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Registration is now open (on Eventbrite) for the 4th European Sustainable Phosphorus Conference, Vienna, 15-17 June 2020. This 4th ESPC will centre in plenary on business models, company success stories and city and regional actions towards nutrient circularity. Parallel sessions will mix research with application (see below, call for papers). The third day (17th June) will be the 4th European phosphorus R&D day, showcasing R&D into phosphorus recycling and recycled products and new approaches.
The full speaker agenda is now published for the 13th CRU Phosphates Conference, 8-10 March 2020 Paris. This is the world’s leading phosphate industry meeting, with over 400 industry participants from 40 countries annually. Sessions include technical showcases, market outlooks worldwide and by major region, fertiliser regulation update and phosphorus recycling, new developments (biostimulants, crystalline and soluble fertilisers), animal feed phosphates, phosphate chemical processing. See summary of the 12th CRU Phosphates Conference (Florida, 2019) in ESPP eNews n°33. 10% fee discount for ESPP members.
Europe’s leading manure and organic resources recycling conference, RAMIRAN, will take place in Cambridge, UK, 14-17 September 2020. The RAMIRAN network was established 25 years ago and the biennial conference attracts some 250 participants. This year’s RAMIRAN will look at “Managing Organic Resources in a Changing Environment”, including nutrient utilisation, soil quality, air and water, best practices, treatment technologies and policy. Abstract submission until 1st March 2019.
www.ramiran2020.org
The Sweden Government enquiry into phosphorus recycling and sewage sludge published its conclusions on 17th January 2020. The report recommends that regulation should require at least 60% recycling of phosphorus from sewage works > 20 000 p.e., that specifications should be developed for other organic-carbon containing fertilisers (in particular sewage sludge biochars) and proposes two options concerning use of sewage sludge in agriculture: either (1) a ban with “very few exceptions” (e.g. individual households), including a ban on use of separated urine, or (2) continuing use of “sanitised and quality-assured sludge” with demanding quality requirements (to be defined within 2-3 years) and reevaluation over coming years to decide whether further restrictions or requirements should be implemented. The report strongly recommends option 2, that is continuing use of sewage sludge in agriculture, with demanding quality requirements (in the Swedish text, not in the English summary). In this case, the 60% P-recycling requirement would include sludge use on crops. For both options, the report recommends to ban use of sewage sludge for non-agricultural applications, such as landscaping, where phosphorus is not valorised (such use is currently 2/3 of Sweden’s sewage sludge spreading). The report states that “current research on the spreading of sewage sludge has not yet shown adverse effects on health and the environment … with the quality requirements applied for use in Swedish agriculture” and underlines that sludge use in agriculture enables recycling not only of phosphorus, but also of nitrogen and organic carbon. The report concludes that a complete ban on sewage sludge use is not supported by risk assessment, whereas “there is clear evidence that sludge fertiliser application supplies plant nutrients and humus that agriculture demands”. An update of Sweden’s sewage and sludge regulations is recommended, with a strengthening of the role of the EPA in addressing sewage contaminants at source. It is also recommended that national objectives be developed for recycling of other resources in wastewater (nitrogen, potassium, carbon). The report notes that the market value of potentially recovered phosphorus in Sweden (c. 5 million €/y) is significantly lower than sludge mono-incineration and P-recovery technology costs (10-15 million €/y or higher).
The European federation of producers of insects for human and animal foods (IPIFF) has published a position paper on the use of insect larvae faeces (“insect frass”) as a fertiliser. In addition to their main outputs (whole insects, proteins, fats), insect farms produce “frass” - a secondary material which has potential to be upcycled as a fertilising product in agriculture. EU frass production in 2019 was circa ten thousand tonnes (of which 80-90% dry matter) forecasted to reach nine million tonnes/year by 2030. Its characteristics vary depending on the insect species and production method (e.g. the substrates used in insect farming). NPK values are similar to compost with values around 4:3:3 (4%N, 1.3%P, 2.5%K). In addition to nutrients, frass can contain bacteria which stimulate plant growth and health. At present, some EU countries authorise the use of insect frass under national fertilisers regulation, with varying requirements for sterilisation. This fragmented and unclear regulatory context is an obstacle to the development of appropriate processing of frass, and so to its commercialisation and the reintroduction of valuable nutrients in agriculture. IPIFF recommends: (1) the development of a specific EU regulatory definition of insect frass and its integration into the EU Fertilising Products Regulation; (2) that the status of insect frass be clearly aligned, across Europe, to standards and requirements for animal manure under the EU Animal By-Products Regulations (ABP); and (3) that an ABP Regulation endpoint be defined for direct use of non-sterilised insect frass on land (criteria on sieving/treatment to ensure absence of live insect larvae and microbiological and chemical safety).
“IPIFF Contribution Paper on the application of insect frass as fertilising product in agriculture”, 19th September 2019 International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed www.ipiff.org
A “catalogue” of technologies for P-recovery, particularly targeting operational information on processes today operating full-scale for P-recovery from sewage, is published online by the three nutrient platforms currently operational in Europe (ESPP European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform, DPP German Phosphorus Platform and NNP Netherlands Nutrient Platform). Ten processes for P-recovery from sewage (from sludge or sludge incineration ash), operating today full scale or under construction, are summarised, as well as a further c. 20 processes which concern P-recovery from manure (full scale), nitrogen recovery (full scale) or R&D scale P-recovery from sewage. The catalogue specifies the input materials for each process, output products, fate of iron/aluminium and of heavy metals or other contaminants, a summary of the process steps, current operating status (full-scale or pilot operation at how many sites, capacity and duration of operation) and websites of technology suppliers.
The Italian chemicals group, Italmatch, specialist in phosphorus-based products for fire safety, energy storage applications, water treatment, oil & gas, lubricants and plastics, has acquired (from ICL) the RecoPhos thermal technology (see SCOPE Newsletter n°120) for production of P4 (elemental or “white” phosphorus) from secondary raw materials, in particular sewage sludge incineration ashes. P4 is specifically identified as one of the 27 EU “Critical Raw Materials”, separately and in addition to “phosphate rock”, because it is essential for a wide range of applications (see SCOPE Newsletter n°123), including fire protection, batteries, water treatment, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals …and because Europe is currently completely dependent on imports (essentially from Vietnam and Kazakhstan). There is today no EU producer of P4. The RecoPhos technology uses electro-magnetically induced heating of a reactor bed consisting of coke or graphite, and should enable P4 production with an improved energy efficiency profile compared to current industrial processes. It also aims to enable phosphorus recovery from ashes containing iron and to allow decentralised production units to be potentially viable. Because of its hazardous characteristics, P4 or its derivatives require very specific competence and organisation for production, handling and transport, and Italmatch has this industrial competence. A pilot RecoPhos plant was tested in Leoben, Austria, in 2015, treating around 10 kg/h of dry input material.
DANVA, the Danish Water and Wastewater Association, has launched a “PCP” (Pre-Commercial Procurement) project, funded by the Danish Market Development Fund to treat and recycle sewage sludge by use of superheated steam drying and pyrolysis. The technology is developed by the Danish start-up company AquaGreen ApS in corporation with the Danish Technical University (DTU) and Norwegian Akvaplan Niva, funded by the Horizon 2020 Eurostar program. A pilot plant with a capacity of 2.5 tons sewage wet weight sludge per day, at 25% DM, was installed and successfully demonstrated in 2018 at VandCenter Syd A/S, Odense Municipal Waste Water Treatment plant. In 2019, authorisation was given to AquaGreen and Nordlaks Smolten AS to test the system for treatment of fish manure from land based salmon farms in Norway. The dried sludge is pyrolyzed at 650 °C, and the flue gas provides the thermal energy for the superheated steam drying. The resulting biochar is rich on phosphorus (6-8% Vol.) and the plant availability has been proven and documented in field-trials performed by SEGES and green-house trials performed by Copenhagen University, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences.
A report from the Swiss investment bank UBS gives perspectives for future food production, looking at societal tendencies and industrial opportunities. The bank identifies as key drivers: scarcity (water, land, nutrients …), sustainability, new consumer attitudes, wellness (obesity, health inducing molecules), and digitalisation. Replacement of animal products by plant, algae or cell cultured foodstuffs is expected to develop strongly, for resource, environment and health reasons. ESPP notes that phosphorus will remain essential for all such production, opening opportunities for new recycling routes and efficient use. USB see major opportunities in technologies (e.g. drones) and data management to develop precision farming (connectivity, big data, satellite data …) and reduce food waste (internet of things). Challenges include consumer attitudes (traditional preferences), political defence of existing production systems and consumer attitudes to new products and bio-technologies (e.g. gene editing).
