Phosphorus: What is it good for?

So other than digging in Morocco, where do we get more phosphorus? Here’s a hint: the symbol for phosphorus on the periodic table… is “P.”

— Horwich (2011): The end of phosphorus on APM’s Marketplace.

Marketplace’s Jeff Horwich has an excellent article on the uses of the element phosphorus, where it comes from, why it’s getting scarce, and where we might get more.

The answers to these questions are:

  • It’s a key element in DNA, so the major use is fertilizer,
  • most of it comes from Morocco these days,
  • since Morocco supplies about 85% of the world supply, they’re developing a bit of a monopoly and the price is going up,
  • the main alternative sources are manure and urine that have lots of phosphorous. In fact, burning sewage leaves behind a phosphorous rich ash.

Marketplace tells the story in much more detail.