one person consists equal amount of nutrients
than what is needed to grow grain for one person’s annual food requirements (Malkki,
1995).
The solution should base on the separation of waste water at the source. Greywater
contains soap, washing liquids etc., while blackwater contains human excreta. Using
traditional wastewater collection and treatment methods, these two wastewater types are
mixed. The key of sustainable water management is that we have to separate the handling
of grey water to human excreta. To reach this goal, a wide variety of dry toilets or even
urine-diversion dry toilets can be used, latter in the case if we would like to separate also
human urine and faeces.
We presented segments of these problems and possible solutions in our previous
works (Zseni, 2014; Nagy & Zseni, 2015; Zseni, 2015a; 2015b; Zseni & Nagy, 2015a;
Nagy & Zseni, 2016; Zseni & Nagy, 2016a; 2016c). In this paper we would like to focus
on urine, as an efficient fertilizer product in agriculture.
With the application of dry toilets, human faeces and urine do not get to the sewer
system, so they can be used as a natural fertilizer. According to the newest research and
experiments in Sweden and Finland, the most suitable method to substitute the artificial
fertilizer is the usage of human urine in agriculture. Human urine as a crop fertilizer is
studied for the first time in Finland on a large scale. As a natural circle, human nutrient
circle was previously a closed system and the nutrients of excreta were utilized in
cultivation. We just have to return back to ancient times, and recover the human nutrient
circle (Huuhtanen & Laukkanen, 2009).
We would like to draw attention how much valuable material is lost if we regard
human excreta as a waste. We make comparison between traditional wastewater
treatment and separated handling of greywater and human excreta. Our aim is to confirm
the necessity of utilization of human excreta and especially urine in the agriculture.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

To know, how much valuable material is lost when we regard human excreta as a
waste, we have to know its nutrient content. There are several data concerning with
quantity and composition of excreta. Therefore we collected, methodized and reviewed
the data in literature (Tanguay, 1990; Malkii, 1995; Schouw et al., 2002; Jöhnsson et al.,
2005; Vinnerås et al., 2006; Niwagaba, 2009). In this paper we present only the data of
urine’s macro and microelement content and we use the Scandinavian data representing
the eating habits of developed world and literature which gives extremes according to
the different eating habits. For better comparison of data we have calculated all of them
in the same unit (g person-1 year-1 and mg person-1 year-1), in the form of elemental C, N,

491
P, K, S, Ca, Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, Pb, Cd and Hg. Based on the calculations we have estimated
the material content of urine of the 10 million Hungarian people.
To confirm our previous opinion about the necessity of agricultural utilization of
urine instead of being treated in waste water treatment plants, we have collected and
compared the most important advantages and disadvantages of traditional wastewater
treatment, separated handling of greywater and human excreta and human urine’s
utilization in agriculture.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Our conviction is that it would be more reasonable to use human excreta for
agricultural purposes not only because of the harmful effects of inappropriate waste
water treatment on freshwater bodies, but also because the basic materials of the artificial
fertilizer will be exhausted in the future. It is not a new idea to use human excreta for
agricultural purposes, rather it was – some place now still is – the part of everyday life.
The method of utilization basically can be two types: faeces and urine are collected and
used together, or they are separated. The requirement of proper use is to separate the
collected excreta from the water supply network. Many solutions exist, prevalent or
spread for reaching this goal, for instance traditional latrines, modern dry toilets or
separating toilets.

