Closing the micronutrient: exploration of micronutrient-rich bioproducts generated from wastewater as environmental-friendly micronutrient supplements and fertilizers

In present, elements dissolved in water, such as metals and metalloids, have an economic value and are in strong and increasing demand. Metals and metalloids may be recovered from wastewater for different purposes. Micronutrients may be recovered to be used in food/feed supplements or crop fertilizers. In this project, some biobased methods (bioadsorption, bioprecipitation, microalgae-based or phytoremediation) will be developed and applied to selectively remove essential trace elements from wastewater. Afterwards, these micronutrient-rich materials will be tested for their potential use as micronutrient fertilizer or food/feed supplement by studying the bioavailability and bioaccessibility of micronutrients contained in these products, leading to the production of environment-friendly micronutrient fertilisers and supplements from waste streams. The purpose of this project is to realize the trace element recycle, which not only be able to clean the excessive trace element in waste water, but also can produce enrich-micronutrient product and then solve the problem of micronutrient deficiency.