Phosphorus recovery company EasyMining has won funding of 27.1 million euros from the German regional Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Environment for the construction of EasyMining’s first plant using its Ash2Phos process.

The Ash2Phos refers to recovery of phosphorus from fly ash of incinerated sewage sludge.

The plant will be built at Schkopau, central Germany, and will operate under the name PGS (Phosphorgewinnung Schkopau GmbH), a joint venture between EasyMining Germany GmbH and Gelsenwasser AG, one of Germany’s largest water utilities and waste management companies.

The statement dated 17 February describes the funding as a ‘grant’ implying it is not a loan.

“Set to launch in 2027, this project will ensure a stable supply of high-quality phosphorus and position Saxony-Anhalt at the forefront of innovative technologies within recycling and waste management,” said the statement.

EasyMining’s Ash2Phos technology recovers over 90% of the phosphorus in incinerated sewage sludge ash, the company says.

Founded in 2007, EasyMining is the innovation arm of Ragn-Sells, a Swedish family-owned company specialising in recycling waste management with revenues of 7 billion SEK (usd 700 million) and 2,700 employees. EasyMining has around 40 employees in 3 locations – two in Sweden and one in Germany. Ragn-Sells handles 5 million tonnes of waste per year except nuclear.

At the New AG International conference in Warsaw in 2022, Dr Yariv Cohen, Head of Research and Development, EasyMining presented the company’s plans.

“We have developed a way to process the ash, separate the metals, and recover the phosphorus in clean form. It’s a wet chemical process, in the same way you digest rock phosphate with an acid, we digest the ash with an acid. The main chemicals that we use are acid and lime. We separate the heavy metal. In future it will be possible to recycle the copper, nickel and zinc,” Cohen told the audience.

“We recycle the iron and aluminium as coagulants used in wastewater treatment. You add iron and aluminium in wastewater plant to capture phosphorus and they end up in ash, and if you extract them from ash, you can use them again. We recover phosphorus in clean form. And we get silicate residue that can be used in concrete application,” Cohen explained.

The phosphorus is precipitated as calcium phosphate (PCP) with phosphorus content of 16.9%. Equals 40% P2O5. Fluorine content is very low. It is feed quality PCP, said Cohen. He noted that legislation in EU does not allow feed that has origin in waste.

“This product is fully soluble in citric acid. But it is not water soluble,” said Cohen. And this gives it the slow-release potential.

“We have made some agronomic assessment of this product. Since it is soluble in citric acid, we believe it is a good slow-release fertilizer, once the root finds its way to the product it can dissolves this product with the citric acid that the root exudes.”

EasyMining is set to build a second phosphorus recovery plant, in Helsingborg, Sweden, announced in January 2025. This plant will process 30,000 metric tonnes of sewage sludge per year, similar to the one at Schkopau. Start-up for the second plant is planned for 2028.

The topic of fertilizer from waste will be explored at the 23rd New AG International Annual conference and exhibition in Bangkok, Thailand, 29 April – 1 May. For the latest on specialty fertilizers to biological inputs, join the 300+ delegates in Bangkok. Sign up here.

Read New AG International’s article on EasyMining’s presentation from New AG International’s Annual conference in Warsaw 2022 here.