NPK Fertilisers

NPK Fertilisers contain compounds of what? And what do they do

Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium

• improve agricultural activity

• help plants to grow larger and more rapidly

An NPK Fertiliser is typically referred to as a _______ in chemistry.

Formulation

Where does Nitrogen come from

Ammonium Nitrate
- Use ammonia produced in the haber process and react it with nitric acid. We can use the ammonia to also produce nitric acid

Where does Potassium come from

Potassium Chloride / Potassium Sulphate
- Mined from ground and can be used directly

Where does phosphorus / phosphate come from

Phosphate rock mined from ground and has to be chemically processed

Phosphate rock + nitric acid —> phosphoric acid + calcium nitrate | but phosphoric acid cannot be added directly to plants to we can neutralise it with ammonia - Which produces ammonium phosphate

Sulfuric acid + Phosphate rock —> calcium phosphate and calcium sulfate | a ‘single sugarphosphate’

Phosphate rock with phosphoric acid - a ‘triple sugar phosphate’

Differences between lab and school methodology (Ammonia + Nitric Acid)

• using dilute solutions of ammonia and nitric acid making them safe IN A CLASSROOM whereas in industry ammonia is used as a gas and nitric acid is concentrated, making it very exothermic and heat produced can be removed and used elsewhere

• crystals produced using bunsen burner however in industry less heart energy used due to previous step

• lab produces small amount of ammonium nitrate in a go - batch process - whereas industry is a continuous process and can produce thousands of kilos at once

reactivity series

please=potassium
stop=sodium
calling=calcium
me=magnesium
a=aluminium
careless=carbon
zebra=zinc
intead=iron
try=tin
learning=lead
how=hydrogen
copper=copper
saves=silver
gold=gold