Global P Stewardship and Practical Implementation in Europe.

Overview of global “phosphorus stewardship” debate and initiatives in 2012

-       Is “peak P” passé ?

-       pressures on price, contaminants, geopolitical concentration of resources …

-       interest in regionally “closing the loop”

-       initiatives ongoing: UNEP, EU Green Paper, Global TraPs, Phosphorus Summits, national Nutrient Partnerships …

Summary of key issues in P stewardship:

-       consumption of P: agriculture (fertilisers and animal feeds), detergents, technical applications, electronics, …

-       consequently key points for reducing P consumption and losses: crop production, animal production, human diet, food wastes

Where and why recycle P:

-       sewage

-       manures

-       industrial and food waste streams

-       other : eg. ‘deposits’ of sewage sludge, coal ashes …

Routes for recycling livestock waste P:

-       bone and animal waste ash

-       manure incineration -> ash -> reuse in P industry or fertiliser industry (examples of Thermphos, Amfert, Fibrophos/chicken manure ash incineration …

-       extraction of P from manure: example struvite process, Toulouse INRA

-       physical processing -> compositing, solid/liquid separation, granulation …

What drivers?

-       local manure excess (prevents local spreading)

-       transport and storage -> need to dry, compact, etc

-       cost (of disposal, of treatment)

-       legislation