In order to avoid harmful substances ending up at the municipal sewage treatment plants, it is important to purify the wastewater at the source. One such source is the wheel washers available in many tire garages which are used to wash the wheels on our vehicles when we change between summer and winter tires. It is important to wash the wheels before storage, to extend the tires lifetime. The purpose of this study is to find a green innovative solution for reduction of emissions of heavy metals at the source, so that the sludge from the sewage treatment plants can be used as fertilizer. The target is to find a wheel wash method which leads to compliance with the guidelines for car washers, and that also provides a better washing result than with the existing method.

Biogas is an expanding sector within the broad field of agriculture and animal production. Small-scale biogas offers local combined power and heating production and the substrate is transformed into high-quality biological fertilizer. This bachelor thesis focuses on a pig farm in south-western Sweden, where biogas is produced from pig manure, evaluates and suggests ways of optimizing the process and investigates whether investing in an upgrading plant would be a feasible and more cost-efficient option. The results show that the biogas plant is working well, although the production differs from the original plans. This shows in turn that planning and examining the basic conditions before making the investment is of great importance, as well as monitoring and keeping detailed statistics of the running process.

Cultivable land is a limited resource and agriculture contributes to some of the most serious environmental problems facing the planet like, global warming, eutrophication and loss of biodiversity. The specialized, industrial agriculture with monoculture and extensive input of external energy, commercial fertilizer, and chemical pesticides are all essentially unsustainable. An adaptation to other methods of production is necessary to preserve the environment for future generations. The aim of this study is to describe the factors that distinguish sustainable from unsustainable agriculture. The results will be used to examine if and how the European Union (EU) works in order to create a more sustainable agricultural industry and to analyze the preconditions for such development.

In Sweden there are about 4 million hectares of bare peat (mire). This land has great potential to be transformed into productive forest land, provided drainage is carried out and, in some cases, even fertilization with ashes. Drainage of mires is necessary because the high groundwater table prevents trees from growing due to reduced oxygen availability. Some of the key nutrients that trees need to grow appear in too small quantities in mires, especially potassium (K) and phosphorus (P). Ash from the combustion of biomass contains these elements and is therefore suitable as a fertilizer.

Organic agriculture is financially promoted in Sweden by special environmental support and as consumers we are all encouraged to buy organic food. At the same time scholars at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences claim that organic farming does not provide any environmental benefits. The main criticism is that organic farming has lower yields than conventional, which means that more land is needed to produce the same amount of food as in conventional farming, leading to deforestation and loss of biodiversity. As for climate change, the critics claim that the significantly higher productivity in conventional crop production compared to organic, releases surplus land, which could be used for bio-fuel production and thereby replace the fossil fuels. The critics also claim that organic farming causes higher nutrient leaching than conventional.

This project investigated how elevation and vegetation type influences variation in plant litter phenolic content and protein precipitation capacity among and within common plant species for two different vegetation types, heath and meadow, in a subarctic ecosystem in the Abisko region of northern Sweden. As nutrient availability generally decreases with increasing elevation as a result of decreasing temperature, I hypothesised that phenolic content would increase with elevation and be higher on the heath than the meadow. To test this, the total phenolic content and protein precipitation capacity was estimated in leaf litter from 13 species in both heath and meadow vegetation across an elevational gradient ranging from 500 to 1000 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.) in the study region. The results showed that elevation and vegetation type both had a strong impact on both variables. Total phenolic concentrations decreased with elevation for the meadow, and were greater for the heath than the meadow.

Russian comfrey, Symphytum x uplandicum, was tested as a plant nutrient source in a trial with tomatoes. Comfrey liquid was produced by Stiftelsen Holma i Höör. Tomato plants of the cultivar Aromata planted in a medium of soil:peat (1:1) enriched with organic nutrients and lime, were fed with comfrey liquid plus Biofer, in three different concentrations. Two different concentrations of BioRika were used as comparison, along with an unfertilized control group. In the comfrey treatment I a total amont of 1g N, 0,23 g P, 0,84 g K, was given to the tomatoes.

