The document discusses the significance of phosphorus in agriculture and other industries, highlighting its environmental challenges, particularly eutrophication. It outlines EU policies and legislation aimed at promoting phosphorus recycling, its potential to replace a significant percentage of mineral fertilizers, and various operational recycling routes and technologies. The importance of the EU Fertilising Products Regulation is emphasized for expanding markets for recycled nutrients and addressing challenges related to consumer concerns and recycling costs.

1. 1
Sustainable phosphorus sources ready for the European market
Chris Thornton
European Sustainable
Phosphorus Platform
(ESPP)
info@phosphorusplatform.eu
www.phosphorusplatform.eu
@phosphorusfacts

2. 2
Without mineral phosphate fertilisers
we could feed maybe 1/5th
of the current world population
Adapted from Dawson et al., Food Policy 2011:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03069192
Without mineral nitrogen fertilisers
we could support around 1/2
of world food production
Fertilizers Europe 2018, based on Erisman, Sutton et al.,
Nature Geoscience 2008 DOI: 10.1038/ngeo325
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248828433_
How_a_century_of_ammonia_synthesis_changed_the_world
https://phosphorusalliance.org

3. 3
200 – 260 million tonnes of
phosphate rock are mined annually
(17 - 24 Mt P)
95% of use is in agriculture:
- fertilisers
- animal feed
But phosphorus is also essential
(in much smaller quantities) for:
- fire safety
- electronics, batteries …
- water treatment
- chemicals and pharmaceuticals …
See ESPP Phosphorus Fact Sheet
www.phosphorusplatcorm.eu

4. 4
3 July 2018
http://www.stockholmresilience.org
Baltic Sea
eutrophication,
source WWF
Eutrophication is a major environmental challenge:
• Phosphorus (P) = first cause of EU Water Framework Directive
(non-morphological) quality status failure
• 55% of rivers, 74% of lakes
exceed P level for good ecological status
• P discharge from sewage works
reduced by 70% 1987 - 1996
• 35% of EU surface waters bodies,
and 35% of EU groundwater areas
are impacted by ‘diffuse’ pollution
Sources: see “Phosphorus Fact Sheet”
on www.phosphorusplatform.eu

5. 5
EU policies to address phosphorus:
from prevention to stewardship
• EU water policy
- Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 1991/271
- Nitrates Directive 1991/676
- Water Framework Directive 2000/2000
- Groundwater Directive 2006/118
(P on monitoring list 2014)
• Common Agricultural Policy
- proposed FaST tool, 2019
• Critical Raw Materials list
- phosphate rock 2014
- white phosphorus (P4) 2017
• Circular Economy Package
- EU Fertilising Products Regulation, 2019

6. 6
Why recycle phosphorus?
• Synergies
- reducing phosphorus losses to surface waters
- manure management / Nitrates Directive implementation
- reducing ammonia emissions
- improving sewage works operation
& biosolids management
- anaerobic digestion / renewable energy
- return of organic carbon to soil
- food waste
- water reuse
• Circular economy
- rural jobs
- reduce dependency on imports
- EU leadership in recycling

7. 7
National legislation
• Switzerland 2016
- P-recycling obligation from sewage sludge
incineration ash and from animal by-products
- 2018 ordinance defines requirements
for recycled fertilisers
• Germany 2017
- P-recycling obligation from sewage
• Helcom 2017
- P-recycling strategy & reporting
• …
For details of Swiss and German legislation see ESPP Scope Newsletter n°129
http://www.phosphorusplatform.eu/scope129
and HELCOM see ESPP eNews n°9 http://www.phosphorusplatform.eu/eNews009

8. 8
Recycling potential
• European Commission 1
STRUBIAS recycled products
could replace 25-40%
of EU mineral phosphate fertilisers
• European Commission 2
Phosphorus recycling could replace
30%
of EU mineral phosphate fertilisers
• i.e. market value of recycled
phosphates of c. 600 M€ 3
1 = JRC STRUBIAS draft « Market » report 20/12/2017
2 = IP/18/6161 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-6161_en.htm
3 = ESPP estimate
P recycling potential in EU-27
[kton P/year] Total Recycled Potential
Sewage sludge 297 115 182
Biodegradable solid waste 130 38 92
Meat & bone meal 128 6 122
Total 427-555 153-160 274-396
Manure recycling = 1 736
Mineral fertiliser use = 1 448
Van Dijk et al. “Phosphorus flows and balances of the European Union Member States”, Science of
the Total Environment Volume 542, Part B, 15 January 2016, Pages 1078-1093
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.08.048

