Academic collaboration

The environmental impacts of fossil-based fertilizers and the depletion of their raw materials have intensified global interest in alternative, sustainable nutrient sources. Agricultural digestate—especially from livestock manure—offers significant potential, with around 180 million tonnes produced annually in the EU containing high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. This review compares key technologies for recovering these nutrients, highlighting ammonia stripping and struvite precipitation as the most advanced and cost-effective options, achieving recovery rates of 80–90%. Membrane technologies such as ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis show strong recovery performance but face challenges with fouling and higher operating costs. Additional emerging methods, including membrane contactors, ion exchange, evaporation, and electrodialysis, are also discussed in terms of their current development and limitations.