A report from an independent thinktank on disruption predicts that non-animal derived proteins will be five times cheaper than animal proteins by 2030, as well as healthier, better tasting and more convenient, leading to a halving of the number of cattle in the USA by 2030 and making the cattle farming industry “all but bankrupt” (disruption of only a third of the industry’s revenues would be sufficient to push it to bankruptcy), leading to a 40-80% fall in farm land prices and a 45% reduction in agriculture’s greenhouse emissions. The key driver will be precision fermentation, enabling micro-organisms to produce almost any organic molecule on demand. Food engineers will then be able to personalise recipes, to develop new products, target consumer tastes or nutrition and health needs. Precision fermentation will be supported by gene sequencing and genetic engineering of micro-organisms, artificial intelligence and robotics, enabling local production. Precision fermentation is already today used to produce e.g. insulin (medicine), human collagen (cosmetics) and artificial sweeteners (food). The report notes that a relatively small substitution can disrupt an existing market (e.g. only 3.3% wet weight of milk is protein) and predicts reductions in the (US) market for beef steak of -30% by 2030, ground beef -70% and milk -90%. The resulting job losses in cattle production and processing (1 million job losses in the USA) would be of a similar order to job creation in precision fermentation. The report suggests that the fertiliser industry would be negatively impacted by the move away from livestock production (-50% fertiliser consumption predicted). ESPP notes however that this assumes that land is not converted to plant production for food or biofuels/biomaterials. The report suggests that precision fermentation is 10-25x more “feedstock efficient” (presumably covering both energy and nutrients) than animal farming, and notes that it will generate wastewater and spent micro-organism biomass, which it suggests could be recycled as fertiliser.
ESPP participated at the ENG SDF&B (Sustainable Development in the Food & Beverage Industry) conference, Düsseldorf, 14-15 January 2020, chairing the second day and leading a round table on “The phosphorus challenge” for food and agriculture. Participants at the conference included leading food companies, agri-food suppliers and supermarkets, including Mars, Coca Cola, Nestlé, Brau Union (Heineken), Metro, Migros, Delhaize Group, Tchibo, Bunge, Friesland Campina, HK Scan …) and the conference was sponsored by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Presentations and discussions included innovation replacing animal products (e.g. Oatly, oat based “milk” replacement; Protifarm, food ingredients from insect production, Proveg, non-meat product incubator …); linking technology and data to sustainability enablement; sustainability from farm to fork, food prices and a living wage for farmers; identifying and reducing sustainability risks in supply chains; and the need for cross-industry cooperation and regulation to move the whole market to sustainability progress. Aquaculture was discussed, as an environmentally efficient source of healthy protein, with ongoing development of increasingly efficient, mainly plant based feed recipes (Mowi, Biomar).
A study estimating the phosphorus footprint of food waste in China estimates that over 83 000 tP/y are contained in at-table (commercial and home) food waste in China, with a total P footprint of over 420 000 tP/y including related crop or livestock production and food processing. This is over 16% of China’s annual consumption of mineral P fertiliser. The study is based on a modelling quantification of food waste, calculated per Chinese region, verified against data from several studies and statistics sources, concluding total at-table food waste of nearly 54 million tonnes/year in China (over 39 kg/person/year). This is then multiplied by “loss factors” for different production and processing systems (cultivated land, animal farming, crop processing …), from other papers by the same author. This may however over estimate animal production losses, because these calculations assume that all phosphorus not transferred into food products is lost, in particular that all manure P is lost and none recycled back to land.
The EU Horizon 2020 project RELACS (Replacing Contentious Inputs in Organic Farming Systems, or Improving Inputs for Organic Farming) has published preliminary results of a major ongoing study into need and use of nutrients, and of organic farmers’ attitudes to recycled nutrients. The study is based on interviews with a total of 79 organic farmers in seven European countries (Germany, Italy, Estonia, UK, Denmark, Switzerland, Hungary). The farms showed, on average, surpluses for nitrogen (average +28 kgN/ha) but near balance for phosphorus (average -1 kgP/ha) and potassium (average +2 kgK/ha), However, nutrient balances varied widely between farms (e.g. -15 to +40 kgP/ha for phosphorus). Farms with externally sourced nitrogen inputs tended to show surpluses of all three nutrients, while increasing reliance on biological nitrogen fixation induced more negative budgets of P and K. Nearly all farmers interviewed were open to using recycled fertilisers, including from urban waste streams, in order to close the nutrient cycle. Yet many farmers raised concerns about contaminants, in particular micro-plastics, as well as about consumer acceptance of use of sewage-derived products.
Jakob Magid, Copenhagen University, one of the RELACS project partners, has commented to SEGES : RELACS’ preliminary data suggests that organic farms relying mainly on nitrogen inputs from plants, with few or no external inputs, have a much lower output productivity than farms with a higher ratio of external inputs. Around half of the organic farms examined in RELACS had outputs of less or much less than 60 kgN/ha in their produce, corresponding to c. 3 tons grain per hectare. Most of the 71 farms examined had few or no animals, and their output was estimated by using farmgate balances of nitrogen in various products or manure. The farms that had higher outputs used substantial amounts of different inputs. The farms that rely heavily on biological nitrogen fixation tended to use few or no external inputs at all, which could be due to low accessibility, and limited economy. If organic farmers want to be able to supply a much larger part of the future European market with organic products, they will have to use the organic farmland as efficiently as possible, Jakob Magid says.
Greenhouse container trials tested the plant availability of phosphorus in thermochemically treated sewage sludge: 170 kg soil, 1 ½ years, barley, spinach, rye grass, maize. The sludge was from a sewage works using iron salts for chemical P-removal, after anaerobic digestion. It was first dried to >93% DM, then pyrolyzed at 550°C (Pyreg) and finally reacted at 950°C with a reducing agent (lignite) and sodium sulphate or chloride (HCl) + sodium sulphate. The resulting ash contained 10-11%P and around 15% iron (Fe), 10% aluminium (Al), 12% calcium (Ca) and 13-14% magnesium (Mg). NAC phosphorus solubility was over 93% for the sewage sludge, dropping to 88% after pyrolysis and to 63 or 87% after the thermochemical treatment (the higher solubility was when chloride was added in the process). Dry matter yield in the container trials was significantly lower than for triple super phosphate for the pyrolyzed sludge and thermochemical ash for both barley and rape and marginally lower for rye grass (for spinach there were no significant differences from the control: no added P). The authors suggest that the container-scale crop trials can simulate real field conditions (significant root development) and that the results show “adequate” long-term plant availability of P in the thermochemical ash materials, but low short-term plant P availability. They suggest that this is because the thermochemical ash contains calcium sodium phosphate and calcium magnesium sodium phosphate (CaNaPO4 and Ca13Mg5Na18(PO4)18.
A R&D trial tested pyrolysed (600°C, biochar) produced from boric acid flame retardant treated cellulosic insulation material (produced from recycled paper, Isocell Austria) as a boron fertiliser in pot trials with rape and sunflower. Such boron-treated flame retardant cellulose can be recycled as building insulation material only a few times because of deterioration in fibre length. The pyrolysis reduces the solubility of the boric acid, which is important because boron is a necessary micronutrient for plants, but is toxic if released too rapidly. Challenges to possible industrial implementation include collection of spent insulation material without contamination, PAH (naphthalene) levels in the biochar and regulatory status of the product (end-of-waste, fertiliser authorisation).
A study by three European Commission (JRC) scientists concludes that environment and health impacts of phosphorus recycling are “often lower” than for phosphate rock derived fertilisers, even without taking into account phosphate rock reserve depletion. The study models impacts of struvite recovery from biological P-removal sewage treatment, direct use of poultry litter incineration ash as fertiliser, pyrolysis of pig manure, and thermochemical treatment of sewage sludge or meat and bone meal, comparing impacts per kg bioavailable P compared to fertilisers produced from phosphate rock (via the “wet acid” route). The study assumes that, in regions with high livestock or population density, the secondary materials are currently either not recycled (co-incineration) or are used inefficiently (application up to Nitrates Vulnerable Zone maximum levels for manure nitrogen, resulting in over-application of phosphorus): phosphorus recycling is estimated to substitute more than twice as much phosphate rock in high density compared to low density regions (where the secondary materials are assumed to be spread appropriately on farmland as fertilising materials). This assumption “improves” results for regions of high livestock/population density, because the current management routes are thus calculated to have higher emissions and poorer use of P (i.e. more “burdens” in life cycle analysis) than if current use is assumed to be appropriate use on agricultural land. Consequently, their estimated “net” emissions (P-recycling minus current disposal route) are improved. With this calculation, most of the P-recycling materials/routes considered show lower overall emissions to air, water and/or soil than production and use of phosphate rock derived fertiliser. Overall the authors conclude that net societal costs for P-recycling products, for the materials/routes and scenarios considered, are 81%, 50% and 10% lower for sewage sludge, manure and meat and bone meal, compared to use of phosphate rock derived fertilisers (even without accounting for the societal benefits of reducing phosphate rock reserve depletion).
As an outcome of the P-RCN (Phosphorus Research Coordination Network, see ESPP Scope Newsletter n°125), scientists have mapped across the world, on a c. 18x11 km grid scale, livestock density and human population, so identifying regions with significant local secondary phosphorus. These are then compared to likely crop fertiliser demand, based on cropland (local % land use under crops) and national phosphorus import and fertiliser use tendencies, to identify zones with phosphorus recycling potential. The modelling concludes that most zones with high manure or sewage phosphorus, in India, China, South East Asia, Europe, North and South America, are close to cropland likely to have significant phosphorus demand. The study aims to enable identification, at a global scale of “hotspots” for phosphorus recycling potential.
European Commission (JRC) scientists (with University of Basel) have published maps of topsoil properties for Europe, presenting phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium, carbon/nitrogen ratio, pH and cation exchange capacity (CEC), an output of the EU FP7 RECARE project. The maps are based on over 20 000 soil sample tests, from 2009 and 2012 combined with 270 000 data points for land use and land cover and modelling (Gaussian Process Regression), leading to mapping with 250m resolution. Prediction was highest for C/N (R2>0.9) and reasonable for the other properties (R2>0.6) except CEC (R2=0.35). The authors conclude that land use seems to be the main driver for topsoil phosphorus levels, with fertiliser use leading to higher levels in agricultural areas, whereas soil nitrogen is dependent on soil organic carbon, vegetation, climate and soil texture. The results do not aim to replace local monitoring data, but to provide a European level overview. Maps for phosphorus and nitrogen are reproduced below with permission – see the cited publication for the other maps and full details.
