Certain organic acids generated in both drinking water production and wastewater treatment processes can contribute to greater and safer food supply. Yet another opportunity for our sector to contribute to the solution of a major issue.
A number of AquaMinerals’ participants generate ‘brine’ as a residual. Humic and fulvic acids can be recovered from this brine, which results from the regeneration of ion exchangers. The removal and application of these acids is one of the top-5 acceleration projects of the drinking water companies’ joint ‘Road Map’. These organic acids can also be recovered from domestic wastewater. The waterboards, the Energy and Raw Materials Factory, and AquaMinerals are therefore working together on several aspects with the aim of creating synergies in the extraction and, most of all, in the market uptake of these substances.
Humic and fulvic acids can be very effectively used as biostimulants, which promote the efficient uptake by plants of nutrients. In late November, AquaMinerals took part in the World Biostimulants Congress in Miami. This provided an excellent opportunity to test whether market demand was still in line with the plans of the drinking water companies and waterboards. During the three-day congress on biostimulants in agriculture the message was clear: expanding global population means that the demand for food will only grow. Biostimulants – and therefore humic and fulvic acids – offer the possibility of producing more food per surface and more safely.
The development of biostimulants is constant: there is a continuous search for better products and more specific applications. This calls for clean, pure and safe products; products that our sector can supply. This naturally dovetails nicely with the public role and ambitions of the waterboards, drinking water companies and AquaMinerals. In short, the days were very fruitful.