Potassium phosphates, fertilizer

Calcium nitrate fertilizer, controlled-release Oxamide fertilizer, soluble Potassium phosphate fertilizer, specialty Potassium tripolyphosphate fertilizer, trace element Cobalt fiber... 

Devising an economical method of producing agricultural-grade potassium phosphates from potassium chloride and wet-process phosphoric acid has been the subject of intense agricultural—chemical research (37—39). Limited quantities have been produced industrially. The impact on the overall quantities of phosphoms and potassium compounds consumed by the fertilizer industry is small. Because potassium phosphates are an excellent source of two essential fertilizer elements, this research is expected to continue. 

The breakdown of the use of potassium hydroxide is as follows potassium chemicals (35%), potassium carbonate (25%), liquid fertilizer (12%), soaps (12%), and potassium phosphates (7%). 

Potassium hydroxide is used for the production of potassium carbonate, tetrapotassium pyrophosphate and other potassium phosphates, liquid fertilizers, and soaps. 

The major use of phosphate is to supply phosphorous, one of the three essential plant foods, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Phosphate rock extraction from its ore, and its subsequent conversion into fertilizer materials and industrial chemicals, is a relatively mature art. Single superphosphate, a mixture of monocalcium monohydrate and gypsum formed by the reaction of sulfuric acid with phosphate rock, has been used as a fertilizer since the mid-1800s. Phosphoric acid, derived by the treatment of phosphate rock with sulfuric acid so as to produce gypsum in a separable form, was manufactured in many locations by batch and countercurrent decantation methods in the 1920s. 

The primary raw materials for nitrogen fertilizers are natural gas, naphtha, fuel oil, and coal. The manufacturing of phosphate fertilizers most often requires phosphate rock. Naturally occurring potassium salts form the basis of the production of most potash fertilizers. 

At present, most of the potassium phosphates used in fertilizers are produced from potassium hydroxide or carbonate and phos-... 

Potassium phosphates are excellent fertilizers, and their very high analysis is an advantage... 

Drechsel, E. K., Potassium Phosphates The New Generation of SUPER Phosphates, Paper presented to the American Chemical Society, Division of Fertilizer and Soil Chemistry, Chicago, Illinois, August 28, 1973. 

Komura, K., Sakanone, M., Yanagisawa, M. and Sakurai, J., Uranium, Thorium and Potassium contents and radioactive equilibrium states of the U and Th series in phosphate rock and phosphate fertilizers (in Japanese). Radioisotopes (Tokyo) 34 (1985) 529-536. 

Fertilizers have potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus in a form that dissolves easily in water so that plants can absorb them. The potassium in fertilizer is in an ionic compound called potassium carbonate. Two ionic compounds in the fertilizer contain the nitrogen—ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate. The phosphorus supplied is in another ionic compound, calcium dihydrogen phosphate. 

This process was field-tested on 2470 L of coumaphos cattle-dip waste at the APHIS vats In Laredo, Texas. To overcome the need to deliver an extremely large number of Flavobacterlum cells to the site, the organisms were added as a 1% Inoculum (22.8 L of culture grown In nutrient broth plus xylose) along with 9.5 kg of xylose as a carbon source and 4.5 kg of ammonium sulfate fertilizer as a nitrogen source. In order to allow growth of the organisms In the waste. The pH of the material In the tank was adjusted to between 6.8 and 7.0 by the addition of 1.4 kg of monobasic potassium phosphate and 1.8 kg of... 

Millions of tons of ammonia are used worldwide each year to supply crops with nitrogen. Ammonia is either added to irrigation water or injected directly into the ground. Many other nitrogen fertilizers are synthesized from ammonia. Phosphorus in fertilizers originates from phosphate (P04 ) in rock deposits. Potassium in fertilizers comes from evaporated ancient seabeds in the form of potassium oxide (K2O). 

Sulfuric acid is an important raw material for phosphate fertilizer production and to a much lesser extent for nitrogen and potassium fertilizers. World production of sulfuric acid was about 158 million tonnes of H2SO4 in 1991 [11, from which 58% was used in fertilizer production. 

With minor exceptions, the commercial fertilizer, products are triple superphosphate (TSP), ammonium phosphates, and other compound fertilizers (some of the minor exceptions are potassium phosphates and magnesium ammonium phosphate [MgNH4P04]). Use of phosphoric acid in compound fertilizers will be described-under subject headings Compound Fertilizers" (Chapter 16), Liquid Fertilizers and Mtrogen Solutions" (Qiap-ter 10), and Nitrophosphate Fertilizers (Chapter 13). The present chapter wSi deal mainly wrath TSP and solid ammonium phosphates. 

Potassium phosphates are excellent fertilizers, and their very high analysas is an advantage that has stimulated much research in an effort to find an economical production process. However, no process has been developed that is economical enoi Qh to result in w e-spread production therefore, present use is linuted to special purposes for which the h h cost can be justified. 

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