PIRAT

"The economic assessment of the social benefits from Struvite-based fertilizers"

Subproject 4.3 of the interdisciplinary Chinese-German research project "Process Improvement for Resource-amended (material, nutrient and energy-efficient) Treatment Systems (PIRAT) financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, funding code: 02WCL 1469E), 2018-2022. Link to the website.

Wastewater disposal is currently undergoing a paradigm shift from a disposal management to a resource-oriented approach, where important wastewater components are recovered and reused, and energy consumption is reduced. While initial approaches regarding these topics are being implemented in Germany, further development and adaptation of system components and concepts is required worldwide. The PIRAT Systems project follows the approach of an interdisciplinary teamwork of German and Chinese players (universities, research institutes, consultants, construction companies, fertilizer processing companies, operators and government agencies) to develop selected technologies for the Chinese market and to elaborate, based on investigations on model-wastewater treatment plants, concepts for increasing energy efficiency and integration of sustainable components. The overall goal of the project is closing the material and nutrient cycles while maintaining an extremely good cleaning performance of wastewater treatment plants to meet the strict Chinese limits and the improvement of the environmental situation (climate protection, reduction of emissions and protection of water, air and soil).

One of the consequences of an implementation of PIRAT systems is the possibility to recover phosphorus from sewage sludge in order to produce uncontaminated fertilizer. This could substitute the untreated and heavily contaminated sewage sludge that is now used as fertilizer by many farmers. This substitution would lead to a reduction in the contamination of soil, water and agricultural products in the respective region. Therefore, an implementation of PIRAT systems would reduce the hazards accruing from traditional agricultural practices to human health as well as to the environment as a whole. The goal of subproject 4.3 is to assess the social benefits accruing from PIRAT to the people living in the greater region of Shanghai where an experimental wastewater treatment plant is being built. For the assessment of these benefits the Contingent Valuation method will be used as an assessment technique. An important methodological goal of subproject 4.3 is the enhancement of the validity and reliability of the results of Contingent Valuation studies for the assessment of the non-market benefits of environmental projects.