TY - JOUR A1 - Vogel, Christian A1 - Radtke, Martin A1 - Reinholz, Uwe A1 - Schäfers, F. A1 - Adam, Christian T1 - Chemical state of chromium, sulfur, and iron in sewage sludge ash based phosphorus fertilizers N2 - As an essential element of all life forms, phosphorus (P) is vital to the fertilizer industry. With decreasing quantity and quality of phosphate rock resources, recycling P-fertilizers from wastewater is of increasing interest. The P-fertilizer products of a recently developed thermochemical process for P recovery from sewage sludge ash (SSA) were investigated by chromium, sulfur, and iron K-edge X-ray near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. This paper focuses the formation and prevention of toxic chromium(VI) and toxic sulfides during the thermochemical processes. Reducing conditions prevent the oxidation of chromium(III) in the SSA to toxic chromium(VI). Sulfides formed under the reducing conditions are nontoxic iron sulfides. Hematite (Fe2O3) present in the SSA is reduced to magnetite (Fe3O4). A gentle post-treatment at 400 °C under oxidizing conditions converts the iron sulfides into plant-available iron sulfates. This oxidative post-treatment does not form undesired chromium(VI) compounds. KW - X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy KW - Phosphorus recovery KW - Sewage sludge ash KW - Chromium KW - Sulfur KW - Iron PY - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.5b00678 SN - 2168-0485 VL - 3 IS - 10 SP - 2376 EP - 2380 PB - ACS Publ. CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-34166 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -