Phospholutions – creating more value from every unit of phosphoric acid

Introduction

The phosphate industry is under pressure from multiple directions. Manufacturers are navigating volatile input costs and supply disruptions, while new production capacity requires significant capital, long development timelines, and access to increasingly constrained resources. Consequently, the challenge is no longer how to produce more fertilizer. Increasingly, the question is how to create more value from available phosphoric acid supply and the manufacturing assets and distribution infrastructure already in operation.

One viable way of addressing this challenge is patented RhizoSorb® technology from Phospholutions. This can be integrated directly into conventional phosphate fertilizer manufacturing to improve the productivity of limited phosphate resources while also increasing phosphorus availability after field application.

The resulting commercial product (RhizoSorb 8-39-0) contains phosphorus adsorbed onto the surface of a proprietary blend of metal oxides. This creates a fertilizer granule with a different release profile than conventional phosphate fertilizers. Instead of becoming rapidly fixed in the soil after application, phosphorus is released over time – according to the concentration gradient between the granule surface and the surrounding soil solution – helping maintain nutrient availability over a longer portion of the growing season.

That improved availability, as demonstrated in trials and on-farm use, has enabled growers to maintain or improve agronomic performance while applying 50% less phosphorus. Critically, achieving the same agronomic outcome with less phosphorus allows the same phosphoric acid resource base to support more productive acres.

Understanding supply through resource productivity

Consider a simplified example of two tonnes of phosphate rock entering the fertilizer system.

Under conventional monoammonium phosphate (MAP) production, those resources ultimately produce one tonne of finished fertilizer, capable of supporting roughly 20 US corn acres. Yet, when those identical two tonnes of phosphate rock are used to produce RhizoSorb 8-39-0, manufacturers can generate 1.3 tonnes of finished fertilizer. This greater efficiency, when combined with improved phosphorus utilisation in the field, enables that same phosphate resource base to support 40 acres at farm level (Figure 1).

The example illustrates that nutrient productivity is a more meaningful measure of supply than finished tonnes alone. Viewed through that lens, improvements in manufacturing performance and phosphorus use allow the same phosphate resource base to support more finished product and more productive acres, while improving economics across the value chain.

More finished product from existing assets

For phosphate producers, the most immediate benefits occur within the manufacturing system itself. Producing RhizoSorb 8-39-0 changes the economics of finished fertilizer production, relative to conventional MAP and diammonium phosphate (DAP), by lowering input intensity while increasing output from existing granulation assets.

Indeed, internal manufacturing and financial analyses, supported by third-party evaluation, indicate that reallocating phosphoric acid toward RhizoSorb production can approximately triple the margin generated per tonne of critical mineral. For example, on a phosphoric acid basis, modeled margins would increase from roughly $400 per tonne under conventional MAP production to more than $1,200/t when that same phosphoric acid is used to produce RhizoSorb.

Those margin gains are underpinned by material reductions in key inputs. Product formulations indicate that RhizoSorb 8-39-0 reduces ammonia consumption by approximately 30%, sulphur use by 20%, and phosphate rock requirements by 20%, all relative to conventional MAP production. Relative to DAP, the corresponding reductions are approximately 58% less ammonia, 12% less sulphur, and 12% less phosphate rock per finished tonne.

Reducing reliance on those inputs also alters manufacturers’ exposure to market volatility. Ammonia, sulphur and phosphate rock prices can fluctuate sharply, thereby altering fertilizer production economics and forcing difficult trade-offs between margin preservation and production. Products that require lower quantities of these inputs are inherently less exposed to those swings. By decreasing the intensity of inputs per finished tonne, RhizoSorb helps stabilise production economics, across a wider range of market conditions, while reducing dependence on the most volatile feedstocks within the system.

Critically, these reductions are not achieved by sacrificing output. Internal manufacturing evaluations indicate that the addition of RhizoSorb enables approximately 25% greater finished fertilizer output from existing manufacturing systems. That gain is primarily driven by RhizoSorb’s role as an additional binder within the granulation process.

As a result, manufacturers can generate more finished product without proportional increases in sulphur consumption, ammonia demand, phosphate rock extraction, or major capital investment. Independent analysis further indicates that these operating improvements extend beyond increased margins, contributing to higher EBITDA (earnings) and free cash flow. Ultimately, this benefits asset valuations – regardless of where the asset performs on the global cost curve.

Plant-level operational advantages

The manufacturing benefits extend beyond raw material consumption into the operation of the granulation system itself.

During production, RhizoSorb is incorporated directly into the phosphoric acid ammoniation-granulation process, where it contributes to granule formation. By acting as an additional binder within the granulation system, RhizoSorb boosts the accretion of material onto granules during each granulator pass, delivering more finished product to specification in fewer cycles.

This binding effect reduces recycle-to-product ratios, allowing a greater share of plant capacity to be directed towards finished product generation instead of recirculating intermediate material. In turn, manufacturing efficiency improves overall residence time within the granulation circuit.

Additional operational benefits include lower slurry viscosities, due to reduced ammonia-to-acid ratios within pre-neutraliser and pipe reactor systems. The resulting improvement in flow characteristics can reduce the likelihood of instrumentation blockages and production interruptions while supporting more stable plant operation. Finally, the inherent moisture content of RhizoSorb also reduces water requirements during granulation relative to conventional MAP production.

