Abstract:
The population of earth is rising in haste every day, which leads towards global food shortages. To get rid of this food scarcity, agricultural framers applied a huge amount of artificial fertilizers to meet the demand and supply gap of food. This overdose of fertilizer will cause many bad impacts on the surroundings including environmental pollution in the form of emission to the atmosphere as well as to soil and water bodies.
In the world, due to the highest nitrogen content of 46% among all nitrogenous fertilizer, urea is widely used. On the other hand, due to the high solubility of urea in water, the majority of nitrogen content almost about 70% is lost in the surrounding vicinity. This causes considerable economic losses along with environmental pollution due to leaching and NH3 Volatilization.
These losses can be minimized by enhancing the efficiency of urea i.e. slowing its release rate. Slowing of release rate can be carried out by coating the ordinary urea with suitable materials. This scientific investigation will focus on the usage of biodegradable polymeric materials with inorganic substances like sulphur and plaster of Paris for coating of urea prills. The coating was done using Fluidized bed Coater to synthesized slow release urea fertilizer.
Different combinations were made by changing coating materials, and their release rates were calculated in water. UV-VIS spectrophotometer was used to determine the dissolution rate of slow release urea prills. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was used to check the surface structure of slow release urea. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction XRD, Energy Dispersive X-ray and crushing strength technique were employed to check the quality and characteristics of coated urea prills. Highest efficiency was achieved by using sealant along with binding agent molasses.
Good Quality binding agent directly affects the efficiency and reduces the release rate of urea prills. The coating combinations contain an inorganic substance which functionalized dually by providing micronutrient for plant growth along with retarding the release rate.
Keywords: Slow release urea fertilizer (SRUF), Dissolution rate, Sulphur, Plaster of Paris, Binder, Sealant.
