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granulation in agriculture and fertiliser formation

9 Apr, 2024

adminApril 9, 2024Agriculture, Economy Solution

Lignin Granulation aids: Enhancing Fertilizer Efficiency

Granulation Aids in improving fertiliser performance and plant nutrient uptake

In the world of agriculture, where every seed hold the promise of a thriving harvest, the science of fertilisation plays a crucial role. Among the most important factors in this sector are granulation aids – essential elements in the fertiliser formulation that significantly to the effectiveness of fertilisers. In this blog, we discuss the role of granulation aids, explore how they revolutionise the way we nurture our crops for optimal growth and yield and also cover their impact on the future of sustainable framing, particularly lignin based granulation aids.

Demystifying Granulation Aids

Granulation, the process of converting fine powder into granules, is a game-changer in the fertilizer industry. But what exactly are granulation aids, and how do they elevate the efficiency of this process?

Granulation aids also known as binding agents are essential elements in material science. Their function in granulation involves the conversion of fine particles into granules of specific sizes depending on application. Their role in enhancing the efficiency of the granulation process aids in improving flow of the material, achieving uniform sized particles, and adhesiveness of the particles to each other in order to form granules. Different substances can serve as granulation aids, these include; binders, disintegrants, anti-adherents, each having a specific function in optimizing the performance of the final product

There are multiple classes of granulation aids that currently exist, these include: starches, sugars, polymers and lignin-based ones.

From Dust to Diamonds: How Granulation Aids Transform Fertilizer Formulations

The use of granular fertilizer has become ubiquitous due to its controlled nutrient release capabilities, easy storage and handling, reduction in runoff, long-term soil health, opportunity to customize fertilizer, and efficiency in heavy pre-plant applications. Additionally, novel alternatives to conventional fertilizers are becoming more popular as currently used fertilizers often result in progressive soil acidification and reduced crop quality and yield. One solution to soil degradation used to be the use of magnesium-calcium fertilizers, however, this is not efficient enough. As such the use of materials with significant amounts of trace elements such as dolomite, rich in magnesium and calcium, has been shown to improve soil quality, particularly acidified soil.

Conversely, such materials (which are in powder form), require modification by granulation to improve handling, storage, efficiency and sustainability. Moreover, granulated fertilizers offer a consistent composition, ensuring an even distribution of macro and microelements in the soil. This uniformity helps reduce the likelihood of fertilizer aging, such as the potential for phosphorus to transform into forms inaccessible to plants through volatilization.

Boosting Efficiency: How Granulation Aids Improve Fertiliser performance

Lets delve into the world of binders – the master builders that hold granules together, ensuring uniformity and preventing crumbling. Granulation aids, particularly binders, play a pivotal role in optimizing the performance of fertilizers, offering a myriad of benefits to both producers and end-users. Binders act as cohesive agents during the granulation process, enhancing the formation of well-defined granules. This results in improved product handling, reduced dust formation, and enhanced storage stability, making it easier for fertilizer producers to handle, package, and transport their products. Moreover, binders contribute to the controlled release of nutrients in the soil, ensuring a more sustained and efficient nutrient supply to plants. This, in turn, leads to enhanced crop yield, improved nutrient utilization, and overall better agricultural productivity.

Additionally, the use of binders aids in preventing nutrient leaching, thereby promoting environmental sustainability by minimizing the impact on soil and water quality. In essence, the incorporation of granulation aids in fertilizers not only streamlines manufacturing processes but also significantly contributes to the efficacy, environmental responsibility, and overall success of modern agricultural practices.

Conclusion

As we wrap up our exploration of the world of granulation aids in fertilisers, it becomes clear that these unsung heroes are instrumental in shaping the future of agriculture. From enhancing efficiency and sustainability to contributing to bountiful harvests, granulation aids are silent architects of a thriving agriculture landscape. Join us in the ongoing journey to cultivate success and unlock the full potential of our crops through the art and science of granulation aids fertilisers.

Granulation: A Comprehensive Guide

What is granulation?

Granulation is an important process applied in various industries; pharmaceutical, Agriculture, Food science, Mining, Construction and the Chemical industry. It involves the use of a binder to form a bulky granule from fine powder/coarse particles by agglomeration technique. The adoption of the granulation process allows different sectors to improve product uniformity and effectiveness. Additionally it positively influences logistic efficiency through reducing the volume per unit weight of the final blend, reduce dust formation (important during storage and transport and for preventing contamination) and ensure easy handling of product.

This blog series will concentrate on exploring the advantages, current trends, and future prospects of granulation within the agricultural sector. Our goal is to deliver essential information applicable to various uses, including granulation for fertilizers, animal feed, and soil conditioning. A general overview on granulation, techniques, significance of the process and understanding the ideal process for your formulation needs will cover our first blog post.

The granulation process involves two techniques, dry and wet granulation. Selection between these depends on the ideal product characteristics, material properties, cost (energy consumption & equipment), process scalability and environmental impact to name a few. The most cost efficient process, with minimal requirement for resources is Dry granulation. This involved the use of mechanical compression or compaction to achieve agglomeration of starting powder material.

Additionally, it obviates the need for a liquid binder therefore eliminating additional production steps. Although this process is highly favoured by small scale manufacturers due to its low energy and resource requirement, its applicability is limited. Therefore wet granulation is the preferred method of granulation despite the inclusion of costly and time consuming steps such massing, drying and screening. This is mainly because wet granulation improves material flowability, eliminates the need to use high pressure during compression (some active ingredients are sensitive to high pressure), uniform particle size, and requires shorter processing time. This method is particularly popular in the fertilization industry as it allows producers to create customized manure as required by the farmer.

Use of granulation in fertilizer formulation enables producers to achieve precise nutrient dosage depending on the farmers’ needs, therefore offering all the necessary nutrients in a single compact granule.

Beyond the green: Biorefinery concept

Billions of years in evolutionary pressure have given us the richness of nature in the plant cell wall. Although it may be easy to overlook a swift of grass, a pinecone or the shavings of sugarcane, the value that lies within the fibre of each biomass has the capability of revolutionizing multiple industries. The sophisticated composition of plants not only fulfills a wide range of biological roles central to plant life but can give us multiple value-added products capable of replacing the need for fossil fuels.

Efficient utilisation of the plant cell wall (lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose) is truly possible through the adoption of the Biorefinery Concept. Biorefineries consolidate the process of biomass (mostly plant materials) conversion and production of multiple value-added products from a single resource. This concept is synonymous with petrol refineries, in that it takes advantage of the compositional versatility of the feedstock and their intermediates, therefore maximizing the value derived.

The adoption of Biorefineries for the production of products currently dependent on the use of fossil fuels allows us to replace fossil fuel resources with more renewable alternatives. Importantly, Biorefineries are mostly energy-efficient, eliminate energy waste and therefore contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. By using the Biorefinery Concept, we are able to use waste biomass for the integrated production of food, feed, materials, chemicals and fuels. This presents an opportunity for expanded market reach through a single facility, the opportunity to overcome the deficit of the product development and manufacturing industry particularly in Africa and establish self-reliance regarding the production of products dependent on fossil fuels.

The adoption of the Biorefinery Concept has huge potential to change the status quo of developing countries, as it avails the opportunity to use local resources for the production of multiple products such as biofuels, energy, platform chemicals and food additives amongst others. It also makes possible the involvement of developing countries in the green initiative without drastically impacting their economies. That’s precisely why LignOrganic is committed to achieving the vision of the biorefinery concept in Africa.

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