TY - JOUR A1 - Krüger, Oliver A1 - Grabner, Angela A1 - Adam, Christian T1 - Complete survey of German sewage sludge ash JF - Environmental science & technology N2 - The amount of sewage sludge produced worldwide is expected to further increase due to rising efforts in wastewater treatment. There is a growing concern against its direct use as fertilizer due to contamination of the sludge with heavy metals and organic pollutants. Incinerating the sludge degrades organic compounds almost completely and concentrates heavy metals and phosphorus. However, the sewage sludge ash (SSA) is almost completely disposed of and with it all resources are removed from the economic cycle. Comprehensive knowledge of the composition of SSA is crucial to assess the resource recovery potentials. We conducted a survey of all SSA emerging in Germany and determined the respective mass fractions of 57 elements over a period of one year. The median content of phosphorus was 7.9%, indicating an important recovery potential. Important trace elements were Zn (2.5 g/kg), Mn (1.3 g/kg), and Cu (0.9 g/kg). Mass fractions of technology metals such as V, Cr, Ga, Nb, and rare earths were comparatively low. Considering the possible use of SSA as secondary raw material for fertilizer production it should be noted that its Cd and U content (2.7 mg/kg and 4.9 mg/kg respectively) is significantly lower than that of rock phosphate based mineral fertilizers. PY - 2014 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/es502766x SN - 0013-936X SN - 1520-5851 VL - 48 IS - 20 SP - 11811 EP - 11818 PB - ACS Publ. CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-32646 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -