Corrado Sara, Caldeira Carla, Carmona-Garcia Gema, Körner Ina, Leip Adrian, Sala Serenella
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Via E. Fermi, 2749, 21027, Ispra, VA, Italy.
Hamburg University of Technology, Institute of Wastewater Management and Water Protection, Bioresource Management Group, Eißendorfer Straße 42 (M), 21073, Hamburg, Germany.
Glob Food Sec. 2020 Jun;25:100368. doi: 10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100368.
Ensuring global food security is one of the challenges of our society. Nitrogen availability is key for food production, while contributing to different environmental impacts. This paper aims firstly to assess nitrogen flows and to highlight hotspots of inefficient use of nitrogen along the European food chain, excluding primary production. Secondly, it aims to analyse the potential for reducing the identified inefficiencies and increase nitrogen circularity. A baseline and three scenarios-reflecting waste targets reported in EU legislation and technological improvements- are analysed. Results highlighted a potential to reduce reactive nitrogen emissions up to more than 45%. However, this would imply the conversion of reactive nitrogen in molecular nitrogen, such as urea, before re-entering in the food chain. Techniques to harvest reactive nitrogen directly from urine and wastewater are considered promising to increase nitrogen use efficiency along the food chain.
确保全球粮食安全是我们社会面临的挑战之一。氮的可利用性是粮食生产的关键，同时也会对不同的环境产生影响。本文旨在首先评估氮流，并突出欧洲食物链（不包括初级生产）中氮利用效率低下的热点问题。其次，分析减少已发现的低效率现象并提高氮循环性的潜力。分析了一个基线和三种情景——反映欧盟立法中报告的废物目标和技术改进情况。结果表明，有潜力将活性氮排放量减少超过45%。然而，这意味着在重新进入食物链之前，要将活性氮转化为分子氮，如尿素。直接从尿液和废水中收集活性氮的技术有望提高食物链中的氮利用效率。
