Fertilizer

Worldwide, about 180 million tons of phosphorus are mined from the mountains and shipped around the world every year. That's the weight of nearly 18,000 Eiffel Towers!
Most of what is mined is turned into fertilizer and sent to the fields. If you want to know why fertilizer and the phosphorus in it is so important to the plants in the fields, go to the parent view and click on the plant.
There are different types of fertilizers that farmers apply to their fields:
  • Universal Fertilizers

    As the name suggests, universal fertilizer contains all the nutrients that plants need to grow. You can find out which nutrients these are and what they bring to the plant by clicking on the plant in the overview.
  • NPK fertilizer

    The NPK fertilizer is named after its ingredients: N stands for nitrogen, P for phosphorus and K for potassium. These substances are vital food for plants. In addition, minor additives, sweeteners, so to speak, are often added so that plants can grow optimally.
  • Fertilizers with predominant phosphate content

    These fertilizers contain quite a lot of phosphate and are therefore mainly used in agriculture by farmers. There is usually enough phosphate in the soil in the garden for the plants to grow well and stay healthy.
If you are interested in the opinion of farmers about fertilizers and phosphate in agriculture, read on:

Interview with Phillip Krainbring

Phillip Krainbring works as a farm manager on an arable farm in the Magdeburg Börde. Even as a child, he was enthusiastic about agriculture. For us, this conversation was of great importance, as it gave us the opportunity to perceive our project from a farming point of view.
At the beginning of the discussion, the importance of phosphate was once again emphasized by the farmer. Nitrogen-phosphate fertilizer is most used alongside organic fertilizer, such as manure. Phillip Krainbring focused above all on the tense political situation of fertilizer use. Particularly important here is the Fertiliser Ordinance, which regulates the application of the amount of phosphate.
He also cited the Russia-Ukraine conflict as the cause of price increases for phosphate fertilizers. At this point, our project would provide a remedy, because local production of phosphate in Germany would lower the price. Farmers are aware of the problem of washing out phosphate. However, not all regions of Germany are equally affected, which is why a distinction within the Fertiliser Ordinance is necessary. Through our project, at the end of which is the production of polyphosphate, offers the advantage that a granular fertilizer can be applied to the fields. This would be much less odorous, partially removing the social pressure from farmers. There would then be fewer complaints about odor nuisance.
Phillip Krainbring encouraged us in our actions as he also attaches great importance to the phosphor issue in agriculture and nutrition for the growing world population, respectively. He said that an economical phosphate-fertilizer in the form of powder would meet the requirements in his area of application the best. Furthermore, he sees a great future in the recycling of phosphate, because its a finite resource and the agriculture depends on it. All in all, he thinks our project to be very promising and the solution to many problems. We were highly motivated to pursue our approaches as the polyphosphate production at the end of our production cycle is exactly what the farmers need. The dialogue with Phillip Krainbring turned out to be essential for our product development.

Interview with Tim Riedling

To get an expert opinion on the use of phosphate in agriculture, we had the chance to interview a farmer. Tim Riedling works on a farm that breeds both plants and animals. He told us that phosphate plays a big role on this farm. On the one hand, it is used in the specially mixed fertilizer for silo maize, but it is also added to the animal feed for dairy cows. He also said that people working in the agricultural sector are aware of the major problem of phosphate oversupply and the resulting environmental damage, as well as the shortage of phosphate. He also sees a very big problem in the future if a method to recycle phosphate is not found soon. According to him, the cultivation of food and the resulting yields would then drop significantly, so that a global famine cannot be ruled out. He was therefore very interested in our project and confirmed to us that there would be a great deal of interest in agriculture. In addition, our product, the pure phosphate in powder form, is very good and easy to use for farmers.
As can be seen from this summary of the interview, we were able to obtain a lot of information and a specialist opinion and are very happy about it!

Plant

Plants need 14 important nutrients to grow well and stay healthy. Nutrients are something like the vitamins for the plants, without which they cannot grow big and strong. These must then be absorbed with the water from the soil, just as we take vitamins with food. There are some that they need quite a lot of, those are called macronutrients. Of the others, the trace nutrients, even small amounts are sufficient.
Phosphorus, along with other elements, is one of the most important of the macronutrients. It helps to produce the green color of plants and thus guarantees their growth. So, plants need quite a lot of phosphorus, and because we humans need the plants for food, we provide it to them through fertilizers.
What happens when plants take up too little phosphate, you can see in the video. On the left, you can see a tomato plant with a phosphorus deficiency, and on the right, for comparison, a plant with enough phosphorus.

Sediment

If you put dirt in a cup of water and wait long enough, the dirt will settle at the bottom of the cup. The same thing happens at sea or in lakes and rivers with all the things swirling around in there. The material which settles is called “sediment“.
Sediments can come from lots of different places and processes. For example, sediments can be composed of biological waste, such as dead small animals, the microorganisms. Phosphate is also found in these sediments. In the course of many years, the sea water presses on the sediments, which then become rock. Unfortunately, phosphate cannot be efficiently extracted from this rock.

Phosphate Mining

Phosphorus is a chemical building block that is a component of all living individuals. Phosphorus only occurs together with oxygen as phosphate. This phosphate is mined with large machines, especially in Morocco, and processed into fertilizers. The world's phosphate reserves become less and will be depleted in a few years. Then there will no longer be enough food for all people.

Incineration

Current phosphate recovery can be divided into two processes. In thermochemical processes, the sewage sludge from the treatment plant is incinerated and the ash is applied directly to fields as fertilizer. However, this method will be banned throughout the EU from 2029, as the sewage sludge contains enriched pollutants such as drug residues or heavy metals.
After incineration, the resulting ash is treated with metal salts. This produces compounds that are difficult to dissolve. These have to be separated again using expensive processes in order to get at the phosphate.
In addition, sewage sludge is often incinerated together with waste because there are too few incineration plants in Germany. Then the phosphate contained in the sewage sludge often cannot be recovered at all because it is diluted.
With our project "MEtaPhos" we want to develop a better phosphate recovery with the help of microorganisms.

Genetically Modified Organisms

Genetically modified organisms are small creatures whose genes have been slightly altered. These little creatures are found everywhere in everyday life and, for example, make cheese from milk or help bake bread.
In addition, these little helpers can produce medicines that help us get healthy again. When the little helpers are modified by humans, we give them superpowers. We train them to be better and faster to solve their tasks.