AgristarBio: Producing the unique Fertilizer

What if the amount of organic waste that is being generated and misused every day could provide for an opportunity to produce better and more sustainable fertilizers? Currently building its first large-scale factory, AgriStarBio has been facing this challenge for a better world.

23 Jul 2024

EIT Food South

2 min reading time

The Lisbon based company AgriStarBio was founded in 2016 with a clear vision: To become a reference in the production of sustainable, high quality organo-mineral fertiliser from environmental liabilities, adding profitability and economic sustainability to the environmental one. “In a country in which significant portions of the soil lack organic matter, some regions, close to urban areas had excess nitrogen and phosphorus. The inability to manage this resource efficiently was an opportunity we were to face and solve” they explains.

THE AGRISTARBIO CHALLENGE

AgriStarBio produces high-performance organo-mineral fertilizer recycling all nutrients and carbon with zero subproducts, thus avoiding the breaking of the carbon cycle and returning it to the land. They expect to have the new factory at full capacity by the end of 2024. “This factory produces fertilizer from secondary organic wastes from paper pulp factory and allows for circular economy and fertilization to enter the forest management and pepper pulp factory management, as forest resources go back to the forest through the fertilizer. 2/3 of the fertilizer produced is of recycled origin.”

CLOSING THE CIRCLE

The advantages, por no repetir benefits of the AgriStarBio process and products will benefit all stakeholders. The company builds, invests and operates the fertilizer production units. It installs them at the source of the organic matter to minimise transportation costs and maximize circular economy. An innovative business model that can revolutionize sustainability in livestock and agriculture.

“In the next 2 years we expect to expand to a second source of organic waste. The most promising industries are pig slurry and sugar beet. In either industry, significant steps have been taken, while geographically, Germany, Belgium and Australia seem to be most promising apart from Portugal, our home country.”

MAKING REAL A BETTER TOMORROW

From a pilot to demonstrate and register the technology to build a factory and sell the product, AgriStarBio have been financed and supported by EU funds, programs and networks. Next Generation Funds financed the new factory, and organisations like EIT Food “introduced us to several potential investors, but also to partnerships. Some of the potential clients we have developed relations with were a direct consequence of EIT network and EIT Food program."