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Some Technical and Economic Aspects of the Manufacture, Distribution and Application of Artificial Fertilizers

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Some Technical and Economic Aspects of the Manufacture, Distribution and Application of Artificial Fertilizers SOME TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE MANUFACTURE, DISTRIBUTION AND APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL FERTILIZERS. Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of London in the Faculty of Engineering by Jack G. Helfenstein, B.Sc., Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, S.W.7. November 1959. -1- ABSTRACT This thesis attempts to evaluate some of the economic and technical problems facing the fertilizer industry, both at present and in the future, against the background of the potential demand for fertilizers. The history and growth of the British fertilizer industry is examined. A special study is made of the statistics relating to fertilizer production and consumption since 1945. The economic theory underlying fertilizer use is investigated and extended. An estimate of the potential demand for fertilizers is made and it is concluded that fertilizer consumption could, with advantage, be greatly increased, especially that of nitrogen. The extent to which fertilizer prices and subsidy policy have affected demand are determined and discussed. The results of a survey that was made to determine farmers' attitudes to fertilizer use are given. The relative importance of various factors affecting fertilizer use are assessed. Current methods of distribution and application are compared to alternative methods. It is concluded that the former are in the main satisfactory, though a greater nutrient concentration in fertilizers would lead to significant savings on cost.In view of it's importance to the industry the unit operation of granulation is examined in detail and methods of achieving optimum efficiency suggested. Various fertilizer production processes are assessed for their economic and technical feasibility. It is concluded that the potential demand for nitrogen would be best met by the greater use of ammonium nitrate and the introduction and use of urea. It is further concluded that the present,phosphorus,fertilizer processes are adequate and that certain alternative processes, mainly for the production of water insoluble phosphates, are not economically feasible under British conditions. It is thought that there is little or no scope for the use of liquid fertilizers in the U.K. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to thank especially Professor D.M.Newitt,of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, and Professor R.S.Ldwards, of the London School of Economics, for their supervision and continued interest in this work and also for having made possible the writing of a thesis involving both technology and economics. My thanks are also due to Mr.Peston, of the London School of Economics, for his invaluable discussion and critiscism of many of the economic sections of this thesis. I would also like to thank all those individuals and organisations, too numerous to mention separately, who supplied data for this work. Especial thanks are due here to Mr.J.Crosby, of the Cambridgeshire Farmers' Union, whose help in organising the collection of data for Chapter 5 was invaluable. Finally I would like to thank the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research for their maintainence grant during the past three years which enabled me to carry out this work. -iv- CONTENTS Page Title Abstract Acknowledgements iii Contents iv Chapter 1. The history and organisation of the fertilizer industry. 1 1.1. History of fertilizer use. 1 1.2. Present state of knowledge on fertilizers. 9 1.3. The history of the fertilizer industry in the United Kingdom. 15 1.4. The present organisation and structure of the fertilizer industry. 22 Chapter 2. Consumptionl production and trade in fertilizers. 30 2.1. Sources of statistics. 30 2.2. Consumption of, the major plant nutrients. 32 2.3. Production in the fertilizer industry. 37 2.4. The effect of increased fetilizer consumption on agricultural output. 37 2.5. Nitrogen fertilizers. 40 2.6. Production,consumption and trade in phosphatic fertilizers. 47 2.7. Production,consumption and trade in potassium fertilizers. 55 Appendix, chapter 2. 58 Chapter 3. The potential demand for fertilizers and itIc relation to agricultural policy. 63 3.1. Postwar agricultural policy in the United Kingdom. 63 3.2. Economic condition of the agricultural industry. 68 -v- Contents continued:- Page 3.3. Response of crops to fertilizers 72 3.4. The nature and extent of the potential demand for fertilizers. 84 Appendix, The choice of a response curve for predicting the optimum level of fertilizer application. 103 Chapter 4. The changing structure of fertilizer prices and subsidies and itSc- effect on expenditure and consumption of fertilizers. 115 4.1. Current fertilizer prices. 115 4.2. Level of fertilizer prices, 1946-58. 118 4.3. Fertilizer subsidies. 119 4.4. Expenditure on fertilizers. 