FERTILIZER PLANTS

The fertilizer mixing industry is divided into three categories according to the production
technique employed; ammonia-granulation, bulk blend and liquid mix plants.
Mixed fertilizers contain two or three of the nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and
potassium (K). These mixtures are expressed as N-P-K grades. N represents the percentage of
available nitrogen, P represents the percentage of available phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5) and K
represents the percentage of soluble potassium oxide (k2O). Over 75 percent of the mixed
fertilizers consumed in this country contain all three of these primary plant nutrients.
Fertilizer plants are used to mix, package, store and distribute specialty chemicals for various
agricultural purposes. Facilities contain many large bins used to store phosphorus, potash and
nitrogen in various forms, as well as other micro nutrients such as iron, chrome or zinc. From
these ingredients, hundreds of different fertilizer formulas can be created.
During the early 1980s, food production was on the rise in the United States. A farmer’s routine
for preparing soil went something like this:
A farmer needed fertilizer for his crops. A soil sample was taken and sent to a lab. A report was
then sent to the farmer specifying which nutrients needed to be added to his soil for maximum
crop production. This report was taken to the nearest fertilizer blend plant. A worker put together
the combination of nutrients into a blender that resembled a concrete mixer and rotated it. The
customized mix was then loaded onto trucks or trailers, taken to the farm and spread.
Toward the end of the 1980s, many government farm programs meant to decrease surpluses were
implemented, causing a decline in America’s food production. Therefore, the need for new blend
plants diminished. Older facilities still existed, but very few new plants were built.
However by 2004, the United States began experiencing a small rise in food production, creating
a need for additional fertilizer blend plants.
Monolithic Domes are the ideal structures for blend plants:
 Domes offer the strongest, toughest facility for storage of chemicals.
 Domes can handle the abuse of front loaders and other heavy machinery.
 Domes can handle the chemistry of the stored products. (There is some danger in storing
ammonium nitrate.)

FERTILIZERS
Fertilizer (or fertiliser) is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin (other
than liming materials) that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the
growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable
to commercial fertilizer use. They are essential for high-yield harvest: European fertilizer market
is expected to grow to €15.3 billion by 2018.
Mined inorganic fertilizers have been used for many centuries, whereas chemically synthesized
inorganic fertilizers were only widely developed during the industrial revolution. Increased
understanding and use of fertilizers were important parts of the pre-industrial British Agricultural
Revolution and the industrial Green Revolution of the 20th century.
Inorganic fertilizer use has also significantly supported global population growth — it has been
estimated that almost half the people on the Earth are currently fed as a result of synthetic
nitrogen fertilizer use
Fertilizers typically provide, in varying proportions:
 Macronutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (
Mg), and sulfur (S);
 Micronutrients: boron (B), chlorine (Cl), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molyb
denum (Mo), and zinc (Zn).
The macronutrients are consumed in larger quantities and are present in plant tissue in quantities
from 0.15% to 6.0% on a dry matter (0% moisture) basis (DM). Micronutrients are consumed in
smaller quantities and are present in plant tissue on the order of parts per million (ppm), ranging
from 0.15 to 400 ppm DM, or less than 0.04% DM.
Only three other macronutrients are required by all plants: carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. These
nutrients are supplied by water and carbon dioxide.
The nitrogen-rich fertilizer ammonium nitrate is also used as an oxidizing agent in improvised
explosive devices, sometimes called fertilizer bombs, leading to sale regulations.
 SOURCE OF MATERIALS AND PROCESS OF
OPERATION
The bulk blending process in which feed materials are mixed to produce a balanced fertilizer is
illustrated in the figure below.
The feed materials are dry and granular, and contain one or all of the primary plant nutrients.
Normal and triple superphosphate, ammonium sulfate, urea and potash typify single nutrient feed
materials. Mono or diammonium phosphate and potassium nitrate are typical multinutrient feed
materials. In addition to these primary nutrients, micro-nutrients and organic herbicides are also
frequently incorporated into fertilizers at the mixing and blending plant.

The feed materials are commonly received at the plant in hopper railcars which discharge into a
receiving bin. The materials are transferred from the bin via belt conveyor to a bucket elevator
fro transfer by chute to specified storage areas or bins within the mixing building. As each feed
material is needed, it is taken from bulk storage by a front-end loader or sweep auger and
transferred to a bucket elevator. Material is then discharged into a weigh hopper for weighing,
after which it is fed into a rotary-drum mixer. When the materials have been added for the
desired mix formulation the mixer drum is rotated until a uniform mixture is produced. The
contents are then discharged and transferred by bucket elevator to storage hoppers from which
the product can be either bulk loaded or bagged for shipping. Over half of the blending plants use
a hopper-type loading station as shown in figure above. Bulk loading into open trucks can
reportedly cause up to 75 percent of the emissions from bulk blending plants.
The particulate emissions from bulk blending plants are fugitive in nature, and result from three
sources:
1. Rail car unloading and transfer to storage,
2. Mixing building fugitive losses (caused by materials handling, mixing and bagging), and
3. Loading operations (bulk loadout into open trucks).
A dust source that may also be found at fertilizer mixing and blending facilities is plant
haul roads.
 TYPICAL EXAMPLES OF FERTILIZER PLANT
EQUIPMENTS

Crystalline Fertilizer

Granular Fertilizer

The Fertilizer Plant produces 260,000 t/a of ammonium sulphate fertilizer - crystalline (21-0-0)
and granular (20-0-0) – from scrubber solution of weak ammonium sulphate and excess 93%
sulphuric acid generated by the metallurgical operations in controlling sulphur gas emissions.
Anhydrous ammonia for fertilizer production is shipped to the plant from Alberta in rail tank
cars.
Granular ammonium sulphate is produced by direct neutralization of 93% sulphuric acid with
anhydrous ammonia in a pipe reactor. The molten salt from the reactor discharges into a bed of
recycled fines in a granulator to form spherical pellets. After drying, cooling and screening this
product is shipped in bulk to various markets.
The crystalline product is produced by evaporating a weak scrubber solution in two crystallizers
operating in series. Large crystals are separated from the mother liquor in vertical screen
centrifuges and dried in three gas fired driers. The dried product is screened and shipped to
various markets by rail and truck.

Energy Requirements and The Engineering Problems

involved in the management of materials of Fertilizer Plants
in Nigeria

Elephant group, a wholly Nigerian group of companies, with vast interest in agro-allied business
as well as the oil and gas sector is set to open its 250,000 metric ton per annum fertilizer
blending plant in Nigeria, a plant to be built with inputs from its Ukrainian partners.
Nigeria consumes up to 2 – 3 million pounds of fertilizer every year. Therefore, the blending
plant is going to be about 250,000 metric pounds per annum.