PRM is at the heart of Rookwood’s nutrient recovery technology, developed to remove phosphorus and other contaminants from water while creating opportunities for resource recovery and reuse.

At its core, PRM helps address two major challenges at the same time:

• Reducing nutrient pollution in rivers and waterways.
• Recovering valuable phosphorus for future productive use.

Rather than treating nutrients solely as pollutants, PRM views them as resources that can be captured and returned to the economy.

A Different Approach to Water Treatment

Traditional wastewater treatment systems are designed to remove contaminants and protect the environment. While this has delivered major improvements in water quality, valuable nutrients are often removed from the cycle and lost.

PRM takes a different approach.

The technology captures phosphorus directly from water systems before it can enter rivers, lakes, and catchments where it may contribute to water quality issues and ecological damage.

Instead of simply removing nutrients and creating another waste stream, PRM is designed around recovery, reuse, and long-term resource management.

Why Phosphorus Recovery Matters

Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for agriculture and food production. Every crop grown for food requires phosphorus, yet the UK remains heavily dependent on imported phosphate fertilisers.

At the same time, excess phosphorus entering waterways is one of the leading causes of nutrient pollution, contributing to algal growth, ecosystem disruption, and declining river health.

This creates a clear challenge:

• Agriculture needs phosphorus.
• Rivers need less phosphorus.
• Wastewater systems already contain phosphorus that can be recovered.

PRM helps bridge that gap by capturing phosphorus before it becomes pollution and making recovery possible.

Turning Wastewater into a Resource

Wastewater contains more than materials that need to be removed. It also contains valuable resources that can be recovered and reused.

PRM is designed to unlock that value.

By capturing nutrients within wastewater infrastructure, PRM helps transform water treatment from a disposal-focused process into a recovery-focused process.

This supports a more circular approach where nutrients move through society and are then recovered for future use rather than being permanently lost.

Supporting Circular Infrastructure

Rookwood believes future water infrastructure should do more than treat wastewater.

It should:

• Improve water quality.
• Reduce environmental impacts.
• Recover valuable resources.
• Support domestic supply chains.
• Create long-term resilience.

PRM is designed to deliver multiple benefits from a single process, helping water infrastructure become more efficient, productive, and sustainable.

By recovering nutrients already present within UK wastewater systems, PRM can help reduce dependence on imported resources while supporting environmental improvement.

Improving River Health

Many rivers and catchments across the UK continue to face pressure from excess nutrients entering the environment.

PRM helps address this challenge by removing phosphorus before it reaches sensitive ecosystems.

The result is improved water quality and reduced nutrient loading, while creating an opportunity to recover materials that still have economic and agricultural value.

This means environmental protection and resource recovery can work together rather than being treated as separate objectives.

Building a More Resilient Future

As pressure grows around river health, nutrient neutrality, fertiliser costs, and resource security, recovery-led infrastructure will become increasingly important.

PRM is part of that transition.

The technology is designed to help create systems that are:

• More circular.
• More resource-efficient.
• Less reliant on imported materials.
• Better for the environment.
• More resilient in the long term.

What PRM Means to Rookwood

For Rookwood, PRM represents a practical way to rethink how nutrients are managed.

It transforms phosphorus from a pollutant into a resource, supports cleaner waterways, and creates opportunities for nutrient recovery within existing infrastructure.

Most importantly, it demonstrates how modern water treatment can achieve more than pollution control alone.

PRM is a phosphorus recovery technology that helps improve water quality, recover valuable nutrients, support sustainable agriculture, and build a more circular and resilient approach to water and resource management.