Human urine as a nutrient source

Amount, appearance, physical and chemical features of human excreta heavily
depend on human health, the quality and quantity of food and fluid consumed, the sweat,
even climate. Faeces encompass water, indigestible materials passing through the
intestinal track (e.g. fibres), gland secretion (e.g. gall), as well as pathogenic viruses,
bacteria, helminth eggs. Urine mostly contains water and also plant nutrients in water-
soluble form.
As this paper focuses on urine, only the results which are concerned in urine are
presented here. Data about faeces can be found in our previous works (Zseni & Nagy,
2015b; Zseni & Nagy, 2016b; Zseni & Nagy, 2016d).
The amount of urine is about 1–1.3 l person-1 day-1, whose moisture content is
93–96%, dry matter content is 50–70 g person-1 day-1 depending on meal habits
(Feachem et al., 1983; Tanguay, 1990). Other literature data on the amount of urine (total
liquid) present 1,500 g person-1 day-1 (Vinnerås et al., 2006), 610–1,090 g person-1 day-1
in Switzerland (Jönsson et al., 1999), 600–1,200 ml person-1 day-1 in Thailand (Schouw
et al., 2002). There are 15–19% nitrogen (N), 2.5–5% phosphorous (P2O5), 3.0–4.5%
potassium (K2O), 11–17% carbon (C), 4.5–6% calcium (Ca) in the dry matter content of
urine, depending on meal habits (Tanguay, 1990). According to Swedish data, urine
contains 3,700–3,830 g person-1 year-1 N, 250–340 g person-1 year-1 P, 820–
1,190 g person-1 year-1 K (Vinnerås et al., 2006). Jönsson et al. (2005) had processed
several literature data and recommended 11 g person-1 day-1 N, 0.9 g person-1 day-1 P,
2.4 g person-1 day-1 K in urine of Swedish people. According to Malkki (1995), the
amount of urine is 500 l person-1 year-1 and it contains 5.6 kg person-1 nitrogen,
0.4 kg person-1 phosphorus and 1.0 kg person-1 potassium annually.

492
 For the comparability of the above presented data we have calculated and converted
them into the unit of g person-1 year-1, for elemental carbon (C), nitrogen (N),
phosphorous (P), potassium (K), sulphur (S) and calcium (Ca). Urine contains
microelements such as heavy metals, too, but the quantity of them is negligible (Jönsson
et al., 2005; Vinnerås et al., 2006; WHO, 2006). Pharmaceuticals are also present in
urine, but at extremely low levels (Rich Earth Institute, 2016). In Tables 1, 2 our
calculations are summarised.

Table 1. Calculated average macro element content of urine (g person-1 year-1)

Based on Based on Based on Based on
Urine
Tanguay (1990) Jönsson et al. (2005) Vinnerås et al. (2006) Malkki (1995)
C 2,008–4,344 no data no data no data
N 2,738–4,855 4,015 3,687–3,833 5,600
P 201–559 329 248–339 400
K 453–953 876 821–1,190 1,000
S no data 256 no data no data
Ca 588–1,095 no data no data no data

Table 2. Calculated average microelement content of urine (mg person-1 year-1)

Based on Based on
Urine
Jönsson et al. (2005) Vinnerås et al. (2006)
Zn 110 14.6
Cu 36.5 36.5
Ni 4.02 3.65
Cr 3.65 3.65
Pb 4.38 0.73
Cd 0.18 0.37
Hg 0.30 0.37

As there is no measured and published Hungarian data for the exact nutrient content
of excreta of Hungarian people, we used our calculated data based on Tanguay (1990).
According to our conviction the extremes express better the various eating habits of
people. The maximum value is characteristic for a meat eater who eats a lot, while the
minimum value indicates the nutrient content of excreta of a little eater, vegetarian
people. Population of Hungary is almost 10 million people. It means, that urine of
Hungarian people contains about 20–43 thousand tons of carbon (C), 27–49 thousand
tons of nitrogen (N), 2–5.6 thousand tons of phosphorous (P), 4.5–9.5 thousand tons of
potassium (K) and 6–10 thousand tons of Ca in a year. For comparison, the active
ingredient content of fertilizers sold in Hungary in a year is: 358 thousand tons of N, 81
thousand tons of P and 80 thousand tons of K (Central Statistical Office, 2016). In the
case of microelements, according to data in Table 2, urine of 10 million people contains
about 150–1,100 kg Zn, 365 kg Cu, 36–40 kg Ni, 36 kg Cr, 7–44 kg Pb, 2–4 kg Cd and
3–3.7 kg Hg in a year.

Utilization of human urine in agriculture

As urine contains the greater part of excreted nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium,
and its handling seems to be easier than faeces, researches on practical treatment and
utilization of excreta pay attention mainly to urine. There are substantial amount of