See maps for nitrogen and phosphorus in a published paper or pdf version of this ESPP eNews.
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Registration is now open (on Eventbrite) for the 4th European Sustainable Phosphorus Conference, Vienna, 15-17 June 2020. This 4th ESPC will centre in plenary on business models, company success stories and city and regional actions towards nutrient circularity. Parallel sessions will mix research with application (see below, call for papers). The third day (17th June) will be the 4th European phosphorus R&D day, showcasing R&D into phosphorus recycling and recycled products and new approaches.
Deadline for submission of presentations, success stories, posters is extended to 31st January 2020 (as several authors requested more time). Fifty presentations are already registered, but some opportunities remain.
Hotels are beginning to fill up in Vienna. Register and book now to get better prices!
Registration is now open for the 13th CRU Phosphates Conference, 8-10 March 2020 Paris. This is the world’s leading phosphate industry meeting, with over 400 industry participants from 40 countries expected, covering supply, market trends and industry processes and technologies for phosphate rock, fertilisers, animal feed and industrial phosphorus applications. The conference includes outlook presentations by executives of the world’s leading phosphates companies; supply, demand and market trends; new phosphate processing technologies and operating experience. See summary of the 12th CRU Phosphates Conference (Florida, 2019) in ESPP eNews n°33. 10% registration fee discount for ESPP members.
Europe’s leading manure and organic resources recycling conference, RAMIRAN, will take place in Cambridge, UK, 14-17 September 2020. The RAMIRAN network was established 25 years ago and the biennial conference attracts some 250 participants. This year’s RAMIRAN will look at “Managing Organic Resources in a Changing Environment”, including nutrient utilisation, soil quality, air and water, best practices, treatment technologies and policy. Abstract submission until 1st March 2019.
www.ramiran2020.org
See more upcoming events at www.phosphorusplatform.eu/upcoming-events
ESPP (European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform) and the Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance (North America) are preparing a special SCOPE Newsletter edition on “Nutrients and Climate Change”. This will consist of selected short texts presenting expert perspectives on how climate change will impact nutrient emissions and eutrophication as well as actions to mitigate this. Proposed texts are invited from researchers, companies, stakeholders and any interested party. Around twenty texts will be selected for publication by an editorial committee chaired by Jessica Stubenrauch, Beatrice Garske (FNK Leipzig & University of Rostock), Anders Nättorp (FHNW Switzerland) and Jim Elser (University of Montana). The SCOPE Newsletter is circulated worldwide to 41 000 companies, stakeholders, regulators and media interested in nutrient management, with a detected opening rate of 12-14%, and is published on the ESPP website www.phosphorusplatform.eu Submit your text to be included!
The European Commission has opened a public consultation, to 20th January 2020, on the Roadmap for a New Circular Economy Action Plan. The proposed Roadmap underlines the economic potential of the Circular Economy, which employs 4 million people with a 6% increase since 2012. Reducing dependency on raw materials, and reducing waste are cited as key objectives, in particular reducing landfill and incineration of municipal waste. Objectives indicated include developing the market for recycled materials, developing skills and investments, improving legal certainty. Actions to be considered include supporting design for recycling and preventing environmentally harmful products, regulating green claims and information on sustainability. The Roadmap cites as priority sectors “opportunities for closing loops for biological materials”, textiles, construction, electronics, plastics and packaging.
The EU has opened a public survey, to 19th January 2020, on the Horizon Europe ‘Mission’ on “Soil Health and Food”. This consultation targets mainly individuals or organisations for a simple opinion (around 15 rapid-to-answer questions) on what are key issues around soil health. ESPP will submit input underlining the importance of nutrients and of soil carbon, and the links between soil quality and nutritional value and safety of food.
The new European Commission published its “Green Deal” on 11th December 2019, a 24-page outline of political objectives plus a 4-page “Roadmap” (list of policy actions with dates). The Green Deal is now submitted to the European Parliament and Council (Member States). Key elements are an objective of zero net greenhouse emissions by 2050, implemented by a European Climate Law, a resource-efficient economy and a Sustainable Europe Investment Plan. The Green Deal also aims for “zero pollution”, restoring biodiversity, sustainable mobility and “farm to fork: fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system”. A Climate Pact will be launched in March 2020 to engage citizens and give them a voice. A “clean circular economy” is one of the seven themes of the Green Deal, with a new EU “circular economy action plan” for March 2020. This may include “legal requirements to boost the market for secondary raw materials, with mandatory recycled content” and an “EU model for separate waste collection”. Nutrients are not, however, in the priority sectors listed (packaging, plastics, batteries, vehicles, construction materials, electronics, textiles). Nutrient management and the circular economy are however cited as an objective of the “farm to fork” objectives, where the roadmap includes “Measures, including legislative, to significantly reduce the use and risk of … fertilisers” (2020-2021). The objective to “reduce pollution from excess nutrients” is also cited under the zero pollution objective (action: zero pollution for water, air and soil: 2021).
The European Commission has published (10th December 2019) the “Fitness Check” of the EU Water Framework Directive (with the Environmental Quality Standards, Groundwater and Floods Directives). The Commission’s conclusions maintain and confirm the Water Framework Directive’s objectives, in particular the 2027 deadline, by when Member States must ensure that all water bodies (lakes, rivers and groundwater) achieve ecological quality standards (“good” status). These conclusions have been welcomed with relief by NGOs and scientists, who had feared that the WFD deadlines might be delayed, and are coherent with the ambitious objectives of the new European Commission’s “Green Deal”. The public enquiry for this Fitness Check received an exceptionally high 370 000 responses. The Commission underlines that no substantial progress has been made over recent years in water bodies’ overall quality status, and that only half of water bodies had achieved good quality by 2015. The Commission notes that achieving quality objectives will requires reducing pressures, restoration (e.g. morphological), full implementation of the Nitrates Directive and of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive and better integration of action in agriculture and transport. Diffuse pollution of nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen) from agriculture are identified as a major challenge: “Around 38% of the EU’s surface water bodies are under pressure from diffuse pollution (of which agricultural production is a major source (25%))”. Failure to achieve the WFD’s objectives is considered to be due to insufficient funding, slow Member State implementation and insufficient integration of environment into other sectoral policies. Actions to address these should include working on best practices for cost-recovery, reduction of pollutants at source and green infrastructure.
The European Commission has published conclusions of the “Assessment” of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD 1991/271), an assessment carried out independently from the water policy REFIT (see above) and based on an in-depth JRC and OECD study and specific public consultations. The UWWTD assessment concludes that the Directive has been effective, largely because of the “clarity and simplicity of its requirements”, that benefits outweigh costs, that administrative costs are negligible compared to costs and benefits, that it is coherent with other water policy and that there is widespread recognition that the Directive is still needed and that withdrawing it would have negative impacts. The Directive is estimated to have been successful in reducing pollution, with wastewater BOD (biochemical oxygen demand), nitrogen and phosphorus reduced by 61%, 32% and 44% from 1990 to 2014. However, full compliance is still not achieved in a number of Member States: full compliance for phosphorus would reduce current total emissions to surface waters by over 13.5%. A further 250 billion € needs to spent in the EU to 2030 to maintain and achieve full UWWTD compliance. Nonetheless, the Directive is assessed to be cost effective, with total EU annual capital and operating costs at 18 bn€/y compared to benefits or nearly 30 bn€/y. Challenges which should be assessed are identified as: improving cost-recovery (water tariffs), better collection and treatment of stormwater overflows and urban runoff, emerging contaminants (pharmaceuticals, microplastics), more coherent definition of eutrophication ‘Sensitive Areas’ by Member States, Circular Economy potentials (control at source of pollutants to facilitate agricultural use of sludge and water reuse) and improving treatment wastewater from smaller agglomerations and non-connected households (these place significant pressure on over 10% of Europe’s water bodies). The assessment concludes that the Directive has led to innovation so that today eight of the world’s top fifteen water businesses are EU-based.
The JRC study (Pistocchi et al. 2019) accompanying the European Commission’s assessment of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD), see above, provides an estimate (fig. 67, p86) of reductions in loads to the environment of phosphorus, nitrogen, BOD and coliforms which would result from full enforcement of the UWWT Directive. For phosphorus, this avoidable load is estimated to be just over 50 million p.e. (person equivalent), broken down as 20 M p.e. from non compliant agglomerations, around 15 M from small agglomerations and scattered dwellings, around 10 M from combined storm overflows (CSOs) and around 5 M p.e. from urban runoff. It is emphasised that the UWWTD only addresses loads from municipal wastewater. Estimates are given (from Vigiak 2019) for total 2019 loads of BOD to EU water bodies, suggesting 34% from livestock, 31% from sewage works and scattered dwellings and 20% from urban runoff (rest: industry, forestry). A comparable estimate is not provided for phosphorus or nitrogen.
