Introductory Chapter: The Overview of Phosphorous Recovery

Abstract

Phosphorus (P) is a finite, non-substitutable, non-renewable, and geographically restricted resource. Substantial interest in P availability was sparked [1]. Some researchers demonstrated sufficient availability to sustain production beyond the twenty-first century, or a maximum occurring late twenty-first century [2–4]. But there are no financial incentives to support mineral resource inspections worldwide without the exploitation of phosphate deposits. The anthropogenic influences on this critical resource are likely to bring about a number of challenges to P sustainability. Advances in technology, public health, and food production over the last couple of centuries have fundamentally interrupted the natural global P cycle. Phosphate deposits have been mined to supply human production, which generated a mostly one-way flow of P from mines to farms to surface waters, ultimately impairing freshwater and coastal waters environment and function [5]. Rapid increases in human population and the subsequent need for high agricultural productivity have led to substantial increases in fertilizer use [6]. The P used as fertilizer consumes more than 80% of the P resources [7]. P is simultaneously an important non-renewable agricultural nutrient and an environmental pollutant [8].