493
literature dealing with treatment and utilization of urine for agricultural purposes
(Jöhnsson et al., 2004; Maurer et al., 2006; Niwagaba, 2009; Pradhan et al., 2010; Richert
et al., 2010; Wohlsager et al., 2010; Semalulu et al., 2011; Anderson, 2015).
Because of many factors, separate collection of urine is favourable according to
some literature. Separation of urine from the solid excrement makes handling of
excrement easier and reduces the load derived from excreta by e.g. reducing the volume
of excreta, reducing the odour problems and decreasing the runoffs of pathogens and
nutrients (e.g. nitrates) to soil, ground water and surface waters (Malkki, 1995; Höglund,
2001; Schönning & Stenström, 2004).
Solid excrement is easier to treat if it is dry and pathogens can die faster than in the
wet mixture of urine and faeces. Urine can be considered as almost perfect nutrient
solution: nitrogen is mainly in the form of urea, phosphorous as superphosphate and
potassium in ionic form what is useful for plants. In addition urine contains
micronutrients in a well-balanced way. Using separate collection, nutritional value of
urine is directly recovered. If urine is not separated, its nutritional value is partly lost due
to runoffs and evaporation and furthermore the nutrients can end up in water bodies
(Malkki, 1995; Höglund, 2001; Schönning & Stenström, 2004).
Urine can be utilised either undiluted or diluted, depending on the target. Although,
diluted form is more favourable because it has more advantages (Huuhtanen &
Laukkanen, 2009).
Urine contains most of the excreta’s nutrients and is normally bacteria less. If
microorganisms are found in urine, they usually die rather quickly and do not pose any
threat to further utilisation of urine as soil fertilizer. Usually the problem is not urine
itself but solid excrement that has accidentally mixed with urine (Malkki, 1995;
Schönning & Stenström, 2004; Vinnerås et al., 2008; Chandran et al., 2009).
However, there are some problems with the application of urine as well. To
eradicate possible pathogens from urine it needs to be stored in closed containers before
utilization. If urine is used in household’s own purposes e.g. in garden or is added to the
compost, it can be used already after a couple of days of storage. If urine is not utilized
in own household, the storage should be at least one month when used for food and
fodder plants that are not consumed untreated and even six months when used for all
plants. Because after six months storage the rotavirus infection and viral infection will
be reduced. Also, a total inactivation of Ascaris (parasitic worm) was recorded within
six months. While storing urine, special attention needs to be paid on the tightness of the
containers, because the nitrogen in urine is volatile and due to evaporation valuable
nutrients are lost (Höglund, 2001; Schönning & Stenström, 2004).
Therefore storage is an important factor when we are using human urine. Another
problem is the large volume of urine. An adult usually produces even 500–570 litres of
urine annually. This large volume makes it difficult to store and transport to farms where
it can be used, particularly if urine is collected in cities far from agricultural areas. A
variety of strategies (distillation, evaporation, freeze/thaw and reverse osmosis) have
been tried for removing water from urine and reducing its volume to create a
concentrated product. The most energy efficient is reverse osmosis, some newest
ongoing research focuses on new techniques to increase the effectiveness of reverse
osmosis (Rich Earth Institute, 2016).

494
 Another problem is, that if we focus only on the utilization of urine, than the
environmental problem is not totally solved, as faeces has high organic and nutrient
content as well, and it is also a very good fertilizer after composting. In our opinion,
either we separate faeces to urine, or we collect and treat them together, the main goal
has to be the agricultural utilization of both. We have to seek after the best solution,
which can differ in different situations (e.g. urban or rural areas, arid or wet climate).

Comparison of different waste water treatment methods

We have collected the advantages and disadvantages of the traditional wastewater
treatment and the advantages and disadvantages of separate handling of grey water and
human excreta. Our summarised opinion can be found in Tables 3, 4.

Table 3. Advantages and disadvantages of traditional wastewater treatment when greywater and
blackwater are treated together
Advantages Disadvantages
An existing, established system Expensive to build, operate and maintain
We have a lot of knowledge and information Great energy demand, which may create great
about the system co2 emission
Old, well known waste water treatment Water consumption for flushing the toilet
methods / technologies
Sewage sludge can be utilised Soil pollution
Existing technological devices (decantation Underground water pollution
machines, filters, chemicals), specialists
People are comfortable with using the flush Carbon content of excreta as co2 gets released
toilets to the atmosphere to some degree according to
the wastewater and sewage sludge treatment
methods used
Freshwater pollution, which may cause
eutrophication
Changes in natural water cycle
Household-generated greywater must be
treated like blackwater, unnecessarily
Hormones and medicines are not degraded
during wastewater treatment processes
Non sustainable use of natural resources
(water, human excreta)
The nutrient and organic matter content of
human excreta is wasted
There is no way of humus forming from the
organic matter content of the human excreta
Natural cycles are upset
Use of artificial fertilizer is needed to enhance
soil productivity and this generates negative
impacts on the environment and demands
energy and mineral resources
The future food production is threatened
* In developed countries the electrical consumption of the waste water treatment plant is about 20% of the
communal electrical consumption, if we are not calculate the waste water treatment plant’s own electrical
production (Christ & Mistsdoerffer, 2008).