124 4.5. Relationship between farm income, fertilizer price and consumption. 125 4.6. Subsidy policy. 127 Appendix, chapter 4. 129 Chapter 5. The attitude of farmers to the use of fertilizers. 132 5.1. Introduction. 132 5.2. Results of preliminary survey. 133 5.3. Survey of farmers in Cambridgeshire. 136 Appendix. Criticism of methods employed and accuracy of results obtained from survey. 146 Chapter 6. Some economic and technical aspects of the fertilizer industry with particular reference to application and distribution. 149 6.1. Properties required of fertilizers. 149 6.2. Granulation in the fertilizer industry. 153 6.3. Distribution of fertilizers. 174 6.4. Application of fertilizers. 181 -vi- Contents continued:- Page Chapter 7.Fertilizer manufacturing processes and and the future development of the industry. 185 7.1.Nitrogen fertilizers. 185 7.2.Phosphorus fertilizers. 221 References. 246 -1- CHAPTER 1 THE HISTORY AND ORGANISATION OF THE FERTILIZER INDUSTRY 1.1 History of fertilizer use 1.1.1, The early history. The use of animal manure on the land stretches back over many thousand years and is presumably as old as settled agriculture itself. It was in Roman times that the first major writings on agriculture appeared and these, besides recommending the use of manure, stated the beneficial effects of marl and limestone on the soil. These may be classified as fertilizers. With the breakup of the Roman Empire conditions in Europe became unsettled and were not condusive to agricultural research. During the succeeding nine or ten centuries the method of restoring fertility to the soil was, in general to allow the land to remain fallow for a season. However from the 16th Century onwards increasing numbers of references to the use of manure and artificial fertilizer? occur. A fertilizer is here defined as a material which, when added to the soil, increases the yield of a crop grown in that soil i.e. renders it more productive than it would otherwise be. The term 'artificial fertilizer' is here used to denote those materials, other than decayed vegetable matter or animal manure, which are used for this purpose. -2- In 1563 for example, Bernard Palissy in his work 'Recepte Veritable' (1) recommends the use of marl, lime and wood ashes as fertilizers and suggests that it is the mineral salts in the ashes which are of benefit to the plant. Before the beginning of the 19th Century increasing numbers of substances were found to have an effect on the growth of plants. Glauber, in common with other scientists, found that nitrates increase plant growth and he held that 'saltpeter is the principle of vegetation'. Also it was discovered that bones had a fertilizing action as well as such materials as rags, wool waste, hoofs, horns and blood. However there was no knowledge as to why these were effective. Many experiments were made with different substances to de- termine their action on plant growth. In 1750, Jethro Tull (2) after a series of experiments summed up the extent of know- ledge concerning fertilizers as follows:- 'It is agreed that all of the following materials con- tribute in some manner to the increase of plants, but it is disputed which is that very increase in food. (1) Nitre (2) fire (3) earth (4) water'. It is unfortunate that, although a large number of experiments were made in this period, the lack of a quantita- tive, scientific approach prevented any rational developments in the restoration and maintenance of soil fertility to be made. It was at the end of the 18th Century that Thomas Malthus wrote his 'Essay on the principle of population as it affects the future improvement of society' (3). Malthus' theory visualised a constant pressure of the population on a food supply limited by the world's available land area and it: gradual declining fertility.. However the latter pre- diction proved to be incorrect by the knowledge, gained sub- sequently in the 19th Century, that by the addition of plant nutrients soil fertility could be maintained and even improved. 1.1.2. The growth of knowledge concerning fertilizer use. 1.1.2.1. Early investigations. In 1804 T. de Saussure, as a result of his research, published a book, 'ReCherches chimiques sur la vegetation' (4) which marked the origin of the science of fertilizers. The importance of Saussure's work was that he instituted a.. quantitative method of experimentation in his investigations on plant physiology. He showed conclusively that plants derive their carbon and oxygen from the atmosphere and their nitrogen and mineral matter from the soil. In 1834 J.B. Bou.ssingault (5) laid out a series of field plots and, using Saussure's methods of analysis, confirmed his conclusions concerning the nutrient value of mineral matter on actual crops. He weighed and analysed the quantity of manures applied and the crops obtained and was thus able to relate the increase in growth with the nutrients applied. Although Saussure had pointed to a means by which soil fertility could be increased, the lack of a sufficiently developed chemical industry prevented his theories from being put to any practical use at the time.
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