Importance of Green Technology in Fertilizer Quality Improvement

The topic can be divided in 3 main points: a) Fertilizer Quality Improvement b) Conventional Technologies c) Green Technology. With the increased use of fertilizer, it is also required that a right quality of fertilizer is provided to the end user at affordable cost. Fertilizer Industry face problems of caking, dust generation, foaming, non homogenous distribution of micronutrients etc. Due to these problems, there are direct and indirect losses in terms of recycling, re-processing, rejections and penalties. Apart from these, such quality problems carry inferior brand image for fertilizer. To overcome such problems, some additional products are used which are termed as Fertilizer Quality Improvement Products. These FQI products help fertilizer manufacturer to deliver right quality fertilizer to the end users. There have been some conventional products which were/are in use. These products are more harmful than providing advantages to fertilizer and fertilizer users. Products like Fuel oil, Mineral Oil, Paraffin Wax are being used with fertilizer for it to remain free flowing and dust free. These coatings are not efficient, and also affect the soil in negative sense. The very purpose and cost of FQI, which was supposed to save the overall costs is lost. To overcome such negative effects and provide right products, GREEN TECHNOLOGY was introduced in this field. Latest generation Green products are a) More effective, thus saves cost, b) From vegetable origin, hence better adaptability with soil c) Can be used in varied applications in fertilizer manufacturing processes d) Easy in Handling & non hazardous e) Last but not the least, Soil Friendly. This paper will also illustrate some technical studies in lab & plant scale where the comparison of Conventional products and latest generation Green Technology products has been done. It is proven that such green technology coatings reduce post production dust more than 80% as compared to about 45% by mineral oil based products. Such positive results have lead to convert more than 90% fertilizer manufacturer and blenders in South America to use vegetable origin coatings from conventional mineral oil & fuel oil based products. Conclusion : Quality of fertilizer today is very important issue for the Manufacturer as well as end user. Quality loss may lead to financial losses during the production itself, loss of reputation and loss of required nutrition at the time of usage. Latest generation Green Technology FQI products take care of these fertilizer quality issues efficiently and economically. Proper application of such Fertilizer Quality Improvement products not only improve the quality of fertilizer and saves money, but also add value to the fertilizer product. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.