P-Net – Regional network for resource-efficient phosphorus recycling and management
Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plant growth. Currently, most of the phosphorus fertilizers used in agriculture are imported. However, wastewater remains unused as an important source of phosphorus, although the potential for the recovery of phosphorus from wastewater is great and the necessary technology – such as precipitation, the recovery of dissolved phosphorus from wastewater – is available. Against this background, the BMBF project “Network for resource-efficient phosphorus recycling and management in the Harz and Heath region (P-Net)” is investigating possibilities for establishing regional networks to process precipitated phosphorus involving so-called struvite plants which are wastewater treatment plants that have already established phosphorus precipitation with the aim to produce phosphorus fertilizers such as struvite. This process is a sustainable method of phosphorus recycling (P-recycling) which also makes an important contribution to the regionalization of resource cycles.
Research approach
The aim of the research association is to establish a regional network for P-recycling and management in the Harz and Heath region. Since numerous struvite plants already exist in this region, their process optimisationto reach the required recovery rates is one focus. Moreover, the practice partner Soepenberg will establish a so-called struvite hub. Here, standardized fertilizers are to be developed from the precipitated raw products of the individual plants, which will then be tested in the Harz and Heath region together with farmers and brought to market. ISOE is responsible for the real laboratory in charge of the market placement of the fertilizers and it is also in charge of interviewing the participating farmers. Furthermore, ISOE is responsible for setting up the regional network Harz and Heath” The first steps will be institutional and actor analyses.
In addition, ISOE participates in the transfer of knowledge between the research project and the operators of struvite plants. Here, the institute is responsible for national and international so-called struvite workshops”, where plant operators can obtain advice from P-Net regarding necessary plant upgrades and optimization as well as the marketing of struvite and where they can discuss and evaluate the latest P-Net results.
In the course of generalizing and disseminating results ISOE will also be responsible for the participatory scenario development and scenario comparison for the network. In cooperation with the project partners, possible future scenarios for the technology segment of precipitation and struvite production are to be developed and according recommendations should be derived.
Background
In the course of the amendment of the Sewage Sludge Ordinance (AbfKlärV 2017), operators of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) must recover at least 50% of the phosphorus quantity above a certain size of a WWTP. In recent years, numerous research and funding programs for phosphorus recovery were implemented both nationally and internationally, amongst them mainly processes that produce various crystalline phosphorus products through precipitation and crystallization, including magnesium ammonium phosphates (struvite). To date, however, these processes do not achieve the required recovery rates. In addition, there are currently no functioning, regional distribution channels for phosphorus products obtained from wastewater.
Project partners
- Technical University Carolo-Wilhelmina of Braunschweig, Institute of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering (Head of the research alliance )
- Julius Kühn Institute, Institute for Crop and Soil Science
Practice partners
- Wastewater Association Braunschweig (AVB)
- Stadtentwässerung Braunschweig GmbH Abwasser- und Straßenreinigungsbetrieb Stadt Gifhorn
- PFI-Planungsgemeinschaft GmbH & Co KG
- Soepenberg GmbH
Promotion
The project “Establishment of a network for resource-efficient phosphorus recycling and management in the Harz and Heath region (P-Net)” is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the announcement “Regional Phosphorus Recycling” (RePhoR) as part of the funding program “Research for Sustainable Development (FONA3).