The finalised BAT BREF for the “Food, Drink and Milk” industries (FDM) has now been published on the EU JRC website. Under the Industrial Emissions Directive, the BAT specifications in this document now become obligatory for all concerned FDM production sites. During the preparation discussions, ESPP underlined the importance of phosphorus stewardship, see ESPP eNews n°28. Under 17.1.6 (Resource efficiency) BAT 10, it is specified that “Phosphorus recovery as struvite” is BAT for “waste water streams with … high total phosphorus content (e.g. above 50 mg/l) and a significant flow”. Other BAT techniques indicated are anaerobic digestion, appropriate use of residues in animal feed, appropriate use of wastewater in agriculture to valorise nutrients and/or water.
ICL Fertilizers, Amsterdam, has published a video presenting the new installations enabling use of sewage sludge incineration ash and bone meal ash as input materials for phosphate mineral fertiliser production. The phosphate recycling unit includes three new silos and input systems, enabling mixing of the ashes with phosphate rock in the chemical reaction phase with sulfuric and phosphoric acid, in the factory’s existing 550 000 t/y phosphate fertiliser production process. As well as reducing dependency on non-renewable phosphate rock resources, recycling of secondary phosphate-containing materials enables reduced transport and so reduced carbon footprint. ICL states as its objectives to be a frontrunner in phosphate recycling, with the ultimate goal of reaching a fully closed phosphorus loop.
Atria, Finland, is a leading Nordic food company, with nearly 5 000 staff and a range of fresh and processed meat products. The company, with its A-Rehu contract farmers and contract producers, aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035. Atria has now also made a five year Commitment with the Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG) as part of its sustainability and circular economy objectives. The Commitment aims to reduce the environmental impact of livestock production by, e.g. optimisation of feeding, recycling of food industry by-products as feed, nutrient recycling. Cooperation with arable farmers supplying animal feeds will aim to improve manure application and crop rotation and to increase land use efficiency and domestic protein crop production (to reduce the carbon footprint of imported soya). Conservation agriculture and other practices will be developed to improve soil health and carbon sequestration, by training of Atria’s own experts, sharing of best practices and communication of research results.
The benefits for soil, plant and soil microbes of an organic fertilising material produced by carbon and nitrogen capture technology were tested. The CCU (carbon capture and utilisation) technology developed by CCm is presented in ESPP’s SCOPE Newsletter n°134. Ammonia solution (recycling of nitrogen by stripping from e.g. digesters) is reacted with calcium nitrate, then with CO2 and a secondary organic (cellulosic substrate), producing calcium carbonate which acts as a binder, (as well as being a plant nutrient) enabling production of pellets containing nitrogen and organic carbon. The resulting product was tested using two different soils (peat compost, mineral soil), measuring soil characteristics, plant growth (30 day pot trials with wheat with CCm product dosed at 0 – 7 g/l soil) and soil microbial development (after soil sterilisation). Results showed that soil water retention was doubled in the peat compost with 25g CCm/l soil and soil matric potential was significantly improved (soil plant water availability: the force with which water is held by the soil matrix, as measured by a tensiometer). Wheat plant biomass showed c. 40% increase at 3 gCCm/l-soil (statistically significant), but with not such a large increase at 6 g/l (but still higher than without CCm): this is probably related to the nitrogen content of the CCm and possibly other nutrients (in the recycled organic substrate) as well as to improved soil properties. The CCm process shows interesting potential to valorize to soil both carbon and nutrients in organic wastes, whilst fixing further atmospheric nitrogen and providing a soil sink for industrial CO2.
Microalgae biomass of two different origins, after simple drying, was tested as an organic fertiliser for container-grown tomatoes in a greenhouse test (3 months), looking at tomato plant growth, fruit harvest quantity and quality. The microalgae biomass came from (a) flocs harvested from an outdoor raceway pond operated for batch treatment of wastewater from a freshwater fish cultivation aquaculture system and (b) production in outdoor photoreactors using marine water and flue gas CO2 and residual heat from landfill biogas combustion The dried microalgae biomass contained 0.6 and 1.3 %P (a and b), 2.4 and 8% N, 0.2 and 1.4 %K, 20 and 0.2% calcium and various microelements. Fertiliser effectiveness was compared to a liquid inorganic fertiliser adapted to tomatoes and a blend of two solid organic commercial fertilisers (Frayssinet, France) with potassium, magnesium and sulphate added to ensure comparable macronutrient ratios. The microalgae were applied assuming a 33% N mineralisation rate. The four treatments gave similar plant growth, but a lower fruit yield (wet weight) with the organic fertiliser, and very much lower still (< 50%) with the microalgae. Tomato quality (sugar and carotenoid content) were significantly higher with the organic fertiliser and the microalgae. The authors suggest that the significantly lower tomato productivity may be related to increased salinity with the organic fertilisers and microalgae.
A workshop on water innovation, organised by four Horizon 2020 projects (SMART-Plant, nextGen, Hydrousa and Project-O) and the European Commission (EASME), see ESPP SCOPE Newsletter n°132, discussed opportunities and challenges for resource recycling from wastewater. The workshop agreed the following recommendations to further nutrient recovery and recycling: promote a positive image for recycling nutrients; need for stable regulatory support; importance of networking of competence, platforms and data benchmarking; difficulties posed by disparate implementation of End-of-Waste in different Member States and regions. The workshop recommended to promote and support nutrient recycling in Horizon Europe, and to develop better coordination of End-of-Waste, Water Policy and Circular Economy policies between Member States.
A laboratory-scale study in Japan suggests that elemental phosphorus (P4, also known as “white” or “yellow phosphorus”) can possibly be produced from phosphoric acid using less energy than production directly from phosphate rock. Existing technologies are estimated to consume around 1 500 kWh electricity per tonne P4 produced, operating at around 1400°C. A 32 mm internal diameter, 1.2 m high quartz reactor furnace, heated electrically, was tested, mixing phosphoric acid with activated carbon as substrate (P-source and reducing agent). The furnace was heated to 1000°C in the activated carbon (reducing) zone, with a second reaction zone at 700°C. The authors suggest that phosphoric acid recovered from secondary materials, for example phosphoric acid recovered from steel slag, for which several experimental studies have been published in Japan (see e.g. Iwama et al. 2019).
The EEA (European Environment Agency) “State of the Environment 2020” report says “change of direction (is) urgently needed to face climate change challenges, reverse degradation and ensure future prosperity” and that “Europe will not achieve its sustainability vision … by continuing to promote economic growth and seeking to manage the environmental and social impacts”. The new European Commission Vice-President, Frans Timmermans, responded that the EU needed an urgent paradigm shift, and the new Environment Commissioner, Virginijus Sinkevicius, indicated that priorities are biodiversity, the circular economy and zero pollution. The EEA report points to phosphorus and nitrogen cycles as both exceeding Planetary Boundaries, underlining that diffuse emissions of both P and N to water remain a problem (62% of EU ecosystems are exposed to levels of nitrogen beyond safe tolerance) and that this requires more coherent policies for agriculture, transport, industry and waste water treatment, including a wider food system perspective
The European Commission has published an Expert Group report on circular economy (CE) financing, concluding that risk, and perception and assessment of risk, are the main challenge to finance of CE projects. The report develops recommendations for financial institutions, for project promoters and for policy makers. These are based on the following general conclusions: level playing field, value chain collaboration and participation of end-users, economic integration of externality costs and product longevity, financing knowledge and innovative first-movers. Recommendations to the financial sector are to define definitions, taxonomy and tools to measure circularity, risk analysis of linear models, financial risk sharing and increasing awareness. Project promoters should identify circular sources of revenues, collaborate with other circular economy communities, disclose environmental and social benefits and develop staff training and knowledge. Recommendations to financial decision makers are to develop reporting standards for risks of linear business models, define definitions and taxonomy of circularity, establish technical and financial advisory services to support circular economy projects and to prioritise circular economy projects within the InvestEU fund. Recommendations to policy makers are to create a framework favorable to and facilitate the circular economy, including: define metrics, develop national and regional circular economy strategies linked to other policies, set CE targets, create collaborative platforms, remove subsidies to linear systems, implement EPR extended producer responsibility, fix sunset dates for landfill, provide fiscal incentives, and create markets via public procurement.
A 580 page report by IUCN (International Union for Nature Conservation) assesses evidence for ocean deoxygenation across the world, links to eutrophication, to climate change and ocean warming and to algal blooms, impacts on ecological systems, fisheries and on people, perspectives and actions needed. Water oxygen concentrations are critical to fish and marine life, because it is much more difficult to breath in water than in air (there is much less oxygen in a given volume of water). Global ocean oxygen content is estimated to have fallen 1-2% since the mid twentieth century. The number of low oxygen ocean sites has increased to over 500 over recent decades, and climate warming is expected to exacerbate this. Ocean deoxygenation can be attributed to two causes: climate change and ocean warming, which lead to an overall slowdown in marine circulation and so lower uptake of oxygen to seawater from the atmosphere; and nutrient inputs, from atmospheric nitrogen deposition and land runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus (eutrophication) in coastal areas world-wide, leading to oxygen consumption by algae and then to oxygen deficiencies near the sea bed. Remobilisation of phosphorus and iron from sediment particles in low oxygen conditions can further accelerate the process (feedback loops). Impacts of ocean deoxygenation are regionally very variable, and are highly critical in semi-enclosed seas (e.g. Baltic, Black Sea, Gulf of Mexico) and the EBUS (Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (equatorial and coastal regions of the eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans). The report underlines that ocean deoxygenation and climate change are strongly interlinked, and that the key contributors to both are the same: agriculture and burning of fossil fuels and that a key action is to address nutrient inputs to rivers and oceans from septic systems and wastewater treatment plants, fertiliser run off, livestock manure, and atmospheric deposition of nitrogen from the burning of fossil fuels.
