POLSON — In August, Ed Gannon’s phone rang, flashing an unknown number from Washington D.C.. The caller affirmed that his lifelong fascination with a gray rock paid off, with a powerful, sustainable fertilizer and a national award.
“I thought it was spam, just about ready to hang up,” Gannon said. “I listened to the guy, and then I thought it was a hoax. He said ‘No, this isn't a hoax.’”
The caller was from the Environmental Protection Agency. Although it took an email to fully convince him, it was not a hoax. Gannon’s fertilizer company, PhoSul was one of the EPA’s five 2024 Green Chemistry Challenge Award winners.
PhoSul is looking to rock the fertilizer industry… literally, with its phosphate fertilizer.
“You take phosphate rock. You grain that and micronize it super small,” Gannon said, explaining the process of making PhoSul. Their patented process blends the phosphate with sulfur and amorphous silicon, resulting in a finished fertilizer that looks kind of like Cocoa Puffs cereal. “Essentially we make dust.”
The company came out of Gannon’s 35-year fascination with the element, which is vital for plant photosynthesis, and 20 years of conversations with co-founder James Samuelson.
“Our bodies are 2% phosphorus. So, without phosphorus, life would not exist as we know it,” Gannon said. “It's a global issue. Everyone needs phosphate, and the current way of making phosphate fertilizer is essentially broken.”
PhoSul strives to be a more sustainable version of fertilizer, which can cause problems by leaching into soil and water, with impacts like harmful algal blooms. PhoSul is designed to resist this, which Gannon says makes it more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
“I discovered that the current process, over one-hundred-year-old process, fascinating process, but it's very wasteful of the natural resource and it pollutes every step of the way.”
Gannon was raised between town and a ranch on the Missouri River near Great Falls, with a big family and an engineer father. He ties his whole career back to his childhood exposure to agricultural.
“I grew up around the kitchen table talking about science. I loved it and I explored a lot of interested things. Plants growing, animals being born. Still intrigues me, so much to know. So, here I am,” he laughed.
While technically his retirement project, Gannon calls PhoSul his life’s work. So far, the company has made and sold more than 5,000 tons, with plans to make a lot more.
“I don't care if anyone remembers my name, but I care about the world adopting this. Because my kids and grandkids, the whole world, they're sleepwalking. We're sleepwalking using current technology,” he said.
