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ASH2 PHOS - Phosphorus Recovery from Sewage Sludge Ash
If we are serious about transforming to a circular economy, we need to reuse already sourced raw materials as often as possible. This is particularly true about raw materials that are finite and cannot be replaced, such as phosphorus. Phosphorus, one of the key nutrients in mineral fertiliser, is crucial for agriculture to be able to produce enough food. But Europe is dependent on phosphorus from mines in a few other countries. This leads to large climate emissions, creates great supply risk, and makes the EU vulnerable to wild price fluctuations. EasyMining focuses on technologies for the recovery and recycling of nutrients. This is why we have developed Ash2Phos, a circular solution for recovering phosphorus from the sewage sludge that forms in large quantities at wastewater treatment plants.
EasyMining’s Ash2Phos process extracts phosphorus from the ash of sewage sludge after incineration, along with other commodities such as iron and aluminium. It can recover more than 90% of the phosphorus present in the ash.
The phosphorus content in sewage sludge ash is many times higher than that of phosphate rock. The potential in putting it to use is enormous. By separating out the metals in the ash, the Ash2Phos technology enables domestic production of cleaner, safer phosphorus.
Phosphate rock, the standard raw material for the production of phosphorus fertiliser, is a finite resource. It is also often contaminated with high levels of heavy metals like cadmium and uranium. Today, these toxic substances are not completely separated out during the production process and tend to end up in the fertiliser being spread on farmland.
By incinerating the sewage sludge and treating the ash with the Ash2Phos technology, undesirable substances are either destroyed or separated out for disposal. The final product contains next to no contaminants.
The Sauberer Phosphor 2029 (Clean Phosphorus) initiative will work to champion and advocate for phosphorus recovery and recycling processes in Germany that are environmentally friendly and sustainable. Each member of the initiative is a company that deals with either wastewater management or phosphorus recovery.
In creating the initiative, its members collaborated on a position paper entitled “Sauberer Phosphor 2029” (Clean Phosphorus). The paper outlines seven agreed-upon qualities for clean phosphorus recovery.
The Sauberer Phosphor 2029 asserts that phosphorus recycling must be a process that:
- The defined targets and intentions for phosphorus recovery in accordance with the Sewage Sludge Ordinance can be achieved;
- Does not cause any additional accumulation of pollutants on fields, arable land, or cultivated areas;
- Separates phosphorus recovery into product and residual material fractions in a manner that assures quality regardless of the composition and pollutant load of the starting material;
- Fosters independence from the import of phosphorus through reliance on domestic sources;
- Produces clean and universally applicable, marketable phosphorus products that are needed and further processed in the established structures of the phosphorus processing industry;
- Removes the pollutant substances from the material cycle;
- Enables separate recovery of as many valuable materials as possible from the ashes.
These key positions will be featured prominently in public advocacy efforts by the initiative and its members.