This post was written by Paul O’Callaghan, founding CEO of the Clean Tech consultancy, O2 Environmental Inc. and lecturer on Sustainable Energy at the BC Institute of Technology.
First there was “Peak Oil’, then there was talk of ‘Peak Water’, but ‘Peak Phosphorus’, may trump them all as a sustainability issue without rival.
Fact: Phosphorus is a non-renewable resource for which there is no substitute.
Our ability to provide enough food to feed the human population is dependent on the use of artificial fertilizers, which contain nitrogen and phosphorus. While nitrogen is abundant in the atmosphere, phosphorus is mined at just a handful of locations worldwide.
The natural resources are limited and are being depleted. The timing for ‘Peak Phosphorus’ may be 50 years out or a hundred and fifty years, but as with peak oil, it’s not a question of if, but when. There has already been considerable volatility in Phosphorus prices in the past year, possibly related more to volatility in the energy market and this has trickled through into food prices. Many countries are pushing through environmental legislation to mandate phosphorus recycling and recovery and this is pushing a new wave of technologies and approaches to how we use and value this precious material.
Currently we mine it, use it and disperse it widely across the planet, much of it ending up in our rivers, lakes and oceans. Large portions of the earth’s oceans are now ‘dead zones’ and this is largely due to nutrient enrichment. It’s the classic example of too much of a good thing. When you see green lakes and algal blooms, this is nutrient enrichment.
While its only the past hundred years that we have started to make artificial phosphorus fertilisers, the element itself was discovered in the 17th century by Alchemist’s trying to find the illusive Philosophers Stone. Since then its uses have been varied, it was applied under peoples finger nails as a form of medieval torture, used in matches and explosives, and its use in both pesticides and fertilizers has been hugely important in increasing global agricultural output. For an interesting treatise on the topic check out The 13th Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire, and Phosphorus.
The Clean Tech Opportunity …So where is the Clean Tech angle on this? It’s in Phosphorus recycling and phosphorus recovery technologies. There are a number of companies focused on developing technologies to extract phosphorus and produce fertilizer products. Sweden and Germany are leading the way on promoting phosphorus recycling. Sweden for example has mandated that 60% of phosphorus must be recovered at its waste water treatment plants by 2015 and the UK is also promoting phosphorus recycling. Every municipal waste water treatment plant is potentially a ‘phosphorus mine’. Agricultural and industrial waste streams are also potential ‘mines’.
The mining may also start in your own home with source separation of urine and solids. The basic idea is simple: urine accounts for only 1% of the total volume of wastewater, but it contains up to 80% of all the nutrients. If it is processed separately, wastewater treatment plants can be reduced in size, water protection can be improved, and nutrients can be recycled. The Europeans are certainly leading the way in this area, in Switzerland trials with NoMix toilets have been quite successful. Apparently the majority of the Swiss people interviewed said they had no problem with it, even the men, who had to sit down to spend a penny! It may sound more like something more likely to be used on the NASA Space Station, but then again, we’re all on a Space Station, just a slightly bigger more populated one.
Thanks for the fascinating post, Paul. I’ve read a lot about other peaks we’re approaching (oil, of course, along with coal and a host of metals), but didn’t realize until now that phosphorus fell into that category too.
Yes, its seems there are a LOT of peaks which we are hitting! Peak Phosphorus is being talked about in the wings, mainly among people in the fertiliser industry or people involved in the environmental technology industry. But its real.