Use of Magnesium Sulfate Granulates In Solid Urea-Containing Fertilizer Compositions

Abstract

Magnesium sulfate granulates, having a dry loss of less than 2 wt. % determined by drying the granulate for 2 hours at 105° C. and 1 bar, are used for the production of solid urea-containing fertilizer compositions and to the thus produced fertilizer compositions.

Claims

1. A method for producing a solid, urea-containing fertilizer composition, the method comprising: mixing magnesium sulfate granules, having a drying loss of less than 2% by weight, determined by drying the granules at 105° C. and 1 bar for 2 h, and urea.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the magnesium sulfate granules have a magnesium content of at least 20% by weight, calculated as MgO and based on the total weight of the magnesium sulfate granules.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein magnesium sulfate in the magnesium sulfate granules is in the form of magnesium sulfate monohydrate to an extent of at least 90% by weight.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least 90% by weight of the magnesium sulfate granules have a grain size in the range from 2 to 5 mm.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the magnesium sulfate granules comprise MgSO.sub.4 to an extent of at least 90% by weight, based on the constituents of the magnesium sulfate granules other than water.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the magnesium sulfate granules comprise synthetic magnesium sulfate hydrate to an extent of at least 90% by weight, based on the total mass of the magnesium sulfate granules.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the weight ratio of magnesium sulfate granules to urea in the solid, urea-containing fertilizer composition is in the range from 2:1 to 1:10.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the urea in the solid, urea-containing fertilizer composition is in the form of a prilled urea or granulated urea.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the solid, urea-containing fertilizer composition comprises a mixture of magnesium sulfate granules and urea to an extent of at least 60% by weight, based on the total mass of the solid, urea-containing fertilizer composition.

10. A fertilizer composition in solid, free-flowing form, comprising: magnesium sulfate granules, having a drying loss of less than 2% by weight, determined by drying the granules at 105° C. and 1 bar for 2 h, and urea in solid form.

11. The fertilizer composition as claimed in claim 10, comprising: at least 60% by weight, based on the total mass of the fertilizer composition, of a mixture of magnesium sulfate granules and urea.

12. The fertilizer composition as claimed in claim 10, in which the weight ratio of magnesium sulfate granules to urea is in the range from 2:1 to 1:10.

13. The fertilizer composition as claimed in claim 10, in which the urea is in the form of prilled urea or granulated urea.

14. A process for producing the fertilizer composition in solid, free-flowing form as claimed in claim 10, comprising: mixing magnesium sulfate granules, having a drying loss of less than 2% by weight, determined by drying the granules at 105° C. and 1 bar for 2 h, and urea in solid forms.

15. The process according to claim 14, wherein the urea in solid form is in the form of urea prills or urea granules.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the magnesium sulfate granules consist of MgSO.sub.4 to an extent of at least 90% by weight, based on the constituents of the magnesium sulfate granules other than water.

17. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the magnesium sulfate granules consist of synthetic magnesium sulfate hydrate to an extent of at least 90% by weight, based on the total mass of the magnesium sulfate granules.

18. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the solid, urea-containing fertilizer composition consist of a mixture of magnesium sulfate granules and urea to an extent of at least 60% by weight, based on the total mass of the solid, urea-containing fertilizer composition.

19. The fertilizer composition as claimed in claim 10, consisting to an extent of at least 60% by weight, based on the total mass of the fertilizer composition, of a mixture of magnesium sulfate granules and urea.

Description

[0052] The examples that follow serve to illustrate the invention.

[0053] Drying loss TV was determined in accordance with DIN EN 12880:2000 by drying a sample of about 30 g in a drying cabinet at temperatures in the region of 105±5° C. at ambient pressure for 2 h and determining the weight of the sample before and after the drying.

[0054] Cracking resistance or fracture resistance was ascertained with the aid of the TBH 425D tablet hardness tester from ERWEKA on the basis of measurements on 56 individual granules of different particle size (2.5-3.15 mm fraction), and the average was calculated. The force required to break the granule between the ram and plate of the fracture resistance tester was determined. Granules having a cracking resistance >400 N and those having a cracking resistance <4 N were not included in the formation of the average.

[0055] The abrasion values were determined by the rolling drum process according to Busch. For this purpose, 50 g of the granules having a grain size fraction of 2.5-3.15 mm together with 70 steel balls (diameter 10 mm, 283 g) were introduced into a rolling drum of a commercial abrasion tester, e.g. ERWEKA, model: TAR 20, and rolled at 40 rpm for 10 min. Subsequently, the contents of the drum were sieved onto a sieve having a mesh size of 5 mm, below which was disposed a sieve having a mesh size of 0.5 mm, on a sieving machine (model: Retsch AS 200 control) for 1 min. The fines fraction sieved off corresponds to the abrasion.