A common perception is that fungicide treatments increases yield, but that the nitrogen of the particular grain is diluted so that the overall removal of grain nitrogen from the field remains unchanged. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that a healthy crop reduces the risk of nutrient loss from agricultural land. The results from genotype and plant protection trials often show constant nitrogen content in the grain, although the yield has been increased. Results from such experiments are therefore processed in order to confirm this and show that it is no statistically significant difference between the protein content (and also nitrogen content) in crops which have undergone fungicide treatment compared to crops which remained untreated. The trials processed have been carried out in the southernmost part of Sweden and are distinguished to concern winter wheat production.The explanation to the results is that a healthy crop is able to maintain the biological functions of the plant in a more efficient way than a crop damaged by a fungal infection.

Sewage sludge contains plant nutrients and has earlier been utilised as fertilizer to cropland. Unfortunately not only plant nutrients but also heavy metals, pathogens and organic contaminants tend to accumulate in sludge. The suitability to use sewage sludge in agriculture has therefore been subject to several discussions over the years. The Swedish food industry does no longer accept sludge as fertiliser for Swedish producers. In 1999 the Swedish parliament accepted several objectives for environmental protection. In order to prevent environmental pollution and further exploitation of the earth crust, one of these objectives confirm that phosphorous from sewage shall be recirculated to arable land.

För att växter ska växa bra krävs det en mix av olika näringsämnen där de två viktigaste näringsämnena normalt sett är kväve (N) och fosfor (P). Det är viktigt att mixen av olika näringsämnen passar växtens behov samt att näringsämnena är möjliga för växten att ta upp. Det får inte heller vara för mycket av ett näringsämne då detta kan leda till förgiftning. Denna studie är gjord med syfte att klargöra hur algbiomassa av grönalger i blandad mix fungerar som gödslingsmedel för små plantor av tall (Pinus sylvestris) och gran (Picea abies). Samt att hitta förklaringar över varför algerna påverkar plantornas tillväxt.

Organic agriculture is financially promoted in Sweden by special environmental support and as consumers we are all encouraged to buy organic food. At the same time scholars at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences claim that organic farming does not provide any environmental benefits. The main criticism is that organic farming has lower yields than conventional, which means that more land is needed to produce the same amount of food as in conventional farming, leading to deforestation and loss of biodiversity. As for climate change, the critics claim that the significantly higher productivity in conventional crop production compared to organic, releases surplus land, which could be used for bio-fuel production and thereby replace the fossil fuels. The critics also claim that organic farming causes higher nutrient leaching than conventional.

Sveriges miljömål ?Begränsad klimatpåverkan? beskriver ambitionen att fram till år 2020 ska ha minskat utsläppen av växthusgaser med 40 % gentemot år 1990. Ett sätt för Sverige att lyckas med de uppsatta målen är att utveckla biogasproduktionen. Potentialen för biogasproduktion bedöms vara mycket stor och forskning för att ta fram nya substrat att använda inom biogasframställningen pågår. Ett möjligt substrat är alger, dock har tidigare forskning påvisat höga kadmiumhalter i alger vilket kan innebära problem för spridning av rötresten.

Eutrophication is an environmental problem that affects more than ten percent of Swedish lakes. Excess nutrients increase the growth of algae, and cause major problems in the ecosystem through oxygen-free bottoms, fish kills, and at worst dead bottoms. Agriculture accounts for 44% of human emissions of phosphorus to lakes and rivers. Leaching occurs of particle bound phosphorus and of dissolved phosphate. The amount of phosphate in the soil solution that may be leached is partly due to the prevailing pH in the soil solution. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the relationship between phosphate solubility and pH was affected by liming.

Chinas government has a multifunctional program for a more sustainable forestry since 2000. This six key forest programs goal is to develop a more sustainable forest sector but also take environment consideration. The state forest administration in China has decided to create 5.8 million hectare of fast growing and high yield forest. Eucalyptus has showed to have good properties for pulp and timber production and therefore Eucalyptus plantations are under development in costal areas in southern China. By adding extra nutrients, growth can be enhanced in Eucalyptus plantations.

The price trend on rapeseed the latest years has led to an increasing interest to grow the crop among many farmers in Sweden. The price trend has resulted in more than a doubling of the oilseed area since the early 2000s. For many farmers it is an advantage to increase cultivation of rapeseed because of the high proportion of cereals in the crop rotation on many farms, but it is not just benefits. The risk of the fields being infected by clubroot increases within frequent rapeseed cultivation and it often leads to subtantial economic losses. Clubroot is caused by Plasmodiophora brassicae that is a soilborne pathogen in genus Protozoa and its resting spores can be found in the soil for up to 18 years.