More than 150 scientists have signed a call for “urgent action on nitrogen pollution”, addressed to the United Nations. Currently, 80% of nitrogen used in agriculture is lost, that is more than 200 million tonnes of nitrogen per year, at a cost of 200 US$ billion, adding to nitrogen oxides generated by energy, industry and transport (combustion processes). Actions called for include more efficient use of fertilisers and manures, cutting food waste, reducing meat and dairy consumption and new technologies for nitrogen capture from transport and from fossil fuel burning. The initiative is led by CEH, Edinburgh, Scotland and the INMS (International Nitrogen Management System).
A nineteen page review outlines a wide range of phosphorus and nitrogen recovery technologies for wastewater, providing some 200 references. P-recovery technologies addressed include: ion exchange / adsorption, electrodialysis, magnetic microsorbants, reactive filtration media (e.g. polonite, zeolites), urine separation, struvite precipitation, metal phosphate precipitation, electrochemical (sacrificial anode, dimensionally stable anode DSA), biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) and then land application of biosolids, algae harvesting. Nitrogen recovery technologies addressed include: ion exchange/adsorption of ammonium (e.g. using zeolites or clinoptilolites), electrochemical and microbial fuel cells, struvite precipitation, stripping, gas permeable membranes, conversion to livestock feed or protein by heterotrophic microorganisms. The authors underline that only a few of these processes result in a directly useable product (e.g. struvite, considered a “good fertiliser”), challenges of contaminants in the recovered product, and that all processes work better if nutrients are concentrated (e.g. by urine separation or EBPR). A table summarises ‘pros and cons’ of the different processes.
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In this SCOPE newsletter:
Summary of the 3rd IWA
Resource Recovery Conference (IWARR 2019)
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Events
CRU Phosphates 2020
European biosolids conference
Calls for papers
Call for papers ESPC4
Call for texts: phosphorus stewardship and climate change
Call for consultants: EIP-AGRI
Study on EU “restrictions” for composts and digestates
DG ENVI study on contaminants in composts and digestates
ESPP new member
PhosAgro joins ESPP
Phosphorus recycling
Global compendium of P-recovery technologies
Communications
SPA blog on farm phosphorus traps
EU circularity rate
JRC: raw materials and Sustainable Development Goals
Business models for resource recovery in developing countries
FAO guidelines on estimating livestock nutrient flows and impacts
Science and research
Journal special issue and blog on phosphorus
EU Critical Raw Materials project on phosphate rock reserves
Clean Water Cluster Event
Iron phosphate for P-removal from sediments and runoff
New fertilisers
Registration is now open for the 13th CRU Phosphates Conference, 8-10 March 2020 Paris. This is the world’s leading phosphate industry meeting, with over 400 industry participants from 40 countries expected, covering supply, market trends and industry processes and technologies for phosphate rock, fertilisers, animal feed and industrial phosphorus applications. The conference includes outlook presentations by executives of the world’s leading phosphates companies; supply, demand and market trends; new phosphate processing technologies and operating experience. See summary of the 12th CRU Phosphates Conference (Florida, 2019) in ESPP eNews n°33. 10% registration fee discount for ESPP members.
CRU Phosphates 2020, 8-10 March Paris - https://events.crugroup.com/phosphates
ESPP will moderate the resource recovery session at the AquaEnviro “European Biosolids & Organic Resources Conference”, Manchester (Old Trafford Stadium) UK, 19-20 November. This is Europe’s main conference on sewage sludge management with over 280 participants last year (2018). The water industry is focussed on maximising energy recovery from sewage sludges, whilst retaining the option of agricultural valorisation for treated biosolids. The use of thermal hydrolysis as a pre-treatment in so-called Advanced Anaerobic Digestion (AAD) is increasingly common, but the return liquors from these processes present a number of challenges, particularly in terms of ammonia load (operating experience from Severn Trent and Thames Water sites will be presented). Sessions include biosolids to land, ammonia management, biogas, resource recovery …
European Biosolids & Organic Resources Conference, Manchester UK, 21-22 November http://european-biosolids.com/
Save the date: 4th European Sustainable Phosphorus Conference, Vienna, 15-17 June 2020
www.phosphorusplatform.eu/espc4
See more upcoming events at www.phosphorusplatform.eu/upcoming-events
The call for abstracts and posters is now open (closes 31/12/2019) for the 4th European Sustainable Phosphorus Conference, Vienna, 15-17 June 2020. Abstracts are invited for presentations at the six parallel sessions, for plenary success story mini-presentations, for posters or for stands. The parallel session themes are: economy (of phosphorus sustainability and nutrient recycling), enhanced efficiency fertilisers, sustainable phosphorus removal from waste streams, R&D cooperation and platforms, taking R&D developments through to the market and phosphorus sustainability perspectives. Proposed success story mini-presentations (3 minutes, plenary) should present your company, local authority (city, region …) or stakeholder successes in implementing phosphorus recycling or phosphorus management. Posters and stands can address any subject related to nutrient sustainability.
Full details www.phosphorusplatform.eu/espc4
ESPP (European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform) and the Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance (North America) are preparing a special SCOPE Newsletter edition on “Nutrients and Climate Change”. This will consist of selected short texts presenting expert perspectives on how climate change will impact nutrient emissions and eutrophication as well as actions to mitigate this. Proposed texts are invited from researchers, companies, stakeholders and any interested party. Around twenty texts will be selected for publication by an editorial committee chaired by Jessica Stubenrauch, Beatrice Garske (FNK Leipzig & University of Rostock), Anders Nättorp (FHNW Switzerland) and Jim Elser (University of Montana). The SCOPE Newsletter is circulated worldwide to 41 000 companies, stakeholders, regulators and media interested in nutrient management, with a detected opening rate of 12-14%, and is published on the ESPP website www.phosphorusplatform.eu Submit your text to be included!
Send us your ideas for action for on nutrients and climate change to appear with the world’s leading experts.
Maximum 600 words. Deadline 31.01.2020 latest.
Call details and instructions here: https://phosphorusplatform.eu/callfortexts
The European Commission funded innovation platform “EIP-AGRI” has published a call for consultants/experts to coordinate (including drafting documents) or facilitate events on the following themes: resource management and sustainable soil management, farm resilience capacity and digitisation. Deadline for submission is 9th December 2019.
EIP call for coordinating experts / event facilitators: https://ec.europa.eu/eip/agriculture/en/news/call-interest-would-you-contribute-eip-agri-0
A study commissioned by the European Commission (DG Environment) assesses risks related to contaminants in composts and digestates, and proposes possible “Risk Management” measures (restrictions using the EU Chemical Regulation REACH). ESPP submitted an Access to Information procedure for this document in June 2019, and has now been informed that it is published here (see ESPP eNews n°35).
It should be noted that although both compost and digestate are now exempt from REACH registration (see ESPP eNews n°34), EU-wide restrictions (effectively including bans) can nonetheless be implemented using REACH.
Four possible “Risk Reduction” measures are proposed: EU limits on contaminants in all composts and digestates; ban on use of sewage sludge and/or mechanically separated household organic waste MBT in composts and digestates; specific restrictions where composts or digestates are used as growing media; obligation for two-stage anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge. The study appears to suggest that any restrictions for sewage sludge being used in compost or digestate should also be applied to all sewage sludge going to agricultural land.
Legal options discussed include restrictions on all composts and digestates (using REACH), modifications of the EU Fertilising Products Regulation annexes (would only impact CE-Mark composts and digestates), modification of the EU Sewage Sludge Directive or EU Waste Water Treatment Directive. It is ESPP’s understanding that a restriction under REACH could, for example, prevent the placing on the market in Europe (that is sale or use at no cost by any party other than the producer, other than under “waste” regulation) of any compost or digestate containing contaminants above specified limits and/or containing excluded input materials.
“European Commission. Digestate and compost as fertilisers: Risk assessment and risk management options. Final Report”, Ramboll – Peter Fisk – WOOD (referred to in the tender as the “AMEC” study), ref. 40039CL00313, 8th February 2019 https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft-document.html?docId=57674
Russia-based leading phosphate fertiliser producer, PhosAgro, has become a member of ESPP. PhosAgro is the largest phosphate-based fertiliser producer and one of the leading animal feed phosphate producers in the European continent, and one of the world’s leading integrated phosphate rock and fertiliser producers. PhosAgro’s main products include phosphate rock, 39 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate. These products are used by customers in more than 100 countries across the world. PhosAgro is the first fertiliser company not producing in the EU to become a member of ESPP, conform to ESPP’s statutes which specify that the association’s activities are related to Europe and admit as members any organisation with activities related to phosphorus sustainability. PhosAgro’s 2025 strategy prioritise sustainable development and high standards in social, environmental and corporate governance performance. PhosAgro’s low-cadmium phosphate-based fertilizers stand out for their high efficiency and their environmental safety. PhosAgro is the first Russian company selected by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to implement a global soil protection initiative.