Competing on value, not volume alone

Increasing the value generated per unit of phosphoric acid becomes more important as markets for semiconductors, batteries, food-grade products, and other industrial applications grow. This is creating new demand for the resource base in direct competition with agriculture. Many of these markets generate greater economic value per unit of phosphoric acid than conventional fertilizer production. For phosphoric acid producers, they represent attractive opportunities to create higher margins from a finite resource.

That dynamic creates a challenge for agriculture. Fertilizer remains the largest end-market for phosphoric acid, but it has traditionally competed through volume rather than value. As higher-value applications continue to emerge, pressure increases to maximise the economic return generated from every tonne of phosphoric acid.

Technologies like RhizoSorb, that increase margin per unit of phosphoric acid, help change that equation.

By reducing phosphoric acid and other key input requirements while increasing finished product output, RhizoSorb improves the economics of fertilizer production itself. Manufacturers can generate better margins from a constrained resource while continuing to serve the agriculture market at scale – helping keep fertilizer production an economically competitive end market for phosphoric acid.

Maintaining agronomic performance with less applied phosphorus

Reduced input requirements and greater manufacturing output have limited value if they come at the expense of crop productivity. The gains described throughout the manufacturing system must ultimately be validated at the acre level.

RhizoSorb’s extensive field trials and commercial use indicate that the technology does deliver.

Five years of data and more than 700 trials globally have consistently demonstrated the ability to maintain yield while reducing phosphorus rates by 50% over grower standard practice. The data also show no adverse impact on soil test phosphorus levels – challenging the long-standing phosphorus management assumption that maintaining productivity requires a proportional increase in phosphorus inputs.

For growers, while yield maintenance is necessary, fertilizer decisions are ultimately shaped by cost, return, and risk.

Improved nutrient use efficiency allows growers to generate more crop value from every pound of phosphorus applied and gives them flexibility in managing one of their most significant input costs.

Despite higher per-tonne pricing, lower application rates translate into lower overall fertilizer costs for growers, stronger return on investment, and greater resilience during periods of nutrient price volatility. For example, across US corn trials, RhizoSorb has delivered an average return-on-investment improvement of approximately $20 per acre, driven by both lower upfront fertilizer costs and modest yield gains compared to grower standard practice.

Extending efficiency through distribution and retail channels

Efficiency gains – both upstream and in the field – also affect fertilizer distribution and retail systems, extending the same improvements in unit economics and volume efficiency into that section of the value chain. Products that deliver comparable agronomic performance at lower application rates reduce the physical volume required per acre, changing how fertilizer moves through storage, transportation, and application networks.

The movement of a more effective product at lower volume allows distributors and retailers to serve more acres with existing bins, terminals, and trucks – supporting growth without the need for extra investment in new physical assets. In practice, this relieves seasonal bottlenecks, improves logistics flexibility, and reduces the amount of working capital tied up in inventory during peak demand periods.

Because RhizoSorb 8-39-0 stores, handles, and applies like traditional fertilizers, these gains are realised within established distribution systems. That continuity allows retailers to move a higher value product across more acres, improving operational flexibility and supporting stronger per tonne economics, without adding complexity to retail operations.

Commercial adoption and market validation

Factors such as access, ease of use, field performance and grower economics ultimately determine whether a technology gains traction in the market. When those align, commercial adoption provides a form of validation rather than a hurdle.

Technologies that create value in one part of the phosphate system often struggle to gain traction if they introduce complexity elsewhere. RhizoSorb is different. Because it integrates directly into existing manufacturing processes and fertilization programmes, it delivers additional value to manufacturers, retailers, and growers alike – without requiring significant operational changes.

Improved manufacturing economics, strong agronomic performance, and favourable grower returns are achieved through traditional production, distribution, and application channels.

That combination has helped drive rapid commercial adoption. In just its second year of commercial use, RhizoSorb was applied on more than one million acres across the United States and Canada, while also launching in Brazil and broader Latin America.

Environmental and system-level implications

As commercial scale continues to grow, the manufacturing and agronomic efficiencies delivered by RhizoSorb offer environmental advantages over conventional fertilizers.

Phosphorus runoff and leaching remain persistent challenges throughout many agricultural systems, contributing to nutrient loss and water quality concerns. Research has demonstrated that RhizoSorb 8-39-0 can significantly reduce both pathways, with studies reporting up to 78% lower phosphorus runoff and 84% lower phosphorus leaching compared to conventional MAP.

Additionally, independent life cycle analysis indicates that RhizoSorb 8-39-0 reduces greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 45% compared to conventional MAP production.

These outcomes are not achieved through additional infrastructure, reduced productivity, or added complexity. They arise from the same improvements in manufacturing efficiency and nutrient utilisation that also create value for manufacturers, retailers, and growers.

Efficiency as an industry imperative

The future of fertilizer depends on how much nutrient we make usable (Figure 2). What was once viewed primarily as an agronomic consideration – efficiency – now has direct implications for manufacturing economics, asset utilisation, supply resilience, grower profitability, and environmental performance.

Technologies that increase finished output and margin per unit of phosphoric acid give manufacturers greater economic flexibility today while improving optionality for future demand. New mines, phosphoric acid capacity, and manufacturing investments will continue to play an important role in meeting long term needs. Efficiency, meanwhile, provides a complementary lever available today.

As pressure on phosphate resources continues to grow, organisations that create more value from every unit of phosphorus will be better positioned, both to navigate current market constraints and remain competitive in the future as demand evolves.