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Procedia Engineering 83 (2014) 265 269

SYMPHOS 2013, 2nd International Symposium on Innovation and Technology in the Phosphate Industry

Uranium, the hidden treasure in phosphates

Ewald Schnug a*, Nils Haneklaus
Technical University Braunschweig - Faculty 2 Life Sciences, Pockelsstrae 14, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany

Abstract
During the past decade up to 167 t/yr U has been applied to farmland by P fertilization in Germany and this amount would have been sufficient
to satisfy the energy demand of 2.4106 households if U had been extracted previously. This energy source equals the heating value of timber
from 5.6106 ha of forest land. The use of U from P fertilizers is also an uncommon contribution of agriculture to climate protection, which has
been valued to 1.8 /kg P when an equivalent value to CO2 emission car tax bands in Germany is assumed.

2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of SYMPHOS 2013.

Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of SYMPHOS 2013

Keywords: Uranium, rock phosphates, fertilizers, Energy;

1. Introduction
Uranium (U) contamination of soils, water and food through use of phosphate fertilizers is emerging as a major problem of
sustainability in agriculture (Schnug and Lottermoser 2013). Statistical data on the annual sale of phosphorus (P) containing mineral
fertilizers in Germany combined with data on toxic elements in mineral fertilizers allow an estimation of heavy metal loads to
agricultural land which was conducted by Kratz el al. (2011). Their study shows that for the time period from 1950/51 to 2009/2010
the mean annual loads of the elements As, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, U and Zn to agricultural land in Germany exclusively by P fertilizer
applications fertilisers amounted to: As 40, Cd 22, Cu 95, Ni 54, Pb 11, Zn 431 and U 114 t/yr; maximum values reached: As 73,
Cd 42, Cu 146, Ni 90, Pb 20, Zn 764 and U 228 t/yr. In relation to the soil group , the contribution over the last sixty years of
mineral fertilizer bound heavy metal inputs to average background concentrations of agricultural topsoils in Germany ranges
between 0.4-1.4% for As, 3.5-12.3% for Cd, 0.2-1.1% for Cu, 0.03-1.5% for Ni, 0.03-0.1% for Pb, 0.3-1.8% for Zn and 4.4-13.7%
for U. All of these toxic elements except U are regulated in the German Fertilizer Ordinance (DMV 2012), but for U strong
lobbyism has successfully prevented the implementation of any regulation in fertilizer materials so far (BMELV 2011). To protect
environment and human health the Commission for Soil Protection at the German Federal Environmental Agency proposed in
2012 critical values for U in fertilizers for declaration and no negotiability (KOM 2012). These values are numerically identical
with the already adopted values for Cd (DMV 2012). The proposal of KOM (2012) is that in fertilizers containing < 5% P2O5
the U content has to be declared if it exceeds 1 mg/kg U in fresh matter and in fertilizers containing > 5% P2O5 the U content has
to be declared if it exceeds 20 mg U per kg P2O5 20 mg U per kg P2O5. Fertilizers are non-negotiable which says they shall be
banned from trading if in fertilizers with < 5% P2O5 the U content exceeds 1.5 mg/kg U in fresh matter and in fertilizers containing

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +491732367829; fax: +495962199.

E-mail address: jki-pb@vodafone.de

1877-7058 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of SYMPHOS 2013
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2014.09.001

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Ewald Schnug and Nils Haneklaus / Procedia Engineering 83 (2014) 265 269

> 5% P2O5 if the U content exceeds 50 mg U per kg P2O5 20 mg U per kg P2O5. The idea behind is to limit inputs of U to < 1g/ha
(which is the maximum of U expected to be removed by harvest products) in order to avoid further accumulation of U in soils.
Table 1 shows the results of Cd and U analyzes conducted on commercial samples collected by different authors. If the critical
values given above would have been applied to these samples one third would have had to show a declaration of the Cd content
and a sixth of them would have been banned from trading because of exceeding Cd concentrations. In case of U, for a quarter of
the samples a declaration of the U concentration would have been required and nearly half of them would be not marketable.
Table 1. P2O5, Cd and U concentration in fertilizers traded in Germany
Reference

Kratz et al. (2011)

P2O5 (%)

Cd (mg/kg)

U
(mg/kg)

mg Cd per kg
P2O5

mg U per kg
P2O5

78

22.8

12.0

61.3

47.1

283

193

25.8

9.43

63.3

37.0

245

Leiterer & Ludewig (2011/12) *

16

8.20

1.47

25.7

17.2

274

Klein (2013) *

16

6.42

1.16

8.00

18.0

126

Dittrich & Klose (2008)

Fertilizer type "organic mineral"

Similar results can be found in sample collections from other countries such as Brazil, where 79 fertilizer samples with an
average P2O5 content of von 30.1% showed an average of 18.6 mg/kg Cd (61.5 mg Cd per kg P2O5) and 70.6 mg/kg U (248 mg U
per kg P2O5) (Smidt et al 2011a).
2. Contribution of uranium in rock phosphates to environmentally-sound and cost-efficient energy production
Uranium (U) is an entirely indispensable raw material for producing nuclear power. The basic idea of using U from rock
phosphates for energetic purposes at competitive expenses in order to satisfy the U demand for future nuclear power plants whilst
minimising adverse environmental effects by fertilizer-derived U loads to agricultural soils has been proposed by Hu et al. (2008).
The extraction of U during fertilizer processing is technically no problem (Imphos 2009). It has been common practice until the
end of the 1990s in Europe and the USA, and plants are still operating worldwide. Several methods exist for the extraction of U
from rock phosphates such as precipitation of U from phosphoric acid, ion exchange separation with a chelating resin, membrane
separation of U, froth flotation and solvent extraction of U (Kratz and Schnug 2006). Gupta and Singh (2003) provide a detailed
description of these procedures. The technology experiences a revival as the contract between France and Morocco in 2009 shows,
which comprises among others the extraction of U from rock phosphates (Ellersick 2007).
Phosphate rock of sedimentary and igneous origin can be differentiated. U is an accompanying element of phosphate rock,
particularly that of sedimentary origin. Depending on the geographical and biogenic origin of the rock phosphate U concentrations
may be as high as 150 mg kg-1 in sedimentary and 220 mg kg-1 in igneous rock phosphates (Kratz and Schnug 2006). About 6%
of the world`s known P deposits exhibit U in recoverable concentrations (Orris and Chernoff 2002). Countries possessing
Such P/U deposits are Afghanistan, Angola, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Central-Africa, Ecuador, Finland, Greenland,
Hungary, India, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Spain,
Sweden, Syria, Togo, Turkey and United States (Orris and Chernoff 2002; Ragheb 2008).
Rock phosphates and processed phosphorous (P) fertilizers are a main source for U contamination and accumulation in
agricultural soils (Rogasik et al. 2008; Kratz and Schnug 2006). Even more critical is the translocation of U into water bodies with
yet unknown effects on human health (Knolle et al. 2008; Smidt et al. 2011b). IAEA (2001) speculated that extraction of U from
phosphates in the future depends on the development of the price for U on the world market, or environmental regulations which
request re-installation of the process. In addition, the argument that a lower U content of the ore in U mines increase the price costs
for fuel production and the life-cycle contribution to the CO2 balance is no longer valid if the U source is a side-product of fertilizer
production. The unconventional world U reserves in P deposits are estimated to be as high as 22106 t and could deliver U for
another 440 years for the same price as conventional U resources, which is about five times longer than the time span calculated
for conventional U reserves (Comby 2008; OECD 2005; Ragheb 2008).

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Ewald Schnug and Nils Haneklaus / Procedia Engineering 83 (2014) 265 269

On a long-term basis it can be expected that the prices for P fertilizers will remain unaffected after global implementation of the
technology for the extraction of U as the demand of U for nuclear power plants is worldwide rapidly increasing. At the same time
the U supply from conversion of nuclear weapons is declining so that the price of U on the world market can be expected to remain
on a constantly high level. Other U secondary recovery sources are bottom and fly ashes from coal combustion and sea water.
Hereby, the energetic use of coal is in a similar dilemma as is the agricultural utilization of phosphates: Coal and fly ashes show U
concentrations, which are in a similar range as those in rock phosphates. The extraction of U from fly ashes is explored with respect
to limited U reserves.
U in rock phosphates is a precious metal with a view to energetic and economic aspects as a simple calculation reveals (Table
1). During the past decade up to 167 t/yr U has been applied in Germany exclusively by P fertilisation. This amount would have
been sufficient to satisfy the energy demand of 2.4 million households of average size. Thus this energy source equals the heating
value of timber from 5.6 million ha of forest land. It can be concluded that the use of U-depleted P fertilizers is an uncommon
contribution of agriculture to climate protection, which has been valued to 1.8 /kg P when supposing an equivalent value to CO2
emission car tax bands in Germany. A detailed description of the calculation basis is provided below. Either a CO2 tax on mineral
P fertilizer products or a monetary reward for farmers in the form of a CO2 bonus are supposed to provide a strong motivation
support for the re-vitalization of the existing technology for U extraction from rock phosphates.
Table 2. Energetic and ecological characteristics of various energy sources
Energy source

Energy density(MJ/kg)

