Phos4You

Project Summary scroll down to see Phos4You in 60 seconds Phos4You (P4Y) addresses the phosphorus (P) challenge. P is a nutrient essential for all living organisms. Though it is a finite resource on earth, P is largely wasted today. The EU acknowledged this by adding Phosphate rock to its list of critical raw materials in 2014. There is a need to boost the use of secondary raw P. The project addresses rural, urban and port areas in NWE. P is needed in rural areas as fertilizer or feed additive (often produced in port areas). P is transferred within food to urban areas where 82% of NWE-citizens live in, and wasted there (via sewage and waste). P4Y specifically targets recovery from municipal WWTP. 2015 NWE imports 100% of its mineral P-Need. 45% of the demand could be supplied by circular economy. The project will exploit the recovery potential of P in municipal sewage water (113,000 t/y P), estimated to cover 26% of the mineral P-demand in NWE. When the project ends, NWE taps 3,5% of this potential; 35% after 5y, 90% after 10y. To achieve this change, P4Y supports 44 enterprises by producing demonstrators in real life conditions of 6 P-recovery technologies for municipal sewage water and 5 new products from P-recycling processes for fertilizer. A EU-Standard to assess quality of new fertilizer products from municipal waste water and further outputs increasing social acceptance are developed. To roll-out its main outputs after the project, P4Y: disseminates results over EU and national platforms (ESPP, national nutrient platforms, EIP Water/Agri, TWG Strubias...); prepares an ongoing monitoring of the demonstrators/pilots; develops business plans for the uptake of P-recovery and recycling technologies; meets policy-makers at all territorial levels to develop a consistent legal framework pushing P-recycling forward; joins forces with related projects to strengthen impact; enables transfer of technologies into other sectors & to EU-28.