Last week, on 21 April, the EU project FlashPhos marked an important milestone with its Closing Event in Leoben, Austria. And what better place to conclude this journey than at ARP, where the pilot plant was built? The location provided the perfect setting to present key results, exchange insights, and celebrate achievements together with project partners.
We were delighted to welcome a diverse group of stakeholders – both on-site and online – from across the value chain, including experts in wastewater and sewage sludge treatment, thermal conversion and drying technologies, waste management and circular economy, as well as construction materials and cement substitutes.
The agenda followed the phosphorus value chain, guiding participants through the full FlashPhos approach – from the feedstock, sewage sludge, to processing technologies, and finally to scale-up and exploitation opportunities. Particular attention was given to the FEED study and the integration of FlashPhos outputs into the cement industry. In addition, digital results such as process simulations and the FlashPhos digital twin were presented, alongside findings from the Life Cycle Assessment and the Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA).
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Highlights from the presentations included:
- Feedstock & Sewage Sludge Mapping (Lukas Pohl, University of Stuttgart)
- The three FlashPhos processes: Dryer-Grinder, Flash Reactor, Refiner (Ayumi Schober, University of Stuttgart; Christian Schmidberger, University of Stuttgart; Luigi Di Rienzo, Italmatch Chemicals; Valentin Mally, ARP; Florian Drunsel, Buss-SMS-Canzler)
- Modelling, Simulation & Digital Twin (Benjamin Ortner, Graz University of Technology; Els Nagels, InsPyro)
- FEED Study & Integration into the Cement Industry (Sabrina Frühauf, A TEC; Stefan Papkalla, VDZ)
- Utilisation of By-Products (Elise François, ResourceFull)
- Life Cycle Assessment & Socio-Economic Impacts (Encarni Muñoz Marín, INERCO; Maria Cristina Pasi, Italmatch Chemicals)
- Exploitation Pathways & Integration into the European Phosphorus Industry (Luigi Di Rienzo, Italmatch Chemicals)
Beyond the presentations, several partners showcased tangible results of the project. Participants had the opportunity to explore materials such as dried and ground sewage sludge produced by the FlashPhos Dryer-Grinder, as well as concrete products developed using FlashPhos slag – a valuable by-product.
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A true highlight of the event was the site visit to ARP. Seeing the Flash Reactor and the FlashPhos Refiner on site brought the project to life in a powerful way. It was a great opportunity to reflect on what has been achieved over the past five years.
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A big thank you goes to all project partners for their dedication and inspiring contributions, to ARP and Italmatch for guiding us through the pilot plant, and to Steinbeis Europa Zentrum and the University of Stuttgart for organising and managing the event. We also extend our gratitude to all participants for their interest and for the engaging discussions throughout the day.
Key takeaway: While the project has officially come to a close, the journey is far from over. Several partners are continuing their work with further experiments throughout the year – driving forward the transition towards a more sustainable phosphorus industry in Europe.
Project Closing Video
Watch the video from the project closing including insights from the pilot plant tour and interviews with the FlashPhos partners:
If you would like to dive deeper into the topic and learn more about the FlashPhos results, feel free to explore the full presentation deck from the Closing Event here.