Tel Aviv—Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL) has acquired a new technology for recycling phosphate. The company said the technology was acquired from Germany’s SGL Carbon GmbH, and could enable it to manufacture several forms of phosphorus derivatives out of waste ashes and reduce the demand for phosphates by several of ICL’s subsidiaries. The technology was developed by SGL in a consortium with other companies and funded by the European Union. A small-scale pilot was conducted in Austria as part of a two-year development project. ICL decided to acquire the inductive heating of phosphorus technology after hearing that it was up for sale since it fit with the company’s sustainability strategy and could provide a game-changing technology in this field. According to ICL Vice President for Business Development Kees Langeveld, the current plan calls for a larger pilot plant to produce 150 mt/y of elementary phosphorus a year. A final decision has not yet been taken on where the pilot will be located, but sites at ICL subsidiaries in Holland and Germany are under consideration. Langeveld said that if constructing the plant in Europe due to CO2 emissions presents a problem, the plant could be built in the U.S. The timetable calls for an 18-month pilot stage followed by a full-scale commercial module that Langeveld estimates could be up and running in 2019. He adds that eventually four units could be built with a production capacity equivalent to 400,000 mt/y of ash. “This volume would replace several hundred thousand tons of phosphate,” he estimated. The planned investment in the project is put at $100 million plus. If successful, Langeveld said the technology could be adapted at other ICL plants. The phosphorus and derivatives produced by the technology is earmarked for production of fire retardants, auto industry additives, purified phosphoric acid for industrial applications, and specialty fertilizers.
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