Integrated facility-level framework enables practical phosphorus recovery under real-world constraints
- 1Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8572, Japan; Corresponding author.
- 2Regional Environment Conservation Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, 305-8506, Japan; Program Research Department, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, National Institutes for the Humanities, Kyoto, 603-0847, Japan
- 3Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8572, Japan; Program Research Department, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, National Institutes for the Humanities, Kyoto, 603-0847, Japan; Corresponding author. Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8572, Japan.
Abstract
Phosphorus is a finite resource essential to global food security, yet many import-dependent regions face increasing supply risks from concentrated reserves and geopolitical disruption. While municipal wastewater sludge offers a promising domestic secondary source of phosphorus, large-scale recovery remains limited by uncertainty over practical yields under real-world engineering and economic constraints. Previous assessments have often relied on aggregated data that obscure facility-specific conditions, leaving recoverable potential poorly constrained and potentially overstated. Here we developed an integrated facility-level framework connecting treatment scale, process configuration, phosphorus speciation, costs and spatial distribution, and applied it to a nationwide dataset for Japan. Results showed that engineering constraints reduced theoretical recovery by 34–63%, yet an integrated pathway combining decentralized aqueous-phase recovery with centralized ash leaching could still make a substantial contribution to the national target of agricultural phosphorus supply. Realizing this potential requires targeted incentives to address pronounced cost heterogeneity across facilities and coordinated spatial redistribution of recovered products. By establishing constraint-integrated modeling approaches, this work provides a transferable basis for evaluating recovery pathways, prioritizing investment and designing implementation strategies in other import-dependent regions seeking to advance circular phosphorus economies.
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BibTeX
@article{zhao2026integrated,
title = {{Integrated facility-level framework enables practical phosphorus recovery under real-world constraints}},
author = {Chuan Zhao and Takashi Onodera and Kazuyo Matsubae},
journal = {Environmental Science and Ecotechnology},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1016/j.ese.2026.100738},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ese.2026.100738},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Integrated facility-level framework enables practical phosphorus recovery under real-world constraints
AU - Chuan Zhao
AU - Takashi Onodera
AU - Kazuyo Matsubae
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
JO - Environmental Science and Ecotechnology
DO - 10.1016/j.ese.2026.100738
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ese.2026.100738
AB - Phosphorus is a finite resource essential to global food security, yet many import-dependent regions face increasing supply risks from concentrated reserves and geopolitical disruption. While municipal wastewater sludge offers a promising domestic secondary source of phosphorus, large-scale recovery remains limited by uncertainty over practical yields under real-world engineering and economic constraints. Previous assessments have often relied on aggregated data that obscure facility-specific conditions, leaving recoverable potential poorly constrained and potentially overstated. Here we developed an integrated facility-level framework connecting treatment scale, process configuration, phosphorus speciation, costs and spatial distribution, and applied it to a nationwide dataset for Japan. Results showed that engineering constraints reduced theoretical recovery by 34–63%, yet an integrated pathway combining decentralized aqueous-phase recovery with centralized ash leaching could still make a substantial contribution to the national target of agricultural phosphorus supply. Realizing this potential requires targeted incentives to address pronounced cost heterogeneity across facilities and coordinated spatial redistribution of recovered products. By establishing constraint-integrated modeling approaches, this work provides a transferable basis for evaluating recovery pathways, prioritizing investment and designing implementation strategies in other import-dependent regions seeking to advance circular phosphorus economies.
SN - 2666-4984
ER -