The Nitrogen Workshop set up in 2003 under sponsorship of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) and from the International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP), is a program attracting researchers, institutions, and industry professionals from around the world. This year the scientific conferences explore the complex connections between nitrogen, water, food, and energy across scales.
Enas (Sardinian Water Authority ) Project Partner of the MedRESOURCE initiative, funded by the Interreg NEXT MED Programme, participated as a stakeholder in the Workshop “Managing Nitrogen in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus”, held from 25 to 29 of May 2026 in Sassari.
The seminar included a session in Arborea on 27 May 2026, at which Enas was invited to present its role and contributions within the MedRESOURCE project, with a particular focus on the Living Lab for the recovery of ammonium sulphate from digestate.
During the session, the project objectives and the Living Lab approach were outlined. The Living Lab investigates innovative technologies for recovering nitrogen in the form of ammonium sulphate from livestock and agro-industrial digestate. This approach is fully consistent with the principles of the circular economy, converting a process by-product into a valuable fertiliser resource with recognised agronomic benefits, while reducing pressure on water bodies and dependence on synthetic fertilisers.
Enas also highlighted how the MedRESOURCE project activities are closely aligned with the recently adopted European regulatory framework, specifically EU Directive 2026/288, formally adopted by the European Commission on 9 February 2026 and published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 10 February 2026. This Directive amends Annex III of Directive 91/676/EEC (the Nitrates Directive), introducing specific provisions for the use of RENURE fertilisers — an acronym for REcovered Nitrogen from manURE — produced by processing livestock effluents and digestate through treatments that separate and concentrate nitrogen into mineral, plant-available forms comparable to conventional synthetic fertilisers. The key regulatory change allows Member States that choose to authorise RENURE to permit farmers to apply such fertilisers beyond the existing threshold of 170 kg of nitrogen per hectare per year in nitrate vulnerable zones, subject to strict environmental safeguards.
Participation in the XXIII Nitrogen Workshop provided a significant opportunity to raise the international profile of the MedRESOURCE project, allowing the Living Lab experiences to be shared with a qualified audience of experts, and situating the partnership’s work within the wider European scientific and policy debate on the transition towards more sustainable and resilient agricultural systems.
Next Med
