Taking nutrient recovery from innovation to action   

Today, the agricultural industry burns a lot of fossil fuels to keep up with the demands of a growing population. That challenge was the focus of the seminar “The world needs a circular transformation”, held November 12 at COP29 in Azerbaijan. Co-organised by Ragn-Sells and Alfa Laval, the presentation highlighted new innovations as well as roadblocks in the shift to sustainable food production. 

President of the Federation of Swedish Farmers Palle Borgström spoke on the seminar panel, putting the issue into perspective. 

– The forecast for the global population is 10 billion people in 2050. Even with the population we have today, we know that we don’t have unlimited access to more land or more raw materials. It’s obvious that we have to produce more with more efficiency. Of course, the answer to that is more circularity, he said. 

Circular solutions ready for application 

The seminar presentations featured some new innovations for the circular flow of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, both essential for agriculture. Speaking on the panel, Ragn-Sells CEO Lars Lindén underscored their potential to reduce the industry’s climate impact. 

– Solutions where you circulate nutrients specifically, the technologies are very climate friendly. The carbon footprint is really low, 90% lower than the current methods used to produce phosphorus and nitrogen, he said. 

One example is EasyMining’s Aqua2N process, which recovers more than 95% of nitrogen from wastewater sludge without releasing any harmful nitrous oxide into the atmosphere. The result is a fertiliser product that has already been tested and proven effective in operational environments. The process can also recapture nutrients from landfill leachate and biogas centrate, giving it widespread potential for application. 

Another is Ash2Phos, a technology also developed by EasyMining that recovers phosphorus and other nutrients from incinerated sewage sludge. That results in several high-quality products suitable for use in agriculture and beyond: calcium phosphate for animal feed, iron coagulants for wastewater treatment, silica sand for sustainable concrete, and aluminium for the chemical industry. 

The power of partnerships for global change 

The panellists also emphasised how the partnership between EasyMining and Alfa Laval is making it possible to scale up and deliver these solutions worldwide. As Lindén explained, circularity depends on collaborators sharing their technologies and insights.  

Thanks to Alfa Laval’s innovations, the first Ash2Phos plant – currently under construction in Schkopau, Germany – will have a fully carbon-free operation. The company has also adapted and refined its own caustic evaporation technology to help optimise EasyMining’s Ash2Phos process. 

Thomas Møller, President of Alfa Laval’s Energy Division, also spoke at the seminar, describing the company’s passion for finding new applications for its separation technologies and heat exchanges. It’s all about accelerating the shift to clean energy. 

– What we can contribute is really to partner up with companies like [EasyMining], pioneering companies that are coming with new solutions where we can bring our technologies into these systems and make them scalable, but also industrialise them and de-risk them with proven technologies, he said.    

Some regulations still a roadblock to circularity 

As the session wrapped up, each speaker echoed the same central message: regulators must act now to make the circular transformation a reality. Sustainable recovery solutions for critical nutrients already exist, but their global potential can only be realised through political and regulatory support. That could be new directives, subsidies, or simply updates to existing laws. 

RevoCaP – the calcium phosphate produced through Ash2Phos – is a prime illustration. Despite its high quality and proven effectiveness, it cannot be sold in Europe for use in animal feeds due to EU legislation that focuses on origin rather than quality. As a result, that product is being rolled out in Canada instead.  

According to Borgström, policies like this are a common hindrance for an industry that’s eager to adopt new technologies. But when legislative changes come, people will be ready. 

– I'm a farmer representative, and I'm also a farmer myself, so I know that farmers are prepared to use those products, he said. What is possible in Canada needs to be possible here in Europe. 

Watch the full video of the “The world needs a circular transformation” COP29 seminar on Business Sweden’s website.