Importance Of Urea

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White in colour and is usually sold in crystallized pellets or powder, urea is widely used in the agricultural industry as fertilizers. This is due to the high nitrogen content of urea where it has around 46.67% as compared to other nitrogenous fertilizer where ammonium nitrate contains only 35.00% and ammonium sulphate 21.21%. This makes urea the highest amount of nitrogen per mass total among the three and is the lowest cost per pound nitrogen. (D.W. James, 2010)
Scientifically known as carbonyldiamide or carbonyldiamine, it is a nitrogenous organic compound with the molecular formula of (NH2)2CO as shown in Figure 1.1 below (NCBI, n.d.). While researching on human urine, urea was discovered by H.M. Roulle in 1773 and was first synthesized by a German scientist Friedrich Wohler in 1828 through a mistake when he was actually trying to synthesize ammonium cyanate (Arthur Greenberg, 2007). In the presence of hydrated air, urea has the characteristic smell of ammonia and is odourless in the presence of dry air (NCBI, n.d.). The chemical and physical properties of urea were summarized in Table 1.1 (National Library of Medicine, n.d.)

Figure 1.1: Two-Dimensional Structure of Urea (NCBI, n.d.)
Table 1.1: Chemical and Physical Properties of Urea (National Library of Medicine, n.d., sciencelab.com, 2013)
Molecular Formula C - H4 – N2 – 0 or (NH2)2CO
Molecular Weight 60.06 g/mol
Composition C – 19.99%, H – 6.71%, N – 46.67%, O – 26.63%
Density (Specific Gravity, Sg) 1323kg/m3 at 20°C (1.323)
Melting Point 132.70°C
Boiling Point Decomposes
Solubility(ETH Zurich, 2006) Highly Soluble in Water
Highly Soluble in Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO)
Soluble in concentrated HCL
50% in Glycerine at 15°C
Slightly soluble in alcohols, basic amides...

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Due to urea’s high nitrogen content as mention previously, it is commonly used as fertilizers. Besides that, urea also has other use which includes the production of melamine and formaldehyde resins, adhesives and plastics. Resins formed from melamine have high hardness and stain resistance thus were commonly used as tableware while formaldehyde resins were commonly applied in textile industry as cheap solution to fabric crease. In medicinal use, urea is used as tissue softener for nails, treating dry and rough skin, eczema and more. Table 1.4 shows the usage of urea in Western Europe, United States and Japan. (Alain Chauvel, 1989).
Table 1.4: Urea production and consumption in 1984, France (Alain Chauvel, 1989).
Western Europe United States Japan
Fertilizers 85% 80% 31%
Industrial Products 10% 10% 69%
Animal Feeds 5% 10%
Consumption (106t/year) 4.30 7.65 0.85

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