CSB UNAB researcher turns industrial waste into bokashi, a high-quality agricultural biofertilizer

Giovanna Anziani, a researcher at the Center for Systems Biotechnology of the Universidad Andrés Bello, combines biotechnology with a traditional 17th-century Japanese technique to obtain a more effective fertilizer than compost. It is one of the most cost-effective formulas for monetizing industrial waste.

Food waste, sewage sludge, agricultural crop residues, livestock manure, and a mixture of beneficial microorganisms are some of the ingredients of a practical recipe for converting agro-industrial or sanitation waste into a valuable, high-quality agricultural biofertilizer.

Known as bokashi, this natural and organic fertilizer originated in 17th-century Japan and has several advantages over compost. Unlike compost, which takes six months to mature, bokashi is ready in one month.

«Unlike compost, obtained by digestion and decomposition of organic matter, bokashi results from anaerobic fermentation of raw materials. Although the process of both fertilizers depends on the presence of microorganisms, the recipe for bokashi incorporates the inoculation of bacteria, fungi, and yeasts that accelerate it and make the final product have beneficial microorganisms that enrich the soil,» explains Giovanna Anziani, a researcher at the Center for Systems Biotechnology of the Universidad Andrés Bello (CSB-UNAB).

There, the researcher works on developing and improving traditional bokashi for sustainable industrial waste management, thus contributing to the circular economy and obtaining a powerful agricultural biofertilizer.

«What we do is incorporate the process of specific bioaugmentation of beneficial microorganisms,» says Anziani. That is, they use biotechnology to analyze industrial waste and identify the profile of its components. They add certain microorganisms, bacteria, fungi, or yeasts to the bokashi from that information. These are specifically selected to control pathogens and degrade harmful compounds in the analyzed waste.

According to the CSB-UNAB researcher, it is possible to create fertilizer for crops for human consumption from industrial waste, including sewage sludge from sanitation companies. The correct selection of microorganisms makes it possible to create a bioremediation activity, that is, to reduce the levels of water and soil pollutants to allow their reuse in industry and agricultural sectors.

Circular economy and industrial symbiosis

The production of bokashi with specific bioaugmentation also opens up the opportunity to generate industrial symbiosis, an instrument of the circular economy that promotes sustainability and resource efficiency through synergies between complementary industries.

Pilar Parada, director of CSB-UNAB, points out that «alliances can be created between companies that discard different ingredients needed to produce bokashi, such as coal, mineral powders, slurry, food waste, rice husks, barley or sugarcane bagasse or cellulose, among others.»

Because of the wide variety of organic wastes that can be incorporated and the speed with which they are converted into a high-quality end product, bokashi production is today one of the most cost-effective ways to treat and valorize industrial wastes.

«With the Organic Waste Bill and the National Organic Waste Strategy, which promotes its valorization through composting and biogas generation, bokashi stands as a much more effective and cutting-edge option, which will allow companies that adopt it a more sustainable and faster disposal of their waste generating savings or even a new line of high-value products for agriculture,» says Pilar Parada.

In agriculture, bokashi is gaining ground as an innovative technology to improve soil fertility, plant health, and crop and food quality.

«This is because in the process by which it is generated, nutrients are less exposed to degradation, and in its production process, bokashi is supplemented with beneficial microorganisms that enrich the soil and generate a sort of probiotic fertilizer that is associated with crops of high nutritional quality,» concludes Giovanna Anziani.