Chemistry: fertilizers – Processes and products – Organic material-containing
Patent
1996-12-26
1998-12-22
Langel, Wayne
Chemistry: fertilizers
Processes and products
Organic material-containing
71 29, 71 30, 71 33, 71 34, 71 35, 71 36, 71 48, 71 49, 71 50, 71 51, 71 53, 71 58, 71 59, 71 60, 71 61, 71 63, 71 6408, C05G 500
Patent
active
058512608
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a stable aqueous fertilizer suspension suitable for drip irrigation and to a method for its preparation.
Application of fertilizers through irrigation systems has increased drastically, especially in cultivation which uses irrigation anyway. Especially on dry and hot cultivation areas, irrigation systems are used in which the irrigation water is fed to the plants via pipe systems. The same method is generally used also in greenhouses and on open field cultivation of horticultural crops. Water may be distributed to plants by spraying, by sprinkler irrigation, or by drip irrigation, depending on the case. The addition of fertilizers with irrigation water has proved to be a very efficient and environment-friendly method for increasing the yield. Liquid fertilizer can be injected to irrigation water in the said systems. Fertilizers can thus be dosed according to the need of plants and the nutrient efficiency ratio (nutrient uptake divided by amount applied) will be improved. The risk for leaching with fertigation will be substantially lower than with conventional fertilizers. In a drip irrigation system, water is led to the root area of each plant via laterals with nozzles. Laterals are connected with larger pipelines, into which water is pumped or fed by gravity. From the nozzle the irrigation water drips directly to the root system of the plant and is immediately available for the plant. Water evaporation losses are also low with such arrangements.
The orifice of the nozzle used in irrigation systems may be very small, e.g. 100 .mu.m, and therefore completely water-soluble fertilizers have conventionally been used in irrigation to avoid clogging. In addition, farmers use, as a precaution, screens which can be installed in lines before the nozzles to hinder the entry of any particles to the nozzles.
The mesh sizes of such screens are typically 100-150 .mu.m, and if the fertilizer contains particles larger than this, they will cause clogging of the screens and thereby problems in cultivation. Clogging is said to be a problem in drip irrigation especially if fertilizers are made of NPK-raw materials which are typically used in conventional granular field fertilizers. The water solubility of such raw materials is typically 70-95%. The raw materials of completely water-soluble fertilizers are expensive, up to three times more expensive than raw materials of the field-fertilizer grades, and the concentrations of the solutions are low, typically 30-50%. If a water-soluble fertilizer is delivered to farmer in the form of a solution, the transportation costs will be considerable owing to the transportation of a large amount of water. If, on the other hand, fertilizers are delivered as solid powders, the farmer must have dissolving reactors, the knowledge for preparing solutions, and more labor. Purification and crystallizing processes which are used for making raw materials for solid water-soluble fertilizers, are energy consuming and environmentally harmful. Suspension fertilizers, for their part, have not been used in drip irrigation, because the crystals present in the suspension would cause clogging of the pipes, screens, filters, and nozzles. Conventional suspensions contain large particles, 150-1000 .mu.m, and they clog the nozzles, whereupon the plant will receive neither water nor fertilizers.
In suspensions the concentration can be increased to a high level (60-95%), and the fertilizer can still be in liquid form also during transport. Suspension fertilizers are prepared by known methods by mixing and dispersing solid fertilizer raw materials in water. Mostly the size of the solid particles in such suspensions is rather large, >200 .mu.m, and the solids settle out of the suspensions unless the suspensions are constantly stirred. Attempts have been made to improve the stability of suspensions by adding a finely-divided clay or some other similar thickeners. If this type of thickeners are used, insoluble useless solids (in terms of fertilization) are added to the product in
REFERENCES:
R.T. Hukki, Mineraalien hienonnus ja rikastus, Otava 1964, pp. 24-27.
Ahlnas Thomas
Aijala Hannu
Chong Suet M.
Kemira Agro Oy
Langel Wayne
Nath Gary M.
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