Background: Sustainability concerns as well as recent increases in fertilizer prices exacerbates the need to optimise
the use of biowastes as fertilizers. For this reason, we investigated how different pretreatments affect the P
dynamics when biofertilizers are placed in the soil.
Methods: Sewage sludge (SS), sewage sludge ash (SS-ash), meat and bone meal (MBM), and the solid fraction of
biogas digestate (BGF) were pretreated with H2SO4, NaOH, and Ca(OH)2 and incubated for 2 and 12 days,
respectively, in a one-dimensional reaction system for detailed studies of the interactions in the biomaterial-soil
interface and the soil adjacent to the placement zone.
Results: Our results showed that acidification and treatment with NaOH increased the P solubility of the biomaterials.
The P loss from the biomaterial layer to the soil was correlated with water-extractable P in the biomaterials
(0.659) and water-extractable P in the soil (0.809). Acidification significantly increased the total
amount of P depleted from the biomaterial to the soil whereas NaOH pre-treatment did not. However, for NaOHtreated
SS and SS-ash, the apparent recoveries were significantly higher compared to the acidification due to a
decrease in soil P sorption capacity as the soil pH increased due to residual alkalinity in the biomaterials.
Conclusions: Acidification showed promising results by increasing the P solubility of all the biomaterials, and the
alkalinization of SS and SS-ash with NaOH by increasing the apparent recovery in the soil. However, further
studies are needed to assess the effects of these treatments on plant growth and P uptake.