The Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology

ICL Fertilizers’ new installation

(Posted on 16/03/19)

ICL Fertilizers has opened a new installation in Amsterdam that will allow the company to use phosphorus waste as a source for the large-scale production of phosphate fertilizers. This will help ICL, which is based on the Fosfaatweg (in Dutch meaning Phosphate Road, which is not entirely coincidental) in the port of Amsterdam, to take an important step towards complete phosphate recycling.

Phosphate is essential for global food production. Without phosphate there could be no fruit or vegetables. Farmers all over the world use phosphate fertilizers to stimulate the growth of their crops. The stocks of raw phosphate in the ground are, however, not endless. That is why ICL is going to use this new installation to extract phosphate from waste on a large scale, such as incineration ash from sewage sludge and bone meal. In doing so, ICL both provides society with an innovative solution for a waste problem and prepares the company for a future in which raw phosphate is becoming ever scarcer globally. This allows the Amsterdam-based ICL to continue for many more years to produce fertilizers that will help to grow food for the world in a sustainable manner.

This installation is only just the beginning. ICL’s ambition is to increase the amount of phosphates being derived from waste to such an extent that the Amsterdam-based company remains one of the international leaders in phosphate recycling and eventually reach the point where phosphate is completely recycled. This ambition is very much in line with the sustainability ambition of Port of Amsterdam.

The port of Amsterdam region is a top player in dry bulk; Amsterdam is the second largest coal and agribulk transhipment port in Europe and world’s largest cocoa port and has excellent hinterland connections.