P-RECOVERY

By 31 December 2023, wastewater treatment plant operators in Germany are required to submit a concept for phosphorus recovery from sewage sludge.

For this given reason, we would like to support plant operators in the conceptual design and the associated steps such as sampling 2023 and 2027, evaluation of the necessary measures up to the submission in accordance with the authorities.

Our developed RSR process takes into account all future legal requirements and represents the optimal implementation for the required phosphorus recovery.

Of course, we are also happy to support you in concept development using phosphorus recovery techniques in wastewater or wet sludge. 

• Creation of a technically and economically feasible concept based on the individual plant parameters on site and taking into account all necessary legal measures.
  
  
• Conduct on-site sludge analysis:
• • 1. investigation during concept development
  • 2. investigation in 2023 (obligatory analysis required by law)
  • 3. investigation in 2027 (obligatory analysis required by law)
  • Retention of reserve samples
    
    
• Personal support during visits to authorities
  
  
• Individual plant design
• Analysis of the possible product utilization routes in the catchment area

• proven process technology is used throughout
• Significant and verifiable reduction of the ecological footprint due to considerable CO2 reduction, low land requirements and decentralized applicable solutions
• cost savings by eliminating disposal and transport costs to distant mono-incineration plants by keeping several recycling routes open (material and comprehensive thermal recycling options)
• Products, which are won from the procedure, make the enterprise of the plant utilization self-sufficient, thus a broad sales channel of the products is possible

• PHOSPHOR is a limited resource.
• PHOSPHOR is found in all living cells. Its role is energy production and storage, as well as acid-base regulation.
• PHOSPHOR is essential for plant growth and increases agricultural yields.
• Too little PHOSPHOR in the agricultural system leads to malnutrition and famine!

• PHOSPHOR does not occur in nature in its pure form, but as phosphate.
• PHOSPHOR is limited in its occurrence and is extracted from PHOSPHATE STONE in open pit mines. 
• The PHOSPHOR occurrence is unequally distributed. About 75% is mined in countries like China, Russia, Morocco, USA and Tunisia. No deposit in the EU!
• The EU is 100% dependent on PHOSPHOR IMPORTS!
  
  
• PHOSPHOR is on the list of CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS since 2010!

Due to population growth, the increased standard of living and our meat consumption, the demand for phosphate fertilizers increases by an additional 2% per year. The global demand for phosphorus for use in agriculture as fertilizer is currently over 40 million tons per year. 

Studies expect a "phosphorus peak" in the period from 2051 to 2092 - meaning that from that point on, phosphorus consumption will be higher than can be mined and recovered. 

Phosphorus-rich countries such as China, Russia and Turkey have recognized the critical situation and stopped their fertilizer exports in the 4th quarter of 2021 in order to be able to guarantee security of supply at home. 

THE MAIN PHOSPHATE FERTILIZERS ARE ...

• Diammonium phosphate (DAP)
• Monoammonium phosphate (MAP)
• Triple superphosphate (TSP)
• NPK complete fertilizer (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K))

PHOSPHOR, the most important component of organic growth, passes through the food cycle from plants to animals and humans after fertilization of the field (for example, around 125,000 t of phosphorus fertilizer in Germany per year). The non-usable components of the food end up in the material flow, or better expressed in wastewater, which has to be treated in the nearest wastewater treatment plant.

The nutrients contained in the material flow, such as the vital phosphorus, must be recovered by means of a technical process and circulated in accordance with the Circular Economy Act. 

CIRCULAR ECONOMY ACT

The purpose of the Act is to promote the circular economy to conserve natural resources and to ensure the protection of people and the environment in the generation and management of waste.

The Circular Economy Act emphasizes the avoidance, recovery and recycling of waste over disposal.

From this follows the 5-level waste hierarchy §6:

1. avoidance
2. preparation for recycling
3. recycling
4. other recovery, especially energy recovery and backfilling
5. disposal 

ORDINANCE ON THE REORGANIZATION OF SEWAGE SLUDGE UTILIZATION 

This regulation applies to the operators of wastewater treatment plants who are responsible for the production of sewage sludge. 

According to §3 (1) Circular Economy Act of sewage sludge, the operators are obliged,

to recycle the sewage sludge produced in the wastewater treatment plant to the highest possible quality, as far as this is technically possible and economically reasonable. In this context, the recovery of phosphorus and the return of the recovered phosphorus or phosphorus-containing sewage sludge incineration ash into the economic cycle shall be aimed at. 

Article 4 §3a obliges the sewage sludge producer to submit, by 31.12.2023 at the latest, a report on the planned and initiated measures to ensure the phosphorus recovery to be carried out from 1 January 2029 in the sense of the Closed Substance Cycle Waste Management Act.