Description of the activity

Construction, upgrade, operation and renewal of facilities for recovery of phosphorus from urban waste water treatment plants (WWTP) (aqueous phase and sludge) and from materials (i.e. ashes) after thermal oxidation (i.e. incineration) of sewage sludge.

The economic activity only includes the facilities and processes that make phosphorus recovery possible, not the previous steps, such as waste water treatment or incineration facilities.

The economic activities in this category could be associated with several NACE codes, in particular E37.00, E38.32 and F42.99 in accordance with the statistical classification of economic activities established by Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006.

Technical screening criteria

Substantial contribution to the transition to a circular economy

1. For the process integrated at the waste water treatment plant, covering typically phosphorus salts such as struvite-magnesium ammonium phosphate (NH4MgPO4•6H2O), the phosphorus recovery process recovers at least 15 % of the incoming phosphorus load. Only the harvested material, such as struvite, is counted for the calculation of this threshold.

2. For down-stream recovery after sewage sludge thermal oxidation with chemical phosphorus recovery or after sewage sludge thermal oxidation with thermo chemical phosphorus recovery, the process recovers at least 80 % of the incoming phosphorus load from the respective input material, such as sewage sludge ash.