CO2emission(g/kWh

Land use(ha/1,000MW)

kg Firewooda

12

1851

5,333,333

1 kg Coal

33

1000

Electricity, produced(kWh/kg)

1 kg Oil

46

814

1 kg Natural gas

54

480

1 kg U (0.7% 235U)

600,000

50,000

1 kg LEUb (3.5% 235U)

3,456,000

288,000

32

768

Solar

27

12,961

Wind

24

51,842

22

125,000

1 kg Waterc

0.00008

0.001

Based on 1kg firewood = 1 kW/h and a yield potential of 1.5 t/ha

LEU Low Enriched Uranium
c
potential at 100m dam height
Sources: Anonymous (2007, 2008a, 2008b); Deal (2010)
b

3. The potential of fertilizer practice to reduce adverse effects of climate change

"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."
(Marie Curie, 1867-1934). The relevance of this quotation of Marie Curie is most likely more important than ever if it comes to
the civil use of nuclear energy after the nuclear accidents in Chernobyl and Fukushima. Nuclear power is the only large-scale, nongreenhouse-gas emitting electricity source with only a minor environmental footprint if latest technology is employed. Several
small and medium reactors with advanced technology have been developed in different countries (Anonymous 2011a). For instance
a Small & Modular Reactor (SMR) developed by Hyperion which stabilizes itself through a prompt negative temperature
coefficient of reactivity. In other words basic physics prevent the reactor from going supercritical (Anonymous 2011b). It produces
70 MWt or 25 MWe which can supply 35,000 average German households with electric energy. It is a small and sealed unit which
remains invisible in the surrounding landscape and which needs to be refuelled only after 7-10 years. Nonetheless U is required to
run the reactor and secondary recovery sources for U such as U from rock phosphates or coal ashes would complete a self-contained
green cycle for energy production. Here, U from rock phosphates is undoubtedly a privileged source as it otherwise enters the
food chain. Fertilizer-derived U has been shown to be discharged into water bodies whereby rate and velocity are closely linked to
fertilizer practices and soil characteristics (Smidt et al. 2011b). A preliminary, conservative estimate of the U concentration in 369
water samples from areas in the plains of northern Germany where a higher, geogenically originating, U content can be excluded,
revealed that up to (worst case scenario with concentrations above 0,1 g/L) of all specimens may be contaminated by
fertilizer-derived U by now (11% > 2 g/L; 0,5% > 10g/L; 0,3% > 20 g/L) (Smidt et al. 2011).
A CO2 tax on P fertilizer products in relation to the U content or a CO2 bonus for farmers seem opportune political instruments
to improve environmental quality in terms of contamination of surface water with U and reduction of CO2 emissions. Such approach
makes a compulsory declaration of the U content of mineral P fertilizers a prerequisite. The following basic calculations provide

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Ewald Schnug and Nils Haneklaus / Procedia Engineering 83 (2014) 265 269

an estimate on the CO2 savings potential in Germany. A P fertilizer rate of 22 kg/ha P is recommended when following the codes
of good agricultural practice (GAP). On an average 10 g/ha U are applied to agricultural soils following this recommendation. 10
g U deliver 500 kW and this saves 500 kg CO2 when compared to yielding the same energy from coal. A CO2 tax on basis of
prevailing emission car tax bands charges 2 per g CO2 above a base rate of 100g/km CO2 so that the holder of a medium class
car with an exhaust of 250 g/km CO2 and an annual mileage of 15,000 km will have to pay 300 per year. Thus 0.08 are charged
per kg CO2. Accordingly the extraction of U from rock phosphates yields a CO2 tax/bonus of 40 /ha. This means that the fictive
CO2 bonus and commodity price are higher than the value of fertilizer P if a spot price of 1.11 for 10 g U (as U3O8) is assumed
as it was on January 28, 2010 and costs for 22 kg P of 32 (including tax) as published on 28.01.2010 (Anonymous 2010).
3. Conclusions
Recovery of U from rock phosphates is a challenging, yet intriguing concept to combine the allocation of U for nuclear power
with an efficient measure of environmental protection. And it adds value to agricultural production if U-free fertilizers are applied
which will not be covered by product prices, but which is highly regarded by the society as it preserves the quality of drinking
water (Smidt et al. 2011b) and contributes to a significant reduction of CO2 emissions. A CO2 tax/bonus based on emission car tax
bands seems an appropriate approach to promote the production and use of U-free mineral fertilizer products. The environmental
benefits of U extraction from rock phosphates are imminent. Last but not least, it can be stated that the utilization of U in worldwide
P-resources vouches for cleaner fertilizers, cleaner soils, cleaner waters, cleaner atmosphere and a clairvoyant, profitable fertiliser
manufacturing.

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