PhosAgro website www.phosagro.ru
The Global Water Research Consortium has produced a 40-page report summarising technologies currently available worldwide for phosphorus recovery from municipal sewage, summarising how the different technologies integrate into sewage works operation and sludge processing systems. It describes each process, how it functions, the technology readiness level, compatibility with German phosphorus recovery legislation requirements, limitations of application regarding sewage works type and sludge and other information relevant to implementation. Processes considered include P-recovery of dissolved phosphate from liquors by struvite precipitation, HAP (hydroxyapatite) precipitation, calcium silicate hydrate adsorption; release of further phosphorus from sludge to increase recovery potential from liquors (lysis: Cambi, Pondus; bio-acidification: Ostara Wasstrip, Veolia Phosforce). A total of over 20 such technologies are listed. Processes recovering phosphorus directly from sewage sludge considered are: Budenheim Extraphos, pyrolysis, EuPhoRe, Kubota, Mephrec/P.KON. Considered processes taking sewage sludge incineration ash as input material are: Glatt SeraPlant, Ecophos, Remondis Tetraphos, Phos4Life/ZAR Zurich, EasyMining Ash2Phos/CleanMap, Metawater alkali leaching Japan, AshDec.
Global Water Research Consortium http://globalwaterresearchcoalition.net ““Global Compendium on Phosphorus Recovery from Sewage/Sludge/Ash”, Technical Report, March 2019 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331982837_Global_Compendium_on_Phosphorus_Recovery_from_SewageSludgeAsh
The Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance, North America, has published another of its online thematic blog series, summarising the potential of phosphorus traps for removing dissolved phosphorus in run-off from fields or subcatchments with legacy phosphorus losses, that is sites where phosphorus losses will remain elevated “for decades” because of accumulated phosphorus in soils. Traps are buried tanks containing materials which adsorb soluble phosphorus from collected runoff. Identified criteria for installation are indicated as: convergence of tile drainage or surface water at a site with vertical height above outflow (hydraulic push through adsorbent), at least 0.2 mgPsolube/l, design to cope with peak flow rates (at many sites, 90% of P is lost in 5% of flow events) and so sufficient space (e.g. 40 tons of adsorbent for 4000 l/minute for a poultry farm). Adsorbent materials are often iron-containing by-products (such as steel slag) but these will not be recyclable, but research into regeneration is underway.
SPA blog “A tool for trapping dissolved phosphorus”, C. Penn, 10/2019 https://phosphorusalliance.org/2019/09/05/chad-penn/ and “Review. A Review of Phosphorus Removal Structures: How to Assess and Compare Their Performance”, C. Penn et al. Water 2017, 9, 583; http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w9080583
An update from Eurostat indicates that the “circularity rate” in the EU reached 11.7% in 2016, slowly progressing up from 8.4% in 2004. The “circularity rate” covers all materials fed into the economy, and is much lower that the “recycling rate” (around 55% in the EU) which considers only wastes. The circularity rate varies from 1.3% in Greece to 29% in The Netherlands, not only because of recycling but also because of higher imports of materials (including fossil fuels) or higher rates of materials extraction (mining), both of which lead to lower circularity rate.
“What goes around comes around – EU circularity rate”, Eurostat, 18th September 2019 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20190918-2
A European Commission (JRC) Science for Policy publication looks at how raw materials use interacts with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), noting that raw materials are necessary for sustainability objectives (e.g. for production of energy-saving technologies) but that their extraction has significant impacts. The role of forestry is underlined, providing raw materials, as well as ecosystem and climate services, on condition of sustainable forest management. The role of phosphate and potash, in SDG2 (“Zero Hunger”) is noted, by their contribution to agricultural productivity. The importance of EU Raw Materials policies, and also policies for the Circular Economy and minerals conflicts are underlined, as is the need for monitoring.
“Future supply of raw materials must not repeat the sustainability problems of the past”, European Commission (JRC), Mancini et al., 2nd October 2019 https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/future-supply-raw-materials-must-not-repeat-sustainability-problems-past
An 800 page report from the IWMI (International Water Management Institute) presents business models for energy, nutrient and water reuse in low- and middle-income countries. The report underlines the potential to combine closing nutrient recycling loops, develop a circular economy, recover waste and water treatment costs and develop viable businesses, whilst ensuring the key public service of sanitation. Decentralised solutions may help address the non-availability of funding necessary to establish or upgrade large scale installations. Examples presented adding “night soil” (faeces) in composting of municipal solid waste to improve the nutrient value of the product, using low-cost technology and enabling sale to farmers (Sri Lanka), composting livestock waste (Mexico), public toilet faeces to nutrient-rich compost (Rwanda), faecal sludge use on farm (India), provision of sanitation and processing faeces and urine to organic fertiliser for agriculture (Burkina Faso).
“Resource recovery from waste. Business models for energy, nutrient and water reuse in low- and middle-income countries”, M. Otoo & P. Drechsel, ed., Routledge, ISBN 978-1-315-78086-3, 2018 http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/Books/PDF/resource-recovery-from-waste.pdf
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has published LEAP guidelines (Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance Partnership) on how to assess and account nitrogen and phosphorus flows and life cycle assessment (LCA) for livestock production and supply chains. FAO underlines the importance of these nutrients for the sustainability of agriculture, citing planetary boundaries and that phosphorus is a non-renewable, non-substitutable, finite resource. The aim is to enable identification opportunities to improve nutrient management, improve nutrient efficiency and reduce impacts. ESPP participated in the document development process, underlining the importance of evaluating recycling flows, and the final document does clearly address not only inputs, outputs and losses but also specifically nutrient recycling.
“Nutrient flow and associated environmental impacts in livestock supply chains. Guidelines for assessment”, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations 2018, 196 pages, ISBN 978-92-5-130901-8 http://www.fao.org/partnerships/leap/publications/guidelines/en/
The Journal of Environmental Quality has published (open access) a special issue on phosphorus with 23 papers, mainly on phosphorus in agriculture and catchment management. The papers are mostly reviews and opinion summaries, rather than new research. A summary (Johnston & Poulton) of 175 years of long-term field experiments at Rothamsted, UK, and at other sites shows the clear link between plant available phosphorus in soil (soil P higher than the critical level related to soil phosphorus buffering capacity) and crop yield, with high fertiliser efficiency when soil P is near the critical level and inputs are slightly higher than offtakes (90 – 55% P-use efficiency). Other papers show the challenges of phosphorus loss mitigation strategies: no single solution or measure fits all, uncertainty of results, time delays. The situation in the Chesapeake Bay is illustrative (Kleinman, Fanelli et al.), despite the management plan, dissolved P is increasing in some tributaries and challenges include legacy P, artificial drainage and livestock density. Several papers present data on P behavior in agricultural catchments, showing that agriculture increases labile P in soils compared to natural vegetation (Neidhardt, Acthen et al.), that agricultural soil P losses occur in both drains and surface runoff (Macrae, Ali et al.) and that high P losses occur with drought and with rainfall events because of resuspension of legacy P in sediments (Bieroza, Bergström et al.). A review of studies (Nash, McDowell et al.) shows that recent fertiliser application can contribute 30 – 80% of P-runoff from grassland, but that this can be reduced to <10% by good management practices. A series of blogs are published to promote the content of this science special issue to a wider audience.
Journal of Environmental Quality special issue on phosphorus, JEQ Volume 48 Issue 5, September-October 2019 https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/jeq/tocs/48/5#h1-SPECIAL%20SECTION:%20CELEBRATING%20THE%20350TH%20ANNIVERSARY%20OF%20DISCOVERING%20PHOSPHORUS%E2%80%94FOR%20BETTER%20OR%20WORSE
Blogs on phosphorus: “The discovery and general uses of phosphorus”, “Why is phosphorus needed on farms”, “What are sources of phosphorus for crops”, “What are the challenges regarding phosphorus use”, “Ten things we can do to manage phosphorus better” https://soilsmatter.wordpress.com/author/soilsmatter2011/ and web story https://www.soils.org/discover-soils/story/reduce-reuse-recycle-the-future-of-phosphorus
The EU-funded Expert Network on Critical Raw Materials (SCRREEN) has published a “Report on the Future Use of Critical Raw Materials”. This includes a useful breakdown of use of phosphate rock (2016, worldwide, provided by IFA, International Fertilizer Association), indicating that >80% goes to fertilisers, 7% to animal feeds, <5% to detergents and <1% to human food additives (5-6% other industrial uses). The report underlines that unlike for example fossil fuels, phosphorus cannot be replaced in agriculture because it is essential for plants and animals (although the report does misguidedly add “with current scientific understanding”). The report indicates that world demand for phosphate rock is likely to grow considerably, with increasing world population and in parts of the world increasing animal products in diets, leading to conclude a possible “inelastic supply gap at market in the decade of 2020-2030” and that “current phosphate rock reserves will be depleted in approximately 70 to 140 years”. No mention is made of the environmental impacts of phosphorus use (eutrophication).
SCRREEN (Solutions for CRitical Raw materials – a European Expert Network, Horizon 2020, 2016-2020) “Report on the Future Use of Critical Raw Materials”, L. Tercero Espinoza et al., http://scrreen.eu/results/ and deliverable D2.3 http://scrreen.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/SCRREEN-D2.3-Report-on-the-future-use-of-critical-raw-materials-2.pdf
The Horizon 2020 cluster event, Girona, 22nd October 2019, brought together 12 R&D projects in the field of clean water with themes including phosphorus removal, groundwater nitrates and antimicrobial resistance.
Stefan Peiffer, University of Bayreuth, presented the recently started P-TRAP project (https://h2020-p-trap.eu/) that targets diffuse phosphorus input to surface waters. The project will focus on immobilization of phosphorus in artificially drained agricultural areas as well as long-term stabilization of phosphorus in lake sediments, using iron-containing by-products from drinking water treatment. Also, vivianite and phosphorus-containing Fe(III)oxides recovered from phosphorus “traps” in agricultural runoff will be evaluated as a fertilizer in collaboration with Spanish company Fertiberia.