[0056] In the performance test, magnesium sulfate granules were used that were composed of synthetic magnesium sulfate monohydrate produced in the following manner:

[0057] Calcined magnesite (MgO content about 80-85%) was reacted with about 70% by weight aqueous sulfuric acid in a molar Mg:H.sub.2SO.sub.4 ratio of about 0.9. Immediately after the reaction, the solid product obtained at a temperature of about 115-120° C. was processed in a pelletizing pan with application by jet nozzle of about 5% to 10% by weight of water to give granules that were then dried on a maturing belt with a dwell time of 1 h. Subsequent classifying gave magnesium sulfate granules having a total magnesium content of 27% by weight, calculated as MgO, and a proportion of water-soluble magnesium of 22.5% by weight, calculated as MgO. About 93% by weight of the granule particles had a grain size in the range from 2 to 5 mm. The proportion of particles having a grain size above 5 mm was less than 1% by weight. The proportion of particles having a grain size below 1 mm was likewise less than 1% by weight. The drying loss of the granules used was about 7% to 9% by weight.

Performance Testing:

[0058] The urea used was a commercial urea prill having a nitrogen content of 47% by weight and a grain size of about 0.8 to 2.5 mm. The weight-average diameter (d.sub.50) was 1.64 mm.

[0059] For the experiments, the magnesium sulfate granules were spread out homogeneously on a metal sheet and placed into the heated cabinet at 130° C. for 15, 20, 25 or 30 minutes. One day later, the samples were divided into 4 fractions in a sample splitter. One fraction was used to measure abrasion and one to measure cracking resistance (fractions 1 and 2). Fraction 3 was used to determine drying loss (TV). Fraction 4 was used to conduct the storage test. In addition, the undried magnesium sulfate granules were analyzed as blank sample. Table 1 lists the physical properties of the dried granules thus produced:

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Physical properties of the magnesium sulfate granules Time in the drying Cracking cabinet resistance Abrasion TV  0 min* 82 N 0.1% 7.3% 15 min* 65 N 0.6% 4.5% 20 min  60 N 1.4% 1.7% 25 min  62 N 1.8% 0.8% 30 min  62 N 2.2% 0.1% * comparative granules

[0060] For the determination of storage stability, the magnesium sulfate granules thus dried were mixed with the urea prills in a weight ratio of 1:1. Subsequently, the mixture was stored at 28° C. and a relative air humidity of 85% RH for 5 minutes, and the sample thus weathered was transferred to a glass vessel that can be closed airtight. The closed sample was then stored at 35° C. for a total of 44 days. At regular time intervals, the mixtures were assessed visually and graded by the following grades: [0061] Grade 1: dry; the granules are in their initial state [0062] Grade 2: first grains become tacky; slightly agglomerating; some individual grains look “moist”, urea/magnesium sulfate aggregates usually form [0063] Grade 3: partly moistened through; agglomerates of “tacky” urea/magnesium sulfate aggregates form, limited flowability [0064] Grade 4: completely moistened through; the entire mixture is moist or wet to an extent of at least 80% by weight, caked and barely still free-flowing; liquid droplets are apparent in some cases

[0065] The results are compiled in table 2:

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Assessment of storage stability of the fertilizer compositions TV Storage time Sample* [%] 1 d 2 d 3 d 4 d 7 d 9 d 10 d 15 d 17 d 23 d 30 d 37 d 44 d  0 min 7.3% 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 15 min 4.5% 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 20 min 1.7% 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 25 min 0.8% 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 30 min 0.1% 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 *Time in the drying cabinet

[0066] In a further experiment, the magnesium sulfate, before being applied to a pelletizing pan, was mixed with a defined amount of micronutrients and then processed to give granules with application by jet nozzle of 5% to 11% % by weight of water. As micronutrients, 3.3% by weight of borax pentahydrate and 2.9% by weight of zinc sulfate monohydrate were mixed in, which corresponds to a boron content, calculated as B.sub.2O.sub.3, of 1.6% by weight and a zinc content, calculated as elemental zinc, of 1.0% by weight. It was found here that the mixture of magnesium sulfate hydrate, borax pentahydrate and zinc sulfate monohydrate could be granulated efficiently. The drying loss of the granules was 10.6% by weight; the proportion of water-soluble magnesium was determined as 22.6% by weight, calculated as MgO. Cracking resistance based on measurements on 56 individual granules of different particle size (2.5-3.15 mm fraction) was found to be 59 N, and abrasion to be 4.4% by weight.