Field experiment and economic analysis offish-processing wastewater fertilizerby biodegradation

Abstract

The present study demonstrated that biodegraded fish-processing wastewater is capable of fertilizing-value and economic-feasibility. A scale-up biodegradation of fish-processing wastewater into liquid fertilizer was performed by inoculation of fish-processing wastewater of mixed 11-species microorganisms in a 1-tons pilot scale bioreactor for 80 h. As a result, fish-processing wastewater fertilizer (FPWF) showed high amino-acids content and low heavy metals concentration as compared to commercial organic fertilizers (COF). Chinese cabbage (Brassicarapa L. ssp. pekinensis) and lettuce (Lactucasativa L.) were cultivated using a FPWF and COFs in a field for 2 months, improved plant growth parameters (leaf number, leaf length, leaf size, leaf width and dry weight) as compared to COFs. Economic analysis showed positive cash flow of about 24931$/year and it has a payback time of about 1.3 years.