University of Stuttgart12 million euros for the production of white phosphorus through sewage sludge recycling

Elemental white phosphorus (P4) is a strategic raw material with high criticality due to its irreplaceability for key industries, for example in the food and pharmaceutical sector. Currently, the European Union is almost completely dependent on white phosphorus imports from Kazakhstan, Vietnam and China. Yet, there are enough phosphorus reserves in Europe veiled in sewage sludge to cover the EU’s whole demand on white phosphorus.

12 million euros for a consortium with 17 partners

Coordinated by the University of Stuttgart, a consortium of 17 European partners has joined forces to recover at a large scale high-quality white phosphorus and other raw materials using sewage sludge as input material. These raw materials have strategic applications for the European chemical, metal and cement industry.

Steinbeis Europa Zentrum successfully supported the University of Stuttgart in the application for the project. Both partners are involved in the 15 million euros EU project FlashPhos, for which the EU awards funding under Horizon 2020. FlashPhos will be the first and unique technology in Europe producing white phosphorus for the chemical industry, providing at the same time a solution for the problematic sewage sludge disposal.

Steinbeis Europa Zentrum is responsible for administrative project management, dissemination and exploitation of the project results and communication. In the application phase, it intensively accompanied the project development and provided the budget preparation and a hotline for queries about Horizon 2020.

The coordinator also took part in a training on the application process and was thus well prepared for the application.

Project website: https://flashphos-project.eu/

„The complexity of EU tenders and how to find your way around them in order to write a good application was conveyed to me in a very good, structured and technically sound way in the Steinbeis Europa Zentrum training. The group work was very valuable for me. Examples of successful applications, exercises and the subsequent discussion with the participants gave me ideas for my application that I would never have thought of myself. As a conclusion, I would say that with a well-structured application I now easily leave two thirds of the applicants behind me.“

Matthias Rapf, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Sanitary Engineering, Water Quality and Solid Waste Management 

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Dr. Jennifer Bilbao
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Contact us!

Dr. Jennifer Bilbao

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