Large Volume Inorganic Chemicals - Ammonia ... - ammk-rks.net

Chapter 77 NPK AND CN7.1 General information[154, TWG on LVIC-AAF, 2006]When defining compound fertilisers, the large number of N/P/K – ratios and the numerousprocesses applied in their production must be taken into account. Product types are PK, NP (e.g.DAP), NK and NPK. These products might contain:• nitrogen, expressed as % of N, in ureic, ammoniacal and/or nitrate forms• phosphorus, usually expressed as % of P 2 O 5 , in forms soluble in water and/or neutralammonia citrate and/or mineral acids• potassium, usually expressed as % of K 2 O, in forms soluble in water• secondary nutrients, as calcium (CaO), magnesium (MgO), sodium (Na 2 O) and/or sulphur(SO 3 )• microelements (zinc, copper, boron, etc.)• other elements.For example, NPK(Mg-S) with boron 20-6-12(3-20) 0.1B indicates that this particular gradecontains 20 % nitrogen (N), 6 % phosphorous (P 2 O 5 ), 12 % potassium (K 2 O), 3 % magnesium(MgO), 20 % sulphur (SO 3 ) and 0.1 % boron (B). The typical content of nutrients (N + P 2 O 5 +K 2 O) will normally be in the range of 30 – 60 %. Table 7.1 shows consumption levels for themost frequently used compound fertilisers.The demand for NPK fertilisers in various compositions results basically in two plant types:production by the mixed acid route and production by the nitrophosphate route. Although thenitrophosphate route requires higher investment and integration with other fertiliser production,it offers the option to increase the P component in the product without using phosphoric acid.Five plants operate this process in Europe (BASF, Antwerp, AMI, Linz, Lovochemie, Lovosice,YARA, Porsgrunn, YARA, Glomfjord).The plant size varies from some hundred to up to more than 3000 tonnes per day. A plant oftypical size produces about 50 tonnes per hour (1200 tonnes per day or 350000 tonnes per year).Expressed as 1000 tonnes nutrientN P 2 O 5 K 2 ONPK 2171 1739 2253NP 461 807 0PK 0 498 525Table 7.1: Consumption of the most frequently used compound fertiliser types in Western Europe[9, Austrian UBA, 2002]Large Volume Inorganic Chemicals – Ammonia, Acids and Fertilisers 283