Sustainable development of phosphorus recovery: From a product perspective

With the continuous exploitation and loss of phosphorus (P) resources and the challenging natural closed-loop recovery of P, the P crisis has become an issue that must be urgently addressed for future development. How-ever, despite the continuous increase in P recovery products, the crucial role of these products in the current recovery process remains incompletely understood. In this study, we consider P recovery products as the entry point to analyze the status of P recovery from four perspectives: raw material sources, production processes, product applications, and end markets. Currently, the most feasible path is to recover P from incinerated sludge ash, rather than from the aqueous phase or sewage sludge via recycling. The differences in P recovery products also lead to differences in products; in addition to traditional use in agriculture, the products also have potential industry applications. Therefore, the differences in P recovery products significantly determine the sustainability of P recovery practices. Finally, we believe that government support and public participation will greatly pro -mote the sustainable production and consumption of P and facilitate the structural reform of both supply-side and demand-side of the P recovery market to accelerate the commercialization of P recovery products.