495
Table 4. Advantages and disadvantages of separate treatment of greywater and human excreta
Advantages Disadvantages
Wastewater treatment becomes more simple The idea is hard to implement in urban areas
if we just treat the greywater itself
Less energy demand, less CO2 emission It takes more time to take care about the system
Water consumption decreases We have to be more educated to know why and
how we have to use the system
Soil pollution, water pollution and
eutrophication decrease significantly
Amount of waste water sludge decreases
significantly
There is a possibility of humus forming from
the organic matter content of the human
excreta
Nutrients in human excreta is not wasted as
natural fertilizer can be made of human
excreta
Nutrient content of human excreta goes back
to the natural biological cycles
Low costs of maintaining and operation
Use of artificial fertilizer may decreases, so
its unfavourable environmental effects and
use of energy and mineral resources also
decrease
Food production becomes more sustainable
High variety of techniques, adaptable for
different conditions (types of dry toilets,
composting methods etc.)

Separate treatment of grey water and human excreta has a lot more advantages, than
disadvantages. Technical solution for utilization of excreta can be the composting of
human excreta after collection. It offers appropriate and suitable technology to take back
our excreta into the natural cycles and the well-known environmental problems caused
by flush toilet based infrastructure can be reduced or even eliminated (PereiraNeto et al.,
1987; Schönning & Stenström, 2004; Bracken et al., 2007; Wichuk & McCartney, 2007;
Niwagaba, 2009; Országh 2014; Cameron et al., 2015; Polprasert, 2016).
Another question is that faeces and urine has to be used together or just human
urine itself as a fertilizer in the agriculture. In Table 5 the advantages and disadvantages
of separate using of urine is presented.

496
Table 5. Advantages and disadvantages of separate utilization of human urine
Advantages Disadvantages
In fresh excrement many kind of bacteria, While storing urine, special attention needs to
viruses and worm eggs may be found*, but be paid on the tightness of the containers
urine is normally bacteria less because the nitrogen in urine is volatile and
due to evaporation valuable nutrients are lost
Reducing the odour problems Treatment and utilization of separately
collected faeces has to be solved, too
Nitrogen is mainly in the form of urea
Phosphorous as superphosphate and potassium
in ionic form in urine what is useful for plants
* One gram of fresh excreta contains ca 100 million bacteria where among the most common are Escheria
coli and faecal streptococci (Streptococcus faecalis etc.), Shigella-, Salmonella-, Clostridium- and Campylo-
species and especially in the developing countries Vibrio cholera (causes cholera). In addition e.g. protozoa
and helminths can spread through excreta (Malkki, 1995; Schönning & Stenström, 2004).

CONCLUSIONS

Operation and maintain of flush toilet based water infrastructure has high
environmental load. However, the remediation of harmful environmental effects is still
concentrated to water pollution. During waste water treatment the valuable organic
components of the human excreta are transformed into water loading inorganic N and P
compounds. The improvement of end of pipe – waste water treatment – technologies is
believed for perfect solution in solving this problem. However, this loading is not the
most harmful environmental effect of flush toilets. The greatest environmental harm of
flush toilets is the withdrawal of the very valuable organic matter and nutrient content
of human excreta from the cycle of biosphere.
More widespread agricultural utilization of human excreta is needed in any case in
the future, regarding the annually loss of soil mass and soil fertility on the Earth, and the
cost, material and energy demand of fertilizer production and utilization. In this paper
we have presented the human urine as a possible and usable natural fertilizer in
agriculture.
To sum up, we can say that we have to change our traditional wastewater collection
and treatment methods, have to demonstrate the problems and solutions and have to
introduce these problems and solutions to as many people as we can. The main goal
should be to have an effect on people thinking, so they could realize how important is to
make changes in our own life, to make our environment more liveable and to build a
sustainable environment. Separately collected grey water and excreta has a lot of
favourable advantages, for example: soil and water pollution may reduce, the nutrients
in human excreta would not be wasted, natural fertilizer could be made of human urine,
and wastewater treatment methods would be simpler if only grey water has to be treated.
Using of human urine in the agriculture has a lot of advantages but for the spreading use
of urine as fertilizer in the future, it would be important to find the best and cost effective
method how to concentrate the different nutrients in urine and how to reduce the volume
of urine.

497
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