Rock Phosphate Fertilizer Production

Rock Phosphate Fertilizer Production

How much do you know about phosphate fertilizer?

Phosphate fertilizer is a fertilizer mainly with phosphorus element. Phosphate fertilizer is an important mineral fertilizer in agriculture, which plays a vital role in promoting food production. As one of the three main fertilizers (the other two are nitrogen and potash fertilizers), phosphate fertilizer is critical to ensuring healthy crop growth and increasing yields. In fact, phosphorus is one of the essential elements for all living things. It participates in the energy conversion process of plants and plays an indispensable role in root development, flower and fruit formation and maturity.

What are the raw materials of phosphate fertilizer?

The main raw material of phosphate fertilizer is phosphate rock, which is a natural ore containing phosphate minerals. There are many types of phosphate minerals in phosphate rocks. But they can mainly be divided into the following categories:

Apatite: Apatite is one of the most important phosphate rocks, and its chemical composition is mainly fluorapatite and chloroapatite. Apatite is widely distributed around the world and is the main source of phosphate fertilizers for industrial production.

Phosphate rocks: These rocks contain a variety of different phosphate minerals, including apatite. Also, phosphate rocks are another important source of phosphate fertilizers.

Clay Phosphate: Clay in some specific areas contains a higher proportion of phosphate, and these clays can also be of use as raw materials for phosphate fertilizers.

In addition to natural phosphate rocks, there are other sources of phosphorus can also be of use in the production of phosphate fertilizers, such as animal bone meal, municipal sludge and livestock and poultry manure. These are also the main raw materials to make phosphate fertilizers.

What is the process of phosphate fertilizer production?

The production process of phosphate fertilizer involves multiple steps, including beneficiation, acidification, precipitation, filtration, concentration, drying and packaging of raw materials. The following are the detailed steps of the phosphate fertilizer production process:

Phosphate ore beneficiation: Phosphate ore is subjected to ore flotation, grinding and dehydration to extract phosphate minerals. Phosphate rock is an ore containing phosphate minerals. Its main components are phosphate and other inorganic salts.

Acidification: That is, add phosphate minerals to strong acid (usually sulfuric acid) and perform an acidolysis reaction at high temperatures to hydrolyze it into phosphoric acid. This step is a key step in the production of phosphoric acid.

Precipitation and filtration: Precipitating agents such as organic acids or ammonia are added to precipitate and remove impurities dissolved in the solution. Then, you should filter the reacted mixture to separate impurities such as phosphoric acid and calcium sulfate.

Neutralization reaction: Neutralize the washed phosphoric acid with an alkaline absorbent (such as ammonia) to generate a phosphate solution.

Concentration and crystallization: Concentrate the phosphate solution to a supersaturated state, and then cool and crystallize to obtain phosphate crystals.

Drying and crushing: Dry and crush the generated phosphate crystals to obtain phosphate fertilizer products. The drying process applies methods such as spray drying or drum drying.

Packaging: The dry phosphate fertilizer is automatically or manually packed and then transported to a place for storage or sale.

In addition, according to production needs, phosphate fertilizer production can also be divided into the production of single phosphate fertilizer and compound phosphate fertilizer. Specifically, the production of compound phosphate fertilizer is to mix phosphate, nitrogen fertilizer and potassium fertilizer together and control them in a specific proportion to produce a compound fertilizer containing three elements.

What are the roles of phosphate fertilizers in agricultural production?

Promote crop growth: Phosphate fertilizer is a component element of many important compounds in plants such as nucleic acids, proteins and enzymes. These compounds are closely related to plant growth and energy conversion processes. Therefore, phosphorus fertilizer can promote early maturity of crops, increase the number of grains per ear and grain plumpness, and increase yield.

Improve crop stress resistance: Phosphorus fertilizer can enhance the drought and cold resistance of crops, and also help crops resist attacks by pests and diseases. This helps reduce crop damage during growth, thereby increasing yield and quality.

Improve soil texture: Phosphorus fertilizer has the effect of improving soil and can increase soil water retention and fertilizer retention. In addition, phosphate fertilizer can also promote the decomposition and transformation of organic matter in the soil and improve soil fertility.

Promote root development: Phosphorus has a very significant role in promoting root development. It can elongate the root system and promote the growth of lateral roots and fine roots. Furthermore, it can also increase the number of root hairs and improve the root system’s ability to absorb nutrients and water.

Improve crop quality: Phosphate fertilizer can increase the sugar, vitamin and protein content in crop fruits and improve the nutritional value of crops. At the same time, phosphate fertilizer can also help improve the color and taste of crops and increase commodity value.

Top 2 Essential Shunxin Phosphate Ore Crushing Equipment in 2024

Shunxin Phosphate Rock Jaw Crusher For Sale

Jaw crusher is widely of use for coarse and medium crushing of phosphate rock to provide suitable material particle size for subsequent processing. Its working principle is to squeeze, split and bend the phosphate rock through the periodic reciprocating motion between the two jaw plates (moving jaw and static jaw). Thereby, it achieves the crushing effect. Especially, it has the characteristics of simple structure, uniform crushing particle size and high output. Additionally, its output can reach approximately 10-110t/h, which makes it an ideal crushing equipment for many manufacturers to carry out coarse crushing.

Shunxin Phosphate Rock Raymond Mill For Sale

Raymond mill is a common grinding equipment. And it’s mainly suitable for high-fine processing of coarsely rock materials. Its working principle is that the crushed phosphate rock material enters the grinding chamber. And repeatedly, they are crushed and ground under the pressure between the crushing roller and the grinding disc. Subsequently, the processed materials pass through the air classifier for particle size classification. Due to the raymond mill’s high crushing efficiency, low energy consumption, and adjustable crushing particle size. Exactly, it can achieve an output of 10-320T/D. Therefore, it plays an irreplaceable role in phosphate fertilizer production.

What are the main factors affecting the quality of phosphate fertilizer production?

Raw material quality

The raw materials of phosphate fertilizer, especially the quality of phosphate rock, will directly affect the production volume and quality of phosphate fertilizer. In addition, the impurity content, phosphorus content and particle size distribution in the raw materials will have a significant impact on the purity and efficiency of phosphate fertilizer. Therefore, choosing high-quality, stable raw materials is the basis for ensuring the quality of phosphate fertilizer.

Production process

The production process of phosphate fertilizer includes multiple processes such as crushing, acidolysis, evaporation and crystallization, and drying. Different process solutions will have different impacts on yield and quality. For example, reaction temperature, pressure, time and the use of additives will all affect its fertilizer efficiency.

Equipment and technical level

The performance and technical level of phosphate fertilizer production equipment are directly related to output and quality. The accuracy, stability, durability and degree of automation of the equipment will affect the efficiency and quality of phosphate fertilizer production. What’s more, equipment maintenance and upkeep are also important factors in ensuring the quality of phosphate fertilizer.