Duration
Contact person
Project team
Project Links
Related projects
- “LebensWert” – Development Management for Maintaining the Quality of Life in small towns Facing Demographic Change
- Actor survey on the regional energy concept FrankfurtRhineMain
- AQUA-Hub India – Water Innovation Hubs and Smart Water Monitoring
- AquaticPollutantsTransNet – Knowledge transfer for the reduction of pollutants and pathogens in the water cycle
- Assessment of the potential for the use of service water in Frankfurt am Main
- BioFAVOR II – Low-tech recycling of faeces from decentralised sources
- CapTain Rain – Capture and retain heavy rainfalls in Jordan
- Classification of consumption points in the supply area of HAMBURG WASSER
- CommuterLab – paths towards sustainable urban-suburban mobility based on the Frankfurt Rhein-Main region
- Competence Atlas Water – Water Technologies and Water Management in Hesse
- CuveWaters – Sustainable Water Management in Namibia
- Daily drinking water demand – forecast model for Hamburg
- Dezent Zivil – New forms of civic involvement when building decentralised energy plants
- Efficient Use of the Hessian Groundwater Fee
- Electromobility for the Darmstadt-Rhine-Main-Neckar Region
- Eliminating micropollutants in sewage plants
- ENGAGE – Commitment to sustainable public welfare
- Environmental Risks and Pharmaceuticals: The Key Role of Pharmacies
- EPoNa – Water Reuse in Northern Namibia
- Evaluation of the International Water Stewardship Program (IWaSP)
- Guiding principle IWRM – Water resources management for the metropolitan region of Rhine-Main
- HypoWave – New Pathways Towards Wastewater Re-Use in Agriculture
- HypoWave+ – Implementation of a hydroponic system for sustainable water reuse in agriculture
- INTAFERE – Integrated Analysis of Organic Impurities in Rivers
- IntenKS – Improving sewage sludge treatment in China for energetic and material utilisation
- INTERESS-I – Integrated strategies to strengthen urban blue-green infrastructures
- IWRM in Isfahan – Sustainable Water Management in Iran
- Material flows of environmentally relevant chemical substances: product line controlling
- Mobile Living – Innovative Housing and Mobility Services
- MULTI-ReUse – Modular treatment system for water reuse
- NaCoSi – Sustainability controlling of the domestic water management
- netWORKS – Transformations in Network Related Infrastructure Sectors
- netWORKS 2 – Transformation Management for a Sustainable Water Infrastructure
- netWORKS 3 – Sustainable concepts for the municipal water sector
- netWORKS 4 – Resilient networks: Contributions of urban supply systems to climate justice (follow-up project)
- netWORKS 4 – Resilient networks: how urban supply systems contribute to climate justice
- New perspectives for the ecological restoration of streams and rivers
- NiddaMan – Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Nidda Catchment Area
- Noise Intermissions at Frankfurt Airport
- PLASTRAT – Reduction of plastic discharges in lakes and running waters
- PlastX – Microplastics in bodies of running water
- PlastX – Plastic waste in seas and oceans
- Privatisation and Competition in Drinking Water Supply in Germany
- Privatisation in the Water Sector
- Proxies and Scenarios for the Development of Water Demand
- Regional Sustainability in Water and Land Use
- regulate – Sustainable Groundwater Management in Europe
- SASSCAL – Research Infrastructure in Africa
- SASSCAL – Water-related vulnerabilities and risk in Southern Africa
- SAUBER+ Innovative concepts for wastewater from public health sector facilities
- Scientific accompanying of the 2021 survey on water consumption in Hamburg
- Semizentral – Infrastructure systems for cities of the future experiencing rapid growth
- Sharing-Concepts for a Multi-Optional Mobility System in Frankfurt-Rhine-Main
- SLInBio – Urban lifestyles and the valuation of biodiversity: Dragonflies, grasshopper, bumble bees & co.
- Smart Water Future India: Intelligent Water Management for India’s Cities
- smyile – sustainable mobility for Waldenbuch
- start – Management Strategies for Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water
- start2 – Management Strategies for Hormonally Active Agrochemicals
- Stormwater Infiltration in Wiesbaden
- Structural concept for Trinkwasserversorgung Magdeburg
- SuPraStadt – Quality of life, participation and resource conservation through social diffusion of sufficiency practices in urban neighbourhoods
- Sustainability Performance in the Water Supply
- SynVer*Z – Effectiveness of research on the sustainable transformation of cities
- TransRisk – Pollutants as a risk to the water cycle
- TRAPA India – Transition pathways for solving urban wastewater problems in Indian cities
- Water 2050 – Sustainable Innovations for Water Management
- Water Cycle an Urban-Ecological Development
- Water demand forecast 2030 for Hamburg
- Water demand forecast 2045 for Hamburg
- Water demand forecast 2050 for Hamburg
- Water demand forecast 2050 for the WBV Harburg
- Weschnitz Dialog: Communication and participation in the management of restoration measures along the river Weschnitz