P-recovery versus current sewage sludge treatment policy in the Czech Republic and Japan

0578775 - ÚCHP 2025 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Hušek, Matěj - Homma, R. - Moško, Jaroslav - Pohořelý, Michael - Oshita, K.
P-recovery versus current sewage sludge treatment policy in the Czech Republic and Japan.
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy. (2023). ISSN 1618-954X. E-ISSN 1618-9558
R&D Projects: GA TA ČR(CZ) TN02000025
Grant - others:AV ČR(CZ) StrategieAV21/3
Program: StrategieAV
Institutional support: RVO:67985858
Keywords : sewage sludge * P-recovery * phosphorus * sludge treatment
OECD category: Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)
Impact factor: 4.3, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10098-023-02679-w

Phosphorus is an important element for agriculture and industry, but its deposits are not uniformly distributed. Countries that do not have primary sources are dependent on imports or regeneration from secondary materials. A widely available secondary source is sewage sludge. Used environmental standards govern sludge treatment, but its inclusion in the raw material policy is often missing. We focus on the Czech Republic (a European Union member) and Japan, countries without phosphorus deposits. Based on our analysis of sewage sludge flows, legislation, and technologies used, we aimed to evaluate approaches toward sustainable phosphorus policy. We figured out that in the Czech Republic, sludge application to soil continues due to legislation deregulation and thus, various pollutants enter the soil along with the sludge. In Japan, thermal treatment predominates, but ash is not processed, and phosphorus is irreversibly lost in landfills or construction. By not implementing a functional Precovery policy, both countries lose more than 13 % replacement of phosphorus fertilizers from their sources.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0347690