SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Soil Sci.
Sec. Soil Biogeochemistry & Nutrient Cycling
Human Urine as a New-Gen Fertilizer for Sustainable Agriculture: A Review Towards a Circular Nutrient Economy
Provisionally accepted
Mohamed Roshan Abu Firnass Mustaffa1
Kannan Pandian1*
Shanmugam Vijayakumar2*Sridevi Govindaraj1
Anandham Rangasamy1
Mohan Prasanthrajan1Kottaisamy Muniasamy3Surya Teja Varanasi1- 1Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India
- 2Indian Institute of Rice Research (ICAR), Hyderabad, India
- 3Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, India
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The energy-intensive production and environmental repercussions of synthetic fertilizers pose significant challenges to agricultural sustainability. Nutrient recovery from human urine, an underutilized renewable resource rich in nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), offers a low-energy pathway that supports the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 6 and 12). This review synthesizes global research on human urine-based fertilization as a sustainable alternative to synthetic inputs using a systematic approach guided by PRISMA 2020 standards. Additionally, bibliometric analysis and techno-agronomic evaluation were performed on 123 peer-reviewed articles published between 2011 and 2025. Key urine stabilization and nutrient recovery technologies, including source separation, membrane filtration, electrodialysis, ion exchange, bio-electrochemical systems and biochar adsorption, are critically assessed. The nutrient recovery efficiencies ranged from 50-95% for N, 40-99% for P, and 80-98% for K, depending on stabilization method and recovery pathways. Agronomic evidence indicates that urine-derived fertilizers can match or exceed mineral fertilizers, with yield improvements of 10-70% compared to unfertilized controls and yields comparable to urea when applied at equivalent N rates. However, major challenges include membrane fouling, energy requirements, odour issues, and the persistence of pharmaceutical contaminants. Unlike earlier reviews that focused mainly on ecological sanitation or individual recovery technologies, this review integrates PRISMA-based systematic screening with bibliometric mapping and comparative techno-agronomic synthesis. It emphasizes research trends, performance indicators, soil health effects, and scalability barriers, providing a comprehensive evidence-based framework to support the adoption of urine-derived fertilizers within a circular nutrient economy.
Keywords: Bio-based fertilizers, Circular nutrient management, Ecological sanitation, resource recovery, Sustainable crop productivity
Received: 30 Jun 2025; Accepted: 09 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Mustaffa, Pandian, Vijayakumar, Govindaraj, Rangasamy, Prasanthrajan, Muniasamy and Varanasi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Kannan Pandian
Shanmugam Vijayakumar
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