New developments in biological phosphorus accessibility and recovery approaches from soil and waste streams

Phosphorus (P) is a non-renewable resource and is on the European Union's list of critical raw materials. It is predicted that the P consumption peak will occur in the next 10 to 20 years. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find accessible sources in the immediate environment, such as soil, and to use alternative resources of P such as waste streams. While enormous progress has been made in chemical P recovery technologies, most biological technologies for P recovery are still in the developmental stage and are not reaching industrial application. Nevertheless, biological P recovery could offer good solutions as these technologies can return P to the human P cycle in an environmentally friendly way. This mini-review provides an overview of the latest approaches to make P available in soil and to recover P from plant residues, animal and human waste streams by exploiting the universal trait of P accumulation and P turnover in microorganisms and plants.