Improvement of the Process of Improving the Quality of Urea Granules

Abstract

The object of research is the process of improving the quality of urea granules by processing. The subject of research is the physicochemical properties of granular urea after processing with a new composite. Granular urea has a wide range of uses, but during storage and sale it is capable of caking with a significant loss of its flowability, static and dynamic strength of granules. When transporting over long distances, these phenomena cause inconvenience in loading and unloading operations, and also affect the quality of the supplied goods. Therefore, the search for methods to improve its quality is still important. The paper considers the results of theoretical studies of ways to improve the quality of granular urea. As a rule, at most enterprises, an additive is introduced into the urea melt - urea-formaldehyde concentrate, which promotes the formation of isometric forms of urea crystals and reduces the growth rate of faces with the third pinacoid. Due to the toxicity of formaldehyde, the market for such urea is limited. The results are presented for laboratory tests of the processing of urea produced by pouring without a fluidized bed, a new anti-caking composite – a hydrolyzed solution of protein raw materials from the family of fibrillar proteins with a protein raw material concentration of 10 %. The main purpose of the granule processing was to improve the quality of urea through the use of a new composite anti-caking agent, which leads to an increase in the shelf life without changing the physicochemical properties and provides an environmentally friendly condition. As a result of laboratory studies, a decrease in moisture absorption was revealed. It has been established that the proposed anti-caking agent exhibits a hydrophobilization effect. The effectiveness of the conditioning action of the proposed composite has been proven, which consists in achieving fixation of a hydrophobic coating of natural origin on the surface of fertilizer granules and, as a consequence, reducing the percentage of caking of fertilizers. The disadvantages of the developed composite were also established, namely: the fact of a decrease in the static strength of granules after processing was established. Therefore, work on improving the composition of the composite will continue.