Assessing nitrogen fluxes: From human food intake over urine and faeces

The nitrogen (N) pathways from human food intake to the various final whereabouts are discussed. The major wastewater pathways including the respective N stream are quantified.
Specifically, the N emissions into the environment and the shares valorised in agriculture are discussed for current EU28. Suggestions to improve the wastewater system with the focus on N valorisation are made. They allow to re-capture a large N share. Specifically, an innovative decentralized approach consisting of blackwater collection with vacuum toilets, anaerobic digestion of blackwater, ammonia stripping and scrubbing is introduced.