9. 9
Recycling routes
today demonstrated /operational
• Manure / food industry by-products organic fertilisers
• Sewage biosolids  composting / digestion  agriculture
• Animal by-product incineration ash  fertiliser
• Sewage sludge incineration ash  technical phosphates
• Sewage sludge incineration ash  fertiliser industry
• Manure  biochar  fertiliser
• Struvite precipitation from sewage  fertiliser
• Wastewater  algae  organic fertilisers
COOPERL / Brittany farmers’ cooperatives. 400 000 t/y
manure processed to organic fertiliser product
ww.phosphorusplatform.eu/scope122
Géotexia, Saint Gilles du Mené, Brittany. Methanisation of
70 000 t/y pig manure. French fertiliser homologation
obtained for digestate 2013
https://www.anses.fr/sites/default/files/documents/FERTIXIA
NK_FSIM_2013-0856_Ans.pdf

10. 10
Veolia UK: fertilisers from wastes
Pro-Grow:
• 10 UK composting sites producing 200 000 t/year soil conditioners
from green & food wastes
• All grades have “product” status and PAS100 certified
Granulation factory at Livingstone, near Edinburgh
Capacity 20 000 t/y
Currently:
fertilisers from food industry by-product ashes
liming materials
micro-nutrient fertilisers
Under development: recycled fertilisers

11. 11
EasyMining Sweden Ash2Phos®
• P-recovery from sewage sludge incineration ash & iron ore tailings
 CleanMAP® = technical grade MAP (mono ammonium phosphate)
 plus iron and aluminium salts & silica/cement by-product
• Pilot plant sewage sludge ash Helsingborg (2018) = up to 0,6t/h
• Pilot plant iron mining tailings, underway (25 kg/h)
• Full scale plant construction starting 2019

12. 12
Yara : nitrogen recovery
from municipal waste, Oslo
• Ammonia stripping
in VEAS municipal waste anaerobic digester
650 000 t/y municipal waste
• 12-15% of input nitrogen recovered as ammonium nitrate
http://www.circulary.eu/project/yara-recovery/

13. 13
Thames Water – Ostara Pearl®
• Slough municipal wastewater treatment plant, UK, since 2013
• 150 tonnes Crystal Green® fertiliser / year
• High quality slow release fertiliser
• Today also plants in Spain, Netherland.
• 18 plants operational worldwide
www.ostara.com and www.phosphorusplatform.eu/scope99
https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/earthrise/2014/12/recyc
ling-phosphorus-2014121693225616272.html

14. 14
Timac AGRO – Roullier Group:
specific maize starter fertiliser including struvite
• Fertiliser industry added-value for recycled nutrients
• Recovered struvite from industries
• Non-burning, enabling “ultra localisation” next to roots
• Micro-granulation
• Specific balanced formulation for maize nutrition

15. 15
ICL fertilisers Amsterdam & Ludwigshaven
• Use of secondary materials
in fertiliser production:
- meat and bone meal ash
- struvite
• Objective: 100% by 2025
• Pilot testing successful
• Industrial installations
(storage, handling) planned
www.icl-group.com

16. 16
Ecophos P-recycling from sewage sludge ash
• Pilot plant operational Varna, Bulgaria
• Production of DCP (Di Calcium Phosphate) for fertilisers, animal feed
• Dunkerque, France
• First line operational since 1/2018: 220 000 t/y DCP from low grade P-rock
• Second line in authorisation phase:
100 000 t/y of sewage sludge incineration ash
and other secondary raw materials
• Contract 60 000 t/y ash from Netherlands
(SNB – HVC Groep)
See SCOPE Newsletter 111 and www.ecophos.com

17. 17
Suez Phosphogreen
• Struvite recovery from sewage
• Biological P removal sewage works
with anaerobic sludge digestion
- 2013, Aby wwtp, Aarhus, 84 000 p.e.
- 2015, Herning, Denmark, 150 000 p.e.
- 2017, Marselisborg, Denmark 200 000p.e.
• Advantages
- struvite sale: 250€ - 300€ /tonne
- reduced P-removal chemical costs
- avoidance of nuisance deposits
- reduced sludge volumes
- reduced energy consumption for biological N removal
https://www.suezwaterhandbook.com/degremont-R-
technologies/sludge-treatment/recovery/recycle-phosphorus-from-
effluent-to-produce-a-valuable-fertilizer-Phosphogreen

18. 18
Why the EU Fertilising Products Regulation (FPR) is essential
- Open EU markets for recycled nutrient products
- European market for organic fertilisers, biostimulants …
- Open EU market for nutrient recycling technologies
- Continuation of markets for ‘national’ fertilisers
Challenges to address :
- Add STRUBIAS to FPR annexes (struvite, biochar, ashes)
= products already on the market
- Clarify Nitrates Directive status of recycled products
(DG ENVI ‘SafeManure’ project)
- Address consumer and food industry / supermarket
concerns about contaminants  European initiative?
- Cost of recycling: transfer tax from labour to resources

19. 19
Sustainable phosphorus sources ready for the European market
Chris Thornton
European Sustainable
Phosphorus Platform
(ESPP)
info@phosphorusplatform.eu
www.phosphorusplatform.eu
@phosphorusfacts