Phosphorus – The Hidden Link in Every Meal

Securing the future of food with recycled phosphorus

Why phosphorus matters?

Every loaf of bread, every vegetable, every meal begins with phosphorus. Without it, crops can’t grow. Put simply, no crops, no food. Phosphorus is vital to the entire food chain – from soils and crops to animals and people. It is used in fertilisers and animal feed. Read on to learn more:

Europe’s dependency

The solution in our pipes

Organic farming approval

What’s holding us back?

The only problem is...

Europe’s phosphorus dependency where the EU’s only active phosphate mine, in Finland, meets just 5–10% of our demand. The rest is imported, often from politically unstable or authoritarian states. In 2025, EU phosphorus imports from Russia have increased, despite the war in Ukraine. Dependence on imported phosphorus is not just an agricultural issue – it’s a question of food security, geopolitics, and economic resilience.

The solution is in our pipes

The good news: Europe already has phosphorus – flowing through our wastewater systems. Ragn-Sells’ innovation company EasyMining has developed Ash2Phos, a technology that recovers over 90% of the phosphorus in incinerated sewage sludge ash. The result is RevoCaP, a high-purity, recycled calcium phosphate that can replace imported, mined phosphorus. The process delivers consistent, high-quality output regardless of ash variation.

Built to run at industrial scale, two plants are now being built:

How Ash2Phos works

Ash2Phos is a patented, circular technology developed by EasyMining (part of Ragn-Sells) that turns sewage sludge ash into high-purity phosphorus and other recyclables.

  • Acid and base treatment – The ash from incinerated sewage sludge is dissolved in acid, then neutralised with alkali.
  • RevoCaP production – Extracted phosphorus is refined into RevoCaP, a calcium phosphate product with purity over 98%.
  • Additional coproducts – The process also yields sand, ferric chloride, and aluminium chemicals.
  • Effective recovery – The technology recovers over 90% of the phosphorus and utilizes more than 95% of the ash.
  • Scalable and resilient – Built to run at industrial scale in facilities, the process delivers consistent, high-quality output regardless of ash variation. 

Approved for organic farming

The European Commission has approved recovered calcium phosphate for use as fertiliser in organic farming. A breakthrough decision that opens the market for high quality fertilisers such as RevoCaP. 

The approval gives Europe’s organic farmers access to clean, concentrated calcium phosphate that can help increase yields and make more farmland suitable for organic cultivation.

What’s holding us back?

Even though the EU recently approved recycled phosphorus for use as fertiliser in organic farming,  which is a major step forward, a decades-old ban still prevents recycled phosphorus from being used in animal feed. This rule was introduced during the BSE crisis and no longer reflects today’s 

safe, modern treatment methods. As long as this outdated legislation remains in place, Europe will continue to waste a strategic resource – and risk losing innovation and jobs to other parts of the world. 

No Phosphorus – No Food

It’s that simple. The technology exists. The resource is already here. Now it’s time to act.

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