Sara Johansson, University of Girona, presented her work on phosphorus and potassium recovery from digested sludge liquors developed within the recently finished TreatRec project (https://treatrec.eu/). Published results show that anammox as a nitrogen removal step before struvite precipitation enables the formation of potassium struvite (magnesium potassium phosphate (MgKPO4*6H2O). Granular partial nitritation-anammox sludge can also function as a biological crystallizer and form hydroxyapatite.
Philipp Kehrein, Delft University, presented his work in the Super-W project (https://www.superw.ugent.be/) to identify bottlenecks hindering implementation of treatment and recovery technologies in wastewater treatment plants. His recommendation is that WWTPs increase efforts in value chain development for recovered resources e.g. work with market actors for recovered products.
Daniela Buzica and Anna Marczak, European Commission DG Environment, participated via video link and presented current development in EU water policy. Water and sludge reuse are two of the topics that are being considered in the evaluation of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive.
“Clean Water”, Horizon 2020 MSCA-ITN cluster event for Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSC) Innovative Training Networks (ITN) projects, Girona, Spain, 22nd October 2019. Jointly organised by the Research Executive Agency (REA) and the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) https://ec.europa.eu/info/horizon-2020-msca-itn-cluster-event-clean-water_en
WETSUS Netherlands and other partners have received a subsidy from the Dutch scientific organisation NOW (Idea Generator Call) for research into stimulating iron phosphate precipitation, as vivianite (iron II phosphate) from freshwater sediments and waters with high phosphorus loadings. The objective is to remove phosphorus contributing to eutrophication in a potentially recoverable form, because vivianite is magnetic, and because it is easier to separate phosphorus from iron II than from iron III phosphate (so potentially enabling recovery as phosphate salts).
“Subsidy for vivianite research”, WETSUS News September 2019 https://www.wetsus.nl › home › wetsus-news › wetsus-news-september-2019
Weeks & Hetiarachchi (in the JEQ special issue indicated above) provide a review of new fertiliser technologies, and of their results in use. New fertiliser approaches presented are (1) controlled release fertilisers, using coatings, pH modifiers, scaffolds (loading onto materials such as layered double hydroxides LDH, nano-particles, graphene oxides), organic and organo-mineral matrices and inherent slow-release chemicals (2) “blockers”, intended to inhibit fixation of P onto anions in soils (i.e. calcium, iron, aluminium in soils), including maleic-itaconic polymers and humic substances (from decomposition of organic materials) and (3) inducers, intended to stimulate uptake by crops of poorly available soil P, including oxide nano-particles of anatase (titanium), magnetite (Fe2O), zinc and copper. The authors conclude that in many cases field results do not reflect positive claims from pot trials, mechanisms are complex (impacts on soil chemistry, crop P uptake, soil microbes) and that considerable more work is needed to identify economically and environmentally viable products. The paper does not consider that use of microbes as biostimulants to improve P uptake.
“A Review of the Latest in Phosphorus Fertilizer Technology: Possibilities and Pragmatism”, J. Weeks & G. Hettiarachchi, J. Environ. Qual. (JEAQ) 48:1300–1313 (2019) http://dx.doi.org/10.2134/jeq2019.02.0067
Newsletter about nutrient stewardship - European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform (ESPP).
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Contributions (600 words) are invited from researchers, companies, stakeholders on “Nutrients and Climate Change” for publication in a SCOPE Newsletter Special Issue (41 000 distribution). Submit your text to be included! Deadline 29th February 2020. Instructions here.
Summary of the 9th International Phosphorus Workshop (IPW9)
ETH Zurich, 8 – 12 July 2019:
Newsletter about nutrient stewardship - European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform (ESPP).
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SCOPE Newsletter about nutrient stewardship - European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform (ESPP).
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Link to www.phosphorusplatform.eu/SCOPE130
Earlier SCOPE editions www.phosphorusplatform.eu/SCOPEnewsletter
In this SCOPE Newsletter:
SCOPE summary edition of the 1st Summit of the Organic Fertiliser Industry in Europe (SOFIE), 5 - 6 June 2019, organised by ESPP. SOFIE brought together, for the first time ever, the European carbon-based fertiliser sector, and attracted over 125 participants, from industry (two thirds of participants), regulators, stakeholders and R&D, covering 14 European countries, as well as India and North America.
New ESPP member, LEX4BIO is a Horizon 2020 R&D project, started 1st June 2019. The main goal of the project is to provide a knowledge-based on bio-based fertilisers, in order to secure safe and efficient use of nutrient rich-side streams in European agriculture, reducing the dependency on imported phosphorus fertilisers and energy intensive nitrogen fertilisers. The objectives are to optimise the usage of bio-based fertilisers from side-streams, ensure their safety, build evidence-based trust in their usage and develop legislative framework. LEX4BIO will collect and process regional nutrient stock, flow, surplus and deficiency data, and review and assess the required technological solutions. Furthermore, socioeconomic benefits and limitations to bio-based fertiliser use will be analysed. A deliverable of LEX4BIO will be a toolkit to optimise the use of bio-based fertilisers and to assess their environmental impact in terms of non-renewable energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and other LCA impact categories, In order to facilitate the connection between bio-based fertiliser production technologies and regional requirements.
LEX4BIO information https://forschung.boku.ac.at/fis/suchen.projekt_uebersicht?sprache_in=en&menue_id_in=300&id_in=12743
Newsletter about nutrient stewardship - European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform (ESPP).
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Link to www.phosphorusplatform.eu/eNews034
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The EU Fertilising Productions Regulation (FPR) is now finally published in the EU Official Journal of 25th June (in all EU official languages). This new regulation opens the European market for recycled fertilisers; and also for organic fertilisers, biostimulants, composts and digestate, which to date could only be sold under different national legislations. It thus also opens the European market for nutrient recycling technologies. Products which respect the new FRP criteria (CE-Mark) will benefit from the “single market” (can be sold anywhere in Europe) and further will automatically have End-of-Waste status. There is now a three year delay period before FRP implementation, that is before companies can place on the market CE-Mark fertilisers – but companies wishing to be ready in three years should start preparations now. The new FRP is flexible, in that the European Commission can add further products and materials by a comitology process. The JRC “STRUBIAS” report (struvite and recovered phosphate salts, biochars and pyrolysis materials, ash-based materials) is expected to be published soon, and these materials are expected to be added to the FRP annexes by end 2019 – early 2020. Work will now also start to define a list of animal by-products (and ABP end-points) to be integrated into the FPR, for which CMC10 “Animal By-Products” is currently an empty box. The European Commission is also working on testing methods and standards to accompany the new FRP, a ‘Questions and Answers” document to explain how the regulation works, guidance on FRP product labelling, and definition of criteria for “By-Products” for CMC11 (industrial by-products, organic or food by-products … other than animal by-products). To input to these activities, please contact ESPP.
EU Fertilising Productions Regulation (FPR) publication text https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L:2019:170:TOC
It is our understanding that the addition of “digestate” to the list of materials exempted from the obligation of REACH Registration (Annex V) has finally been approved (Member States CARACAL Committee 17th May 2019), and the Regulation formalising this is expected to be published in July 2019. The modification of REACH (the European Chemicals Regulation) adds simply the word “digestate” to the list of materials exempted from registration (after compost and biogas, which were already specified). However, the Regulation making this modification gives more details, defining digestate as “a residual semisolid or liquid material that has been sanitised and stabilised by a biological treatment process, of which the last step is an anaerobic digestion step, and where the inputs used in that process are biodegradable materials originating only from non-hazardous source segregated materials, such as food waste, manure and energy crops”. The Regulation indicates that no REACH registrations for digestate have been submitted, but that this modification will remove uncertainties for producers and users of digestate and for enforcement authorities. This exemption of digestate in REACH Annex V was requested from the European Commission by the European Biogas Association and the European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform (ESPP) in 2014.
Draft Regulation adding ‘digestate’ to the REACH Annex V exemptions from registration: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/tbt/en/search/?tbtaction=search.detail&Country_ID=EU&num=630
The Italy Government has entrusted to ENEA (National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) the objective of establishing an Italy Phosphorus Platform. A launch meeting at the Italy Environment Ministry, Rome, on 26th March, brought together around fifty participants. The platform objectives cover all aspects of phosphorus sustainability: P in the food chain, optimising P use, recycling in organic materials and in mineral fertilisers, high tech uses of P such as batteries and fire safety. Four work-packages are engaged, each with an ENEA coordinator: WG1 = Market and added value for recycled phosphorus (), WG2 = Technologies and Best Practices (), WG3 = Legislation – regulatory obstacles (), WG4 = Promotion and long-term sustainability (). An objective of the platform is to propose an R&D / innovation agenda, proposing innovation funding and support. Project deliverables for 2019 include a summary of EU policies and initiatives on phosphorus, an analysis of phosphorus flows in Italy (markets, supply, demand), a catalogue of technologies for phosphorus recovery and of best management practices, reports on the legislative framework and regulatory and policy proposals. WGs 1-3 have as deliverables by end 2019 reports of conclusions, with proposed actions. Deliverables of WG4 include, by end 2019, to identify organisations willing to participant in the Italy Phosphorus Platform as founding members and to define an operating scenario and budget. To date, around fifty organisations have expressed interest to join the new platform.
