Fertilizer Essay Introduction

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Fertilizers are substances that enhance soil fertility and plant growth by providing the nutrients that the crop is deficient in. First used by ancient farmers, fertilizer technology developed significantly as the chemical needs of growing plants were discovered. Nowadays, fertilizers are used extensively all over the world as they play an important role on modern food production. Despite the numerous ways that fertilizers benefit the plants, misuse can cause problems and threaten the environment. For this reason, scientists are looking for ways to improve fertilizers to respond more effectively to plants’ and soils’ needs and minimize the impact to the environment.

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Definition
Fertilizer, as given by the Cambridge dictionary, is defined as a natural or chemical …show more content…

However, it is often converted to other substances making it easier to handle. First ammonia and air are mixed in a tank to produce nitric acid. In the presence of a catalyst, a reaction occurs which converts the ammonia to nitric oxide. The nitric oxide is further reacted in the presence of water to produce nitric acid. Nitric acid and ammonia are used to make ammonium nitrate. Its high concentration of nitrogen makes this material a good fertilizer component. Finally, it can then be stored until it is ready to be granulated and blended with the other fertilizer components.

Phosphorous fertilizer component
Phosphorus is treated with sulfuric acid to isolate it from the phosphate rock and produce phosphoric acid. Triple superphosphate, an excellent solid source of phosphorus and ammonium phosphate another good primary fertilizer are produced from further reaction of phosphoric acid. In fact, triple superphosphate is formed when phosphoric acid is reacted with sulfuric acid and nitric acid. Some of the phosphoric acid is also reacted with ammonia in a separate tank to result in ammonium phosphate.

Potassium fertilizer

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