Fertilizers containing ammonium nitrate

Straight ammonium fertilizers which comply with Directive 80/876/EEC and compound fertilizers where the nitrogen content is >28% by weight (a compound fertilizer contains ammonium nitrate plus phosphorus and/or potash). 

Biostimulation of the shoreline microbes was effected through addition of fertilizers. Two products were applied Inipol EAP22, a urea-based product designed to stick to oil, and Customblen a slow-release granular fertilizer containing ammonium nitrate, calcium phosphate and ammonium phosphate. These products were selected to minimize nutrient losses with the tides and thereby optimize nutrient input to the oiled areas. By late summer 1989 approximately 120 km of shoreline had been treated in this way. 

Ammonium nitrate fertilizer, 5.1, 1.ID, 9 Ammonium nitrate fertilizer, n.o.s., 5.1 Ammonium nitrate mixed fertilizers, 5.1 Fertilizer ammoniating solution with free ammonia, 2.2 Fertilizers containing ammonium nitrate, n.o.s. Fertilizer with ammonium nitrate, n.o.s. Tankage... 

Agricultural uses for ammonium thiosulfate take advantage of both the sulfur and ammonium content by blending with other nitrogen fertilizers such as urea (71). Some foHar-spray fertilizers contain ammonium thiosulfate together with other metal micronutrients (72,73). Ammonium thiosulfate or mixtures with ammonium nitrate can also be used as desiccants and defoHants ia crop-beariag plants such as cotton (qv), soybean, alfalfa, rice, and peppers (74,75). 

It is advisable to use ammonium nitrate with as little as possible of the inert material usually added to ammonium nitrate to prevent its caking. According to the same source, the quantity of inert material should not exceed 0.4% of NH4N03 (fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate usually contains 2-5% added matter). 

It has been suggested by Lee and Akre [40] that fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate containing inert-coating and fuel oil can be used as a blasting explosive. Indeed it became a useful explosive in open pit blasting. This is described in detail in Vol. III. 

Artificial fertilisers can also make fertile land which was once unable to support crop growth. The fertilisers which add the three main nutrients (N, P and K) are called NPK fertilisers. They contain ammonium nitrate... 

This explosives manufacture is simple. The fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate is powdered with a mortar pestle or ground in a similar manner. This should be done until the consistancy of face powder is obtained. This powdering can also be accomplished by dissolving the AN prills in boiling water (30% water, 70% AN). This liquor might need to be gently heated to get the AN to completely dissolve. This should be done in a pyrex or preferably stainless steel container. 

Alkali metal nitrates have comparatively low-melting points and the solid nitrates are excellent oxidizers at higher temperatures. Potassium nitrate is used as an oxidizer in black powder (75wt% KNO3, 15% charcoal, 10% sulfur). Fertilizer mixtures commonly contain ammonium nitrate or potassium nitrate, sometimes sodium or calcium nitrate as nitrogen compounds. Ammonium nitrate is also used as an explosive or as an oxidizer in an explosive mixture. Some properties of important nitrate fertilizers are summarized in Table 31. 

Most of the nitric acid is utilized in the form of 50 to 70% acid for the manufacture of nitrogen-containing fertilizer, particularly ammonium nitrate. Ammonium nitrate is also used as an explosive e.g. in mining, due to its low explosion temperature (safety explosive). Other industrially important nitrates are sodium nitrate, a speciality fertilizer and oxidizing agent in the glass and enamel industries, and calcium and potassium nitrates, which are also used as fertilizers. Nitric acid is also utilized in the digestion of raw phosphate (Odda process, which is not operated in the USA, see Section 2.1.2.4) ... 

Simultaneously producing ammonium sulfate and other ammonium salts in granulated fertilizer processes to produce phosphate, nitrate, and nitro-phosphate multinutrient fertilizers containing ammonium sulfate. 

There are several processes that produce fertilizers containing ammonium phosphate and ammonium nitrate, but most of them are used to produce NPK grades and will be described further under Chapter 16 Compound Fertilizers."... 

Most fertilizers contain aU three major plant nutrients N, P, and K, and are called complete fertilizers. A typical complete fertilizer might contain ammonium nitrate or sodium nitrate to provide nitrogen. Calcium dihydrogen phosphate, Ca(H2P04)2, or the anhydrous form of phosphoric acid, P40 q, can provide phosphorus. Potassium chloride, KCl, or potassium oxide, K2O, can provide potassium. 

Urea, also named carbamide or carbonyl-diamide, was first synthesized by Wohler in 1828 from ammonia and cyanic acid. It is a colorless crystalline material, soluble in water and in alcohol but not in ether. Urea contains 46 percent nitrogen, the most of any ordinarily solid fertilizer material. Ammonium nitrate contains 34 percent nitrogen. Urea is not... 

NH3) are of great commercial importance practically all modem explosives contain high proportions of ammonium nitrate or organic nitro-compounds. Nitrates are also employed as fertilizers. 

Urea processes provide an aqueous solution containing 70—87% urea. This solution can be used directiy for nitrogen-fertilizer suspensions or solutions such as urea—ammonium nitrate solution, which has grown ia popularity recentiy (18). Urea solution can be concentrated by evaporation or crystallization for the preparation of granular compound fertilizers and other products. Concentrated urea is sohdified ia essentially pure form as prills, granules, flakes, or crystals. SoHd urea can be shipped, stored, distributed, and used mote economically than ia solution. Furthermore, ia the soHd form, urea is more stable and biuret formation less likely. 

Some commonly used primary nutrient fertilizers are incidentally also rich sources of calcium. Ordinary superphosphate contains monocalcium phosphate and gypsum in amounts equivalent to all of the calcium originally present in the phosphate rock. Triple superphosphate contains soluble monocalcium phosphate equivalent to essentially all the P2 5 product. Other fertilizers rich in calcium are calcium nitrate [10124-37-5] calcium ammonium nitrate [39368-85-9] and calcium cyanamide [156-62-7]. The popular ammonium phosphate-based fertilizers are essentially devoid of calcium, but, in view of the natural calcium content of soils, this does not appear to be a problem. 

Nitrogen solutions consist of fertilizer product combinations, eg, ammonium nitrate —ammonia, urea—ammonium nitrate—ammonia, urea—ammonium nitrate, and urea—ammonia solutions. Mixed fertilizers cover a broad range and can be loosely defined as fertilizers which contain chemically mixed nitrogen, phosphoms, and potassium (N—P—K). Examples are ammonium phosphate—potash mixtures and ammonium phosphate nitrates. 

Ammonium nitrate fertilizer incorporates nitrogen in both of the forms taken up by crops ammonia and nitrate ion. Fertilizers (qv) containing only ammoniacal nitrogen are often less effective, as many important crops tend to take up nitrogen mainly in the nitrate form and the ammonium ions must be transformed into nitrate by soil organisms before the nitrogen is readily available. This transformation is slow in cool, temperate zone soils. Thus, ammonium nitrate is a preferred source of fertilizer nitrogen in some countries. 

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