Basic fertilizers

A number of products are being marketed under the trade name POLYON. These include coated basic fertilizer materials, ie, urea, potassium nitrate, potassium sulfate, potassium chloride, ammonium sulfate, ammonium phosphate, and iron sulfate, in various particle sizes. Coatings weights on urea vary from 1.5 to 15%, depending on the release duration desired. Table 6 Hsts typical products. 

USEPA. Basic Fertilizer Chemicals, EPA t40/l-74-Olla Effluent Guidelines Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Washington, DC, 1974. 

In this industry, the 1960 s have been a period of rapid change, and the changes have not yet ended. Prior to the 1960 s the structure of the fertilizer industry had been fairly stable. There were large corporations which manufactured basic fertilizer ingredients. They sold these to local and regional manufacturers who in turn produced medium-to low-analysis mixed fertilizers. These were bagged and distributed to farmers through a dealer system. 

Basic fertilizer ingredients are, of course, commodities, not specialties, and they must be marketed as commodities. A number of manufacturers of basic ingredients have set up networks of farm service centers for supply of fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals directly to the farmer. These centers offer soil analysis and custom-blended products tailored to individual soil and cultural requirements. The emphasis is on supplying the farmer, not with a commodity, but with a service— although the underlying motivation is obviously to move products. 

The basic fertilizer producer who is integrated direct to the farmer through his own retail outlets and the regional farm cooperative through the co-op stores constitutes a growing market outlet for pesticides. These retail outlets, now referred to as farm service centers, in addition to supplying production input items—fertilizer, pesticides, seeds, etc.—will provide custom application equipment and various technical services to the farmer. 

Intermediate chemicals are usually simply structured chemicals most often composed by basic chemicals that are only exceptionally made for (private) consumer markets. This class comprises, e.g., alcohols and many kinds of acids. Examples for marketable intermediate chemicals are ammonia compounds used as basic fertilizers in agriculture. 

Large, centralized blending plants are also very appropriate in locations where the transport infrastructure is weak. In such instances, it is usually more practical to blend and bag the product near the source of supply (for example, at an ocean or river port, or at a basic fertilizer production complex) and transport the finished product, in bags, to distribution points in lots consistent with the capacity of the transport, storage, and marketing infrastructure. 

Although new, more environmentally friendly technologies have been developed for all basic fertilizer production processes, these have not been fully adopted and implemented in all potential applications. This relatively slower rate of adoption (as compared to other... 

The nickel was applied in the form of nickel sulphate right after basic fertilization. For homogeneous distribution it was dissolved in an adequate volume of distilled water and was then applied by sprinkling the ground. One day after this application the plots were lightly cultivated. 

FERTILE ISOTOPE. A fertile isotope or fertile material is a substance that is not itself fissionable by thermal neutrons but can be converted into fissfle material. This conversion is typically carried out by irradiation in a nuclear reactor. There are two basic fertile isotopes thorium-232 and uranium-238. When these fertile materials capture neutrons, they are converted into the fissile isotopes uranium-233 and plutonium-239, respectively. 

The ammonium chloride process, developed by Asahi Glass, is a variation of the basic Solvay process (9—11). It requires the use of soHd sodium chloride but obtains higher sodium conversions (+90%) than does the Solvay process. This is especially important ia Japan, where salt is imported as a soHd. The major difference from the Solvay process is that here the ammonium chloride produced is crystallized by cooling and through the addition of soHd sodium chloride. The resulting mother Hquor is then recycled to dissolve additional sodium chloride. The ammonium chloride is removed for use as rice paddy fertilizer. Ammonia makeup is generally suppHed by an associated synthesis plant. 

Fig. 8. World trends in types of phosphate fertilizers consumed, where (—) represents ammonium phosphates and multinutrient compounds (— normal superphosphate ( ), triple superphosphate and (— —), basic slag and raw rock.

Triple (Concentrated) Superphosphate. The first important use of phosphoric acid in fertilizer processing was in the production of triple superphosphate (TSP), sometimes called concentrated superphosphate. Basically, the production process for this material is the same as that for normal superphosphate, except that the reactants are phosphate rock and phosphoric acid instead of phosphate rock and sulfuric acid. The phosphoric acid, like sulfuric acid, solubilizes the rock and, in addition, contributes its own content of soluble phosphoms. The result is triple superphosphate of 45—47% P2 s content as compared to 16—20% P2 5 normal superphosphate. Although triple superphosphate has been known almost as long as normal superphosphate, it did not reach commercial importance until the late 1940s, when commercial supply of acid became available. 

Sulfur (qv) is among the most widely used chemicals and often considered to be one of the four basic raw materials of the chemical iadustry. In 1993, worldwide production of sulfur reached 55 million metric tons (1). Production of sulfuric acid consumes the vast majority (- 90%) of sulfur (2) (see Sulfuric acid and sulfur trioxide). This acid is a steppiag stone ia the production of other sulfur-containing compounds, most notably ammonium sulfate fertilizer which accounts for 60% of the total worldwide sulfur consumption (2) (see Ammonium compounds Fertilizers). 

The mono salt tends to produce needles while the di-basic salt results in crystals that are more granular. Ammonium phosphate finds application as a fertilizer. 

Ammonia is one of the most important inorganic chemicals, exceeded only by sulfuric acid and lime. This colorless gas has an irritating odor, and is very soluble in water, forming a weakly basic solution. Ammonia could be easily liquefied under pressure (liquid ammonia), and it is an important refrigerant. Anhydrous ammonia is a fertilizer by direct application to the soil. Ammonia is obtained by the reaction of hydrogen and atmospheric nitrogen, the synthesis gas for ammonia. The 1994 U.S. ammonia production was approximately 40 billion pounds (sixth highest volume chemical). 

So far operations research has utilized the talents of individuals from a wide spectrum of fields ranging from chess players and physical and social scientists to mathematicians, pure and applied. Imagination and a good background in technical excellence are the basic elements in this choice of individuals. A significant consequence of all this is an opportunity for broad intellectual contacts and cross-fertilization of ideas in many diverse fields. 

Nitric acid is a strong, monobasic acid. It reacts readily with alkalies, oxides, and basic materials, forming salts. The reaction with ammonia, forming ammonium nitrate, for use as a fertilizer, is by far the largest single industrial outlet for nitric acid... 

The chemistry of waste treatment processes and the development of new processes are fertile areas of research work. The speciation of plutonium in basic and laundry wastes is needed. For example, if soluble plutonium complexes in basic wastes can be destroyed, perhaps ultrafiltration could replace the flocculent-carrier precipitation process. The chemistry of plutonium(VII) and of ferrites—a candidate waste treatment process—needs to be explored.(23)... 

In conclusion, the field of mbber and mbber nanocomposites continues to be a very fertile area of research, with many new advances in both basic and applied topics of research. The flow properties of filled mbber compounds arise from their heterogeneous nature and the strong interactions that... 

Sodium molybdate (Basic form of components for pigments fertilizers and other molybdenum salts... 

Chemical plants are a series of operations that take raw materials and convert them into desired products, salable by-products, and unwanted wastes. Fats and oils obtained from animals and plants are hydrolyzed (reacted with water) and then reacted with soda ash or sodium hydroxide to make soaps and glycerine. Bromine and iodine are recovered from sea water and salt brines. Nitrogen and hydrogen are reacted together under pressure in the presence of a catalyst to produce ammonia, the basic ingredient used in the production of synthetic fertilizers. 

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