IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i7p3733-d525053.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Circular Economy for Phosphorus in Sweden—Is it Possible?

Author

Listed:
  • Dag Lorick

    (Division of Environmental Systems Analysis, Department of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
    Gryaab AB, SE-402 74 Gothenburg, Sweden)

  • Robin Harder

    (Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden)

  • Magdalena Svanström

    (Division of Environmental Systems Analysis, Department of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden)

Abstract

More sustainable management of phosphorus requires comprehensive understanding of phosphorus stocks and flows. With the purpose of shedding light on the possibilities for an increased level of recirculation of phosphorus in Sweden, phosphorus flows entering and exiting biomass production sectors were quantified along with waste flows, that is, flows that are not currently utilized in biomass production. Relevant waste flows were also characterized in terms of phosphorus concentration, plant availability, contamination and geo-spatial distribution. The theoretical recirculation potential of phosphorus in Sweden was then estimated. The results indicate that there is a large potential for making phosphorus management more circular, especially regarding the utilization of phosphorus in sewage sludge as well as wood ashes from the forestry sector. Moreover, there is a large amount of phosphorus in mining waste that could potentially be used for fertilizer production. It is concluded that the amount of phosphorus in flows fit for recirculation in forestry could more or less balance today’s output. In agriculture, however, recirculation can only sufficiently replace imported mineral phosphorus at current demand if the phosphorus in mining waste is utilized. Thus, if the goal is to replace all of the mineral phosphorus, the agricultural sector also has to become much more efficient in its phosphorus usage.

Suggested Citation

  • Dag Lorick & Robin Harder & Magdalena Svanström, 2021. "A Circular Economy for Phosphorus in Sweden—Is it Possible?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-16, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3733-:d:525053
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3733/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3733/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Helen A. Hamilton & Eva Brod & Ola S. Hanserud & Erik O. Gracey & Magnus I. Vestrum & Anne Bøen & Franciska S. Steinhoff & Daniel B. Müller & Helge Brattebø, 2016. "Investigating Cross-Sectoral Synergies through Integrated Aquaculture, Fisheries, and Agriculture Phosphorus Assessments: A Case Study of Norway," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 20(4), pages 867-881, August.
    2. Yuliya Kalmykova & Robin Harder & Helena Borgestedt & Ingela Svanäng, 2012. "Pathways and Management of Phosphorus in Urban Areas," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 16(6), pages 928-939, December.
    3. Ola Stedje Hanserud & Kari-Anne Lyng & Jerke W. De Vries & Anne Falk Øgaard & Helge Brattebø, 2017. "Redistributing Phosphorus in Animal Manure from a Livestock-Intensive Region to an Arable Region: Exploration of Environmental Consequences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-21, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nguyet Thi Tran & Dirk Weichgrebe, 2020. "Regional material flow behaviors of agro‐food processing craft villages in Red River Delta, Vietnam," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(3), pages 707-725, June.
    2. Ignacio Cazcarro & Carlos A. López‐Morales & Faye Duchin, 2019. "The global economic costs of substituting dietary protein from fish with meat, grains and legumes, and dairy," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 23(5), pages 1159-1171, October.
    3. Reijnders, L., 2014. "Phosphorus resources, their depletion and conservation, a review," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 32-49.
    4. Babak Ebrahimi & Leonardo Rosado & Holger Wallbaum, 2022. "Machine learning‐based stocks and flows modeling of road infrastructure," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(1), pages 44-57, February.
    5. Sebastian Awiszus & Klaus Meissner & Sebastian Reyer & Joachim Müller, 2019. "Environmental Assessment of a Bio-Refinery Concept Comprising Biogas Production, Lactic Acid Extraction and Plant Nutrient Recovery," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-20, May.
    6. Niccolò Pampuro & Christian Preti & Eugenio Cavallo, 2018. "Recycling Pig Slurry Solid Fraction Compost as a Sound Absorber," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, January.
    7. Louise Guibrunet & Araceli Sánchez Jiménez, 2023. "The current and potential role of urban metabolism studies to analyze the role of food in urban sustainability," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(1), pages 196-209, February.
    8. Teresa Rodríguez-Espinosa & Irene Voukkali & Ana Pérez-Gimeno & María Belén Almendro Candel & J. David Hernández-Martich & Antonis A. Zorpas & Ignacio Gómez Lucas & Jose Navarro-Pedreño, 2024. "Waste as a Sustainable Source of Nutrients for Plants and Humans: A Strategy to Reduce Hidden Hunger," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-23, August.
    9. Gao, Chengkang & Zhang, Shuaibing & Song, Kaihui & Na, Hongming & Tian, Fan & Zhang, Menghui & Gao, Wengang, 2018. "Conjoint analysis of nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur metabolism: A case study of Liaoning Province, China," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 390(C), pages 70-78.
    10. Senthilkumar, Kalimuthu & Mollier, Alain & Delmas, Magalie & Pellerin, Sylvain & Nesme, Thomas, 2014. "Phosphorus recovery and recycling from waste: An appraisal based on a French case study," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 97-108.
    11. Lisa Harseim & Benjamin Sprecher & Cathrin Zengerling, 2021. "Phosphorus Governance within Planetary Boundaries: The Potential of Strategic Local Resource Planning in The Hague and Delfland, The Netherlands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-21, September.
    12. Köninger, Julia & Lugato, Emanuele & Panagos, Panos & Kochupillai, Mrinalini & Orgiazzi, Alberto & Briones, Maria J.I., 2021. "Manure management and soil biodiversity: Towards more sustainable food systems in the EU," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    13. Roberto G. Chiquito-Contreras & Luis Hernandez-Adame & Gerardo Alvarado-Castillo & María de J. Martínez-Hernández & Gabriela Sánchez-Viveros & César J. Chiquito-Contreras & Luis G. Hernandez-Montiel, 2022. "Aquaculture—Production System and Waste Management for Agriculture Fertilization—A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-13, June.
    14. Sandile Birthwell Ndwandwe & Ruey-Chee Weng, 2018. "Competitive Analyses of the Pig Industry in Swaziland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-22, November.
    15. Alex Segrè Cohen & Nancy G. Love & Joseph Árvai, 2020. "Communicating the Risks and Benefits of Human Urine-Derived Fertilizer," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-14, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3733-:d:525053. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.