Phosphorus Management in Slovakia—A Case Study

Abstract

Recently, phosphorus (P) has become a material that is the focus of many countries, including the EU, due to its scarcity. EU countries significantly depend on P export/import due to a lack of extraction and deposits. In this paper, an economic analysis of P management in Slovakia as a source for responsible and sustainable exploitation and reuse is presented based on available P sources, whether traditional (P rock mining), recovery and recycling (from surface water, un/treated wastewater, sewage sludge, sewage sludge ash) or alternative (from urine, manure, slaughter waste, steelmaking slag). The current state in Slovakia shows that there is no P rock mined, and no P is recovered or recycled from any resources. All the P is imported, mostly from other EU countries. But there are several possible P sources, except for mining, with estimated available sources of surface water (14,933 t per year), treated wastewater (285 t per year), sewage sludge (49,125 t per year), urine (433,806 t per year), manure (1,626,132 t per year), slaughter waste (456 t per year) and steelmaking slag (4214 t per year). The explicit identification of an effective P management strategy in Slovakia was done by a Strength-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis, and the corresponding factors were identified and quantified. As there are no P deposits mined and no P recovery facilities from existing sources at present in Slovakia, there is a declining trend in cattle breeding and in the produced amount of manure and urine, absence of the P recovery from sewage sludge ash, the low estimated potential of available P compounds from sewage sludge, low estimated potential of available P compounds from steelmaking slags in connection with lack of governmental support, instability of steel production, reduction of manure production due to the reduction of cattle breeding, reduction of slaughter waste production due to the reduction of animal waste production, significant dependence on P import and the low number of potential P deposits are the main results of the SWOT analysis that suggests that the P management should be guided by the principles of a retreat strategy.