Can ammonia be introduced into the compound fertilizer conversion section to increase the N content?
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Currently, many companies that produce compound fertilizers to increase nitrogen content do so by adding more nitrogen sources from external materials. As a result, some of the raw material particles end up in the final product, making these particles prone to moisture absorption, crumbling, and shedding of their coating. I heard that ammonia can be introduced during the process of converting sulfuric acid to potassium salts in order to increase the nitrogen content; can this method be used to easily produce 15-15-15 potassium sulfate compound fertilizer? I would appreciate some guidance on how to do this!
I’ve learned about it; if there are experts in this field, please offer your guidance.
There are two difficulties: 1. The nitrogen content in the produced ammonium sulfide and ammonium chloride is low; 2. The ammonia that is not absorbed ends up in hydrochloric acid
A careful analysis shows that this approach is not feasible. First, when ammonia is introduced into the conversion section, it reacts with sulfuric acid to form ammonium sulfate, and it also reacts with hydrogen chloride to form ammonium chloride, which then enters the absorption system. Ammonium sulfate itself contains around 21% nitrogen; therefore, introducing it into the system has a limited effect on increasing the nitrogen content of the product. Secondly, this method increases the energy consumption of the system. In the conventional ammonia-based granulation process, tubular reactors utilize the heat and steam generated by the reaction between ammonia and mixed acids for granulation. If ammonia is directly introduced into the conversion section, this heat will be lost