TY - JOUR A1 - Herzel, Hannes A1 - Krüger, Oliver A1 - Hermann, L. A1 - Adam, Christian T1 - Sewage sludge ash - A promising secondary phosphorus source for fertilizer production T2 - Science of the total environment N2 - Sewage sludge incineration is extensively practiced in some European countries such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. A survey of German sewage sludge ash showed that the recovery potential is high, approx. 19,000 t of phosphorus per year. However, the survey also discovered that the bioavailability of phosphorus in the sewage sludge ash is poor and that more than half of the ashes cannot be used as fertilizers due to high heavy metal content. A new thermochemical process for sewage sludge ash treatment was developed that transforms the ash into marketable fertilizer products. Sewage sludge ash was thermochemically treated with sodium and potassium additives under reducing conditions, whereby the phosphate-bearing mineral phases were transformed into plant available phosphates. High P-bioavailability was achieved with a molar Na/P ratio > 1.75 in the starting materials. Sodium sulfate, carbonate and hydroxide performed comparably as additives for this calcination process. Potassium carbonate and -hydroxide have to be added in a molar K/P ratio > 2.5 to achieve comparable P-solubility. The findings of the laboratory scale investigations were confirmed by an industrial demonstration trial for an ash treatment with sodium sulfate. Simultaneously, the volatile transition metal arsenic (61% removal) as well as volatile heavy metals such as cadmium (80%), mercury (68%), lead (39%) and zinc (9%) were removed via the off-gas treatment system. The product of the demonstration trial is characterized by high bioavailability and a toxic trace element mass fraction below the limit values of the German fertilizer ordinance, thus fulfilling the quality parameters for a P-fertilizer. PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam KW - Sewage sludge ash KW - Phosphorus recovery KW - Thermochemical treatment KW - Reducing conditions KW - Heavy metal evaporation KW - Bioavailability KW - Sodium sulfate PY - 2016 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-bam/frontdoor/index/index/docId/34165 AN - OPUS4-34165 SN - 0048-9697 SN - 1879-1026 IS - 542 SP - 1136 EP - 1143 AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany