Professor Mitsuyasu Yabe jointly received the Encouragement Award and the Collaboration Award of "FY2023 Commendation for Resource Recycling Technology and System"

Professor Mitsuyasu Yabe of Faculty of Agriculture, together with Mitsubishi Chemical Aqua Solutions Corporation and the town of Chikujo in Fukuoka Prefecture, jointly received the Encouragement Award and the Collaboration Award in the "FY2023 Award for Resource Recycling Technology and System" sponsored by the Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry and supported by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The award is presented to companies and other business enterprises.

This award has been given since 1975 for the purpose of encouraging and promoting the development of new businesses by publicly soliciting and awarding projects and efforts by companies and other business organizations that contribute to the reduction of waste generation, reuse, and promotion of resource recycling. The purpose of the contest is to encourage and promote such businesses and initiatives and to create new business opportunities.

The "Commercialization Project on Concentrated Biofertilizer Production" undertaken by the three-party alliance received the Encouragement Award because of its contribution to CO2 reduction in waste disposal and reduction in the use of chemical fertilizers, as well as its potential to realize a sustainable social system as a new recycling-oriented agriculture. The project also received the Collaboration Award for its successful commercialization, which was realized through industry-academia-government collaboration.

In this project, the first liquid fertilizer concentration facility in Japan, located in Chikujo Town, successfully concentrated nitrogen and potassium, the main components of fertilizers, to about 20 times those of ordinary liquid fertilizers by removing suspended solids through membrane separation and electrodialysis of liquid fertilizer made from human waste and septic tank sludge. The production of concentrated bio-liquid fertilizer, which is expected to be used in various ways, is a technology that will contribute to efforts to reduce chemical fertilizers, which is a target of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' "Green Food System Strategy" by the year 2050.

The award ceremony was held on Friday, October 20, 2023.