EBI is working to include sludge biochar in the FPR
Since the summer of 2022, the EU's Fertilising Products Regulation (FPR) has been in place for fertilisers within the EU. Sewage sludge as a substrate for pyrolysis which can then be used as fertilizer, sludge biochar, is not included in the FPR. The European Biochar Industry (EBI) has now published a position paper regarding the pyrolysis of sewage sludge and sludge biochar.
The paper wants to show that there is support in the literature that pyrolysis of sewage sludge breaks down pathogens, pharmaceutical residues, hormones, antibiotic resistant genes, PFAS, PAHs and microplastics, that sludge biochar can act as a carbon sink, that sludge biochar can contribute to lower greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural land, that the phosphorus in the sludge biochar is plant available and that drying and pyrolysis can be an energy-neutral combination.
In the paper they refer to the ESPP´s (ESPP = European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform) report from the 1st Swedish Conference on Sewage Sludge Biochar that Testbed Ellinge arranged last year in Malmö. Read it here.
You can read more about EU’s FPR here and here.
The European Biochar Industry, EBI, was formed in September 2019 by some of the leading players in the European biochar industry. EBI is a non-profit organisation to promote and support the biochar industry.