8th RePhoR steering committee meeting in Markranstädt

The 8th RePhoR steering committee meeting was organised at the beginning of November, which was held at Veolia Klärschlammverwertung Deutschland GmbH's site in Markranstädt near Leipzig with the kind permission of the company. Some of the steering committee members had already met on 5 November for a tour of the Pontes Pabuli pilot plant. Project coordinator Claudyn Kidszun and project engineer Oskar Stiehler from VKD warmly welcomed the group and gave them a tour of the site. The actual meeting was held on 6 November. As always, the meeting included a report on progress and interim results from the joint projects as well as overarching topics such as current developments in the phosphorus recovery landscape in Germany. As some of the projects will conclude in 2025, the synthesis and utilisation of results is also of particular importance.

The Steering Committee is used for cross-project networking between the research projects and for discussing overarching issues. Among other things, cross-cutting themes will be defined, on which all interested collaborative projects will work together during the course of the funding programme, e.g. in workshops. In addition, joint activities are planned for the exploitation and practical implementation of project results and for public relations. The group consists of the coordinators of the collaborative projects, the networking project and experts, e.g. from industry, associations, authorities and ministries. Representatives of the BMBF and the project organiser also take part in the steering committee meetings, which take place up to every six months.

Phosphorus is an essential and non-substitutable building block in all living organisms and is primarily used as a fertiliser for high-yield agriculture. The finite phosphate ore reserves are limited to a few, sometimes politically unstable regions in the world and are increasingly contaminated. Germany, like almost all countries in the European Union (EU), has no raw phosphate deposits of its own and is therefore completely dependent on imports. This leads to major risks in terms of security of supply and vulnerability to price fluctuations. The EU therefore placed phosphorus on the list of critical raw materials back in 2014 to incentivise recycling activities. The recovery of phosphorus from P-rich waste streams, such as wastewater and sewage sludge, plays an important role in securing future supplies.

As part of the BMBF-funded Regional Phosphorus Recycling (RePhoR) programme, large-scale recovery is therefore being implemented and supported in seven joint projects. Various obstacles impede the market entry of fertiliser recyclates. These include inconsistent or unclear legal regulations on pollutant limits, the certification process, but also factors such as the social acceptance of new products. Within this programme, FiW is coordinating the TransPhoR networking and transfer project.