Phoster

The EU project PHOSTER is co-funded within the ERA-MIN 3 framework. It aims to deliver a sustainable, replicable, and scalable circular economy solution (TRL 4) for the recovery of secondary minerals and metals from sewage sludge ashes and mining industry by-products to substitute primary critical raw materials (P, Mg) in the fertilizers' manufacturing. In more detail, the University of Ljubljana will re-design the sewage sludge thermal treatment by setting the recovery of secondary materials as the first-priority design parameter (1), while Politecnico di Milano will attempt to optimise the wet chemical extraction of P from ashes (2). Meanwhile, Magnesitas Navarras will work on the selection of the best mining by-products (3) to promote the co-precipitation of P and Mg, which will be carried out by Politecnico di Milano (4). Timac Agro Italia will receive the recovered materials and will mix them with other raw materials in a fertiliser formula complying with relevant regulations on fertilisers and able to satisfy the market demand (5). Then, Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) will make it possible to evaluate environmental and social impacts of the fertilisers obtained from the recovered products. All steps will be linked in a feedback loop (6) to fine-tune the process and maximise the beneficial impacts on both crops and the environment. The PHOSTER project proudly became a member of the European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform in the view of networking with the most relevant stakeholders in Europe and of broadly disseminating the project concept and results.

For more details visit project website or LinkedIn page.