Good for the Environment. Supporting a Strong Economy.

Florida’s abundant phosphate reserves formed millions of years ago when the area was covered by nutrient rich ocean waters, with sediments forming a layer of phosphate ore. Phosphorus is an essential nutrient that is derived from the phosphate minerals typically found in that ore. Phosphate promotes healthy plant growth and has no synthetic substitute. Typically, it enters the food cycle through the soil where it nourishes crops, and in turn, nourishes people and animals when those crops are eaten.

Once an operations site is permitted and environmental preservation and reclamation plans have been submitted, machines called draglines are used to extract the “matrix” which can be found approximately 40 feet below the earth’s surface. The “matrix” that contains phosphate rock is mixed and becomes a slurry when water is added to enable it to be pumped to a separation plant. Here, the phosphate is separated from other materials and later transported by rail, truck or ship to a fertilizer manufacturing plant. The fertilizer plant transforms the phosphate into a water-soluble form that plants and animals can use. The basic process involves mixes an acid with the matrix. During the process, the calcium from the matrix combines with the sulfur in the acid to produce calcium sulfate. Calcium sulfate is gypsum – a common industrial mineral. In the fertilizer industry this calcium sulfate byproduct is called phosphogypsum, or “PG” is created. That PG is stored in gypstacks. Fertilizer produced with Florida made phosphate is then shipped to farmers and used to grow the food that the world needs.

Phosphogypsum, or PG for short, is calcium sulfate, a product created during the phosphate manufacturing process. For every ton of phosphorus produced, approximately five tons of PG is made. PG is a durable product and its stacked while wet and later hardens to hold its shape. In the US, PG use has been limited to certain agricultural applications and scientific research. Other countries, however, looked at phosphogypsum as a beneficial material that can be used in agriculture, forestry, building materials, concrete and more.

Over 30 years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) required PG storage in stacks based on very conservative radioactivity risk exposure – science based on decades of additional research now tells a different story. PG contains NORM, naturally occurring radioactive materials. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), PG is considered a NORM residue – meaning it is a material that remains from a process and contains NORM. During manufacturing, once the phosphate is removed, these materials are more concentrated, but maintain the same low-level of radiation. PG can be further classified as TeNORM, meaning it is technologically enhanced during the manufacturing process.

IAEA confirms that commercial use of PG has been restricted in the US because of concerns about its NORM content, even though such concerns appear to be without scientific foundation. Outside of the US, countries are already beneficially using their PG and at least 55 different uses have been researched worldwide.