The first Summit of the Organic Fertiliser Industry in Europe (SOFIE, 5-6 June 2019, Brussels) brought together, for the first time ever, the European carbon-based fertiliser sector, and attracted over 125 participants, from industry (two thirds of participants), regulators, stakeholders and R&D, covering 14 European countries, as well as India and North America. The workshop addressed industry and markets for added-value organic fertiliser products, agronomic evidence of carbon-based fertilisers impacts on crops and on soils, and opportunities and challenges for industry from developments in European regulations. Discussions underlined that organic and mineral fertilisers are complementary products and confirmed the need to deliver consistent and quality products to farmers, adapted to agronomic requirements and to practical considerations. Market opportunities identified include the development of Certified Organic Farming (an added-value market for appropriately produced carbon-based fertilisers), links to innovative bio-stimulant products, increasing recognition of the importance of soil organic carbon and development of the circular economy for nutrients and carbon. These markets will be considerably changed by the new EU Fertilising Products Regulation which will enable export within Europe (new CE-Mark opening a ‘single’ EU market).
SOFIE was organised by ESPP in partnership with the International Fertiliser Society (IFS). Meeting slides are online here and a full conference conclusions and summary (SCOPE Newsletter N°130) will be published shortly www.phosphorusplatform.eu/SOFIE2019
N2 Applied is a Norwegian technology development company, with the head office in Oslo and a test centre in Svene. N2 Applied is a catalyst and an incubator for high-tech initiatives related to nitrogen. N2 Applied has developed technology to enable on-farm processing of manure or biogas digestate to produce a nitrogen fertiliser. Using renewable electricity and air, a plasma reactor fixes nitrogen by splitting the N2 and O2 molecules in air into N and O atoms to generate nitrogen oxides. These nitrogen oxides react with ammonia in manure or digestate to form ammonium nitrate, so lowering pH and stabilising the nitrogen, reducing ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions during storage and field application. After solid/liquid separation the liquid fraction of manure or digestate can be managed as a liquid nitrogen fertiliser, compatible with organic farming (depending on the manure and digestate substrate inputs). Most of the phosphorus will remain in the solid fraction. N2 Applied joins the ESPP network to share knowledge and collaborate on efficient and sustainable nutrient management in agriculture.
N2 Applied website www.n2applied.no
See also: “Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing”, Graves et al., Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing, Jan. 2019, vol. 39, Issue 1, pp 1–19 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-018-9944-9
ESPP has published a draft “Phosphorus Fact Sheet”. The objective is to provide in a readily accessible form, supported by reference sources, key numbers and data relating to phosphorus production, uses, environmental impacts and recycling, in order to offer in one place answers to often asked questions. This responds to the issue that for many aspects of the phosphorus cycle, data is not easily available, or published data is contradictory or out of date, or confusing because of use of different units (tonnes of rock, of phosphorus, of P2O5 …). Best estimates are made of how much phosphorus goes to different applications: agriculture (much the biggest use: c. 87% to fertilisers and 7% to animal feed), fire safety, batteries, food and beverage … Estimates are also provided on phosphorus in food, in sewage, phosphorus “use efficiency” … The objective is not to have fully scientifically justified numbers, but estimates which are considered realistic by competent stakeholders. Any comments are welcome: on the estimated data, on the sources used, or for other data on aspects of phosphorus management which it would be useful to include.
ESPP Phosphorus Fact Sheet for comment https://phosphorusplatform.eu/images/download/ESPP-Phosphorus-fact-sheet-v21-4-19.pdf
Newsletter about nutrient stewardship - European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform (ESPP).
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Link to www.phosphorusplatform.eu/eNews033
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The final endorsement of the EU Fertilising Productions Regulation (FPR) is expected in Council before end May and publication of the Regulation in the Official Journal before end June 2019. There will then be a three year delay period before implementation, that is before companies can place on the market CE-Mark fertilisers. The JRC “STRUBIAS” report (struvite and recovered phosphate salts, biochars and pyrolysis materials, ash-based materials) is expected to be published at the same time, and then the European Commission will launch the necessary comitology processes to validate FPR annexe texts to bring these products into the FPR. ESPP participated at the EU Fertilisers Working Group meeting of 10th May which progressed a number of questions concerning implementation of the FPR, including:
EU Fertilising Products Regulation (FPR) final adopted text: www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+TA+P8-TA-2019-0306+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN
Join and register now:
SOFIE: 1st Summit of the Organic and Organo0mineral Fertiliser Industry in Europe
Organised by ESPP in partnership with IFS (International Fertiliser Society)
Brussels, Belgium (within walking distance of Gare du Midi and Gare Centrale)
Wednesday 5th 14h00 – Thursday 6th June 16h30
The first Summit of the Organic Fertiliser Industry in Europe (SOFIE) is promising to be an interesting meeting, bringing together different parts of the fertiliser industry (organic, organo-mineral, mineral) and agronomists
The conference includes presentation of the new European Fertilisers Regulation by the European Commission DG GROW, and discussion of implementation and new standards for organic and organo-mineral fertilisers.
By bringing together organic and organo-mineral fertiliser producers from across Europe and beyond, to dialogue with agronomists and regulators, this first Summit will enable dialogue on application, product and market development, and aims to help move nutrient recycling towards identifying farmers needs and how secondary nutrients can be processed into forms with a market.
The programme is now complete, see www.phosphorusplatform.eu/SOFIE2019
Speakers and participants registered to date include leading organic and organo-mineral fertiliser manufacturers (CEOs, agronomic or development directors), agronomic / fertiliser scientists, legal experts and the European Commission:
Stands for R&D projects are possible at 900€. Also enables contacts with delegates at the parallel IFS (International Fertiliser Society) conference. Contact
Registration for SOFIE: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sofie-organic-fertilizers-summit-tickets-55703185728
All up to date information and draft programme can be found at www.phosphorusplatform.eu/SOFIE2019
SCOPE Newsletter about nutrient stewardship - European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform (ESPP).
Please subscribe www.phosphorusplatform.eu/Subscribe
Link to www.phosphorusplatform.eu/SCOPE129
Earlier SCOPE editions www.phosphorusplatform.eu/SCOPEnewsletter
In this SCOPE Newsletter:
Newsletter about nutrient stewardship - European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform (ESPP).
Please subscribe www.phosphorusplatform.eu/Subscribe
Link to www.phosphorusplatform.eu/eNews032
Download as PDF
Wim Debeuckelaere, European Commission (EC) DG Environment, has provided an update of the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC) “SafeManure” study, which aims to define criteria for allowing certain nitrogen fertilisers derived (wholly or partly) from manure to be not treated as ‘processed manure” under the Nitrates Directive (see ESPP eNews n°23). The study will include analysis and comparative testing of different fertilisers recovered from nutrients (identified to date: 86 materials from 7 sites in Italy, 11 in the Netherlands and 1 in Denmark, covering raw manure, solid/liquid fractions, digestate, reverse osmosis/mineral concentrates and nitrogen salts recovered from stripping). A review of existing literature has identified (to date) less than 20 relevant studies or reports, noting in particular a lack of data concerning the composition of processed manure products, nitrogen release kinetics, environmental and health issues and a lack of experimental evidence comparing nitrogen leaching or plant fertiliser effectiveness of recycled nutrient products to mineral fertilisers. In particular, comparative trials are lacking for recovered nitrogen salts and struvite. ESPP suggests that this is unsurprising: there is no reason to compare e.g. recovered ammonium sulphate with synthetic ammonium sulphate because it is the same chemical, and the many published tests on struvite do not look at the nitrogen release because struvite is a phosphate fertiliser. The project planning anticipates biogeochemical modelling and pot trials in Spring 2019, field tests in Spring and Autumn 2019 and a draft report and stakeholder workshop and 2019/early 2020.
Input of further data, existing studies and reports or material analysis are welcome. The full list of studies already submitted to and analysed by JRC is at www.phosphorusplatform.eu/regulatory DG ENVI slides, BioRefine ESNI conference Brussels 22 January www.biorefine.eu/esni-2019
The European Commission has circulated a call for input (from members of the EU Fertilisers Working Group) on “criteria on agronomic efficiency and safety for by-products”, that is “for the use of by-products as fertilising products” under the new EU Fertilisers Regulation. The new Regulation specifies that the Commission must adopt a ‘delegated act’ fixing these criteria within three years. This call for comments is the first stage of input to this process. A two and a half page document by the European Commission, open to comment until 19th April 2019, recalls the definition of by-products in the Waste Framework Directive and reminds that under the new Fertilisers Regulation by-products can (under certain conditions) be used directly in fertilisers (the by-product is itself a ‘CMC’) or be reacted with other materials before use (the product resulting from the reaction is the ‘CMC’). The document poses the following questions: safety or agronomic criteria or specific restrictions for by-products used in fertilising products in national regulations, list of authorised by-products for use in fertilising products (including origin industries), which by-products are currently used (and market size, nutrient content or other function …), application of the Waste Framework Directive.
European Commission call for input on future “Criteria on agronomic efficiency and safety for by-products” under the new EU Fertilising Products Regulation https://circabc.europa.eu/ui/group/36ec94c7-575b-44dc-a6e9-4ace02907f2f/library/ce26e854-5970-4ee6-b1ee-5decfd37515c/details
Please send as soon as possible any relevant information or documents, which we can use in our response to this call for input, to ESPP