Sustainability

Sustainability is one of Anorel’s core values. Showcasing this are our sustainability projects where we seek to recover minerals from waste streams. We recognize the critical importance of sustainable alternatives of water-soluble fertilizers for fertigation. Our commitment to innovation in this field drives our projects, as it aligns with our goal of creating environmentally friendly and effective solutions for modern agriculture.

The idea of recovering minerals from waste streams dates back to 2012. The initial strokes of the blueprint were drawn, but an immature mindset towards sustainability initiatives prevented these plans from being fully developed.

In 2021, the plans were revived and further developed, as the timing was right. We aimed to gain knowledge about recovering monopotassium phosphate (MKP) from the waste produced by local tomato growers. This research project was named 'Tombustion'.
The ultimate plan was to collect the tomato plant waste, treat it for preservation, and ferment it to obtain methane gas as an energy source on the one hand and a digestate on the other hand. The next step involved mineralizing the digestate to ash. The ashes would subsequently be synthesised into monopotassium phosphate (MKP).

At Anorel, our focus is on distributing and manufacturing water-soluble fertilizers, which means we specialize in inorganic chemistry. To support our research in organic chemistry we joined forces with the University of Ghent for this innovative research project. We combined our strengths, submitted a grant application, and in 2022, VLAIO approved the project.

Test results quickly revealed that mono-fermentation of tomato plant waste was highly challenging. The output of methane gas soon proved unviable, and the fermentation process itself was not economically feasible. Without digestate, the subsequent steps would also be compromised. Therefore, we decided to explore existing ash streams that are currently underutilized.
In addition to broadening our input streams, we wanted to explore the potential outputs. Besides MKP, there are many other fertilizers that can be derived from ash.
The 'Ash Base' project was born! (2024)

'Ash Base' is a database that generates an output (fertilizer) for each input (ash), based on its characteristics such as nutrient composition, quality, origin, etc. This is achieved through innovative production technologies developed by Anorel.

We have completed our initial pilot tests and are proud to announce that we have successfully produced the following products from ash:

• A liquid potassium lye (KOH/K2CO3), which can serve as both a final product and a raw material for sustainable mineral potassium fertilizers.
• Granular NPK fertilizers
• PG-mixes for the potting soil industry
  

Encouraged by the positive pilot test results, we're thrilled to embark on the industrial rollout of the project.