Yet the vital role of phosphates within fertilisers – about 50m tonnes of phosphate fertiliser are sold around the world every year and play a key role in feeding the planet’s 8 billion inhabitants – means that.
“Our product has a straightforward goal – to transfer phosphates from rivers and lakes where they are causing real damage and move them in a simple manner to farmland, where they can be of use in growing crops,” Pearce told the Observer last week.
UK scientist wins prize for invention that could help avert ‘phosphogeddon’ Phosphate, key to food production, is choking waterways, but a new sponge-like material returns it to the soil for crops.
“Essentially, the PRM we have developed acts like a sponge that absorbs phosphates,” said Pearce, who set up Rookwood Operations with her partner, Liam, and a friend, Josh Hares.
It is against this background that Pearce and her colleagues at Rookwood Operations have developed PRM as a method for tackling the excess phosphates while doing something that restores its presence in the soil.
