About Fertilizers

Introduction
Fertiliser is generally defined as "any material, organic or inorganic, natural or synthetic, which supplies one or more of the chemical elements required for the plant growth". Sixteen elements listed in Table 1.1 are identified as essential elements for plant growth, of which nine are required in macro quantities and seven in micro quantities. Of the elements listed in Table 1.1, carbon, oxygen and hydrogen are supplies by air and water and are, therefore, not treated as nutrients by the fertiliser industry. The main aim of the industry is to provide the primary and secondary nutrients which are required in macro quantities. Table 1.1 - Essential elements for plant growth No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. Name of element Carbon Oxygen Hydrogen Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium Calcium Magnesium Sulphur Boron Chlorine Copper Iron Maganese Molybdenum Zinc Mocro nutrients Secondary nutrients Primary nutrients Nomenclature

Note: As per the Fertiliser Control Order (FCO) 'fertiliser' means any substance used or intended to be used as a fertilisers of the soil and/ or crop and specified in part A of Schedule I and includes a mixture of fertilisers and special mixture of fertilisers. Primary nutrients are normally supplied through chemical fertilisers. They are chemical compounds containing one or more of the primary nutrients and are generally produced by chemical reactions. Whatever may be the chemical compounds, its most important ingredient for plant growth is the nutrient content. The primary nutrients are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium; however, their concentration in a chemical fertiliser is expressed as a percentage of total nitrogen (N), available phosphate (P2O5) and soluble (K2O). Thus, ammonium sulphate contains 20.6 per cent N; single superphosphate 16 per cent P2O5 and muriate of potash 60 per cent K2O. The grade of a fertiliser is expressed as a set of three numbers in the order of per cent N, P2O5 and K2O. If a nutrient is missing in a fertiliser, it is represented by a zero. Thus ammonium sulphate is

represented as 20.6-0-0 (since it does not contain phosphorus and potassium), single superphosphate as 0-16-0 (as it does not contain nitrogen and potash), muriate of potash as 0-060 ( as it does not contain nitrogen or phosphorus). When a fertiliser contains more than one nutrient, for example diammonium phosphate, it is shown as 18-46-0, indicating that it contains 18 per cent of nitrogen, 46 per cent of P2O5 and no potash. Similarly, "Suphala", a nitrophosphate fertiliser produced by RCF, Trombay, is shown as 15-15-15 indicating that the product contains 15 per cent N, 15 per cent P2O5 and 15 per cent K2O.

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The Indian Fertilizer Industry is today the third largest producer and consumer of fertilizers in the world. Typically, the industry is divided into the Nitrogenous, Phosphatic and Potassic segments, or NPK. These and other nutrients are combined to produce a range of complex fertilizers. Urea (nitrogenous) is the most widely consumed in India. Current urea capacity is 20.2 million tpa against a consumption of 21.7 million tpa, growing at about 4% p.a. The total production of phosphate 3.36 was million tpa in FY00. The main phosphatic fertilizers produced in India are Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) and Single Super Phosphate (SSP). However, the entire requirement of potassic fertilizers is imported (mainly Muriate of Potash (MOP). Fertilizer production is highly energy intensive with the cost of feedstock and fuel combined accounting for 55% to 80% per cent of the cost of production. Plants in India are based on three types of feedstock naphtha, fuel oil/LSHS and natural gas. Rising feedstock costs coupled with demand growth have bloated the fertilizer subsidy. Copyright 2009 tradeindia.com. All rights reserved.

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