Fertilizer Testing

Vieira, A. L., Silva, T. V., de Sousa, F. S. I., Senesi, G. S., Júnior, D. S., Ferreira, E. C., & Neto, J. A. G. (2018). Microchemical Journal, 139, 322-326.

Phosphorus (P) plays a crucial role in various processes in plants, such as energy production, photosynthesis, numerous enzyme catalysis and redox reactions, carbohydrate metabolism, and nitrogen fixation. Due to the typically low native soil phosphorus supply, phosphate rock fertilizers are widely used in agriculture. Around 400 billion tons of phosphate rock fertilizers were consumed globally in the year 2000, with an estimated consumption of around 600 billion tons by 2040. Therefore, in the context of increasing global population, growing food demand, and depleting non-renewable phosphate rock resources, it is essential to determine phosphorus in fertilizers simply, modernly, quickly, and persistently.

Viso, E., & Zachariadis, G. (2018). Separations, 5(3), 36.

The objective of this research was to analyze phosphorus (P) and boron (B) in fertilizers concurrently utilizing Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES). Three different samples were analyzed, including two inorganic and one organic sample. Acidic digestion using two different acid mixtures was performed to completely dissolve the samples prior to analysis. For inorganic fertilizers, a HCl + HNO₃ solution was used for digestion, while for the organic fertilizer, a H₂SO₄ + HNO₃ solution was employed.

The spectral emission lines used were 213.617 nm and 214.917 nm for P, and 249.772 nm, 249.677 nm, and 208.957 nm for B. The detection limits and quantification limits were 10–20 mg/kg and 40–80 mg/kg for P, and 10–30 mg/kg and 40–100 mg/kg for B, respectively. The method showed consistent results with relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranging from 0.9% to 17.0% for P and 1.7% to 23.4% for B.

The concentrations determined by the proposed method were found to be highly consistent with the concentrations reported on the packaging labels.

Wang, L. S., Wang, R. J., Lu, C. P., Wang, J., & Huang, W. (2019). Infrared Physics & Technology, 102, 103045.

Moisture is the direct cause of agglomeration in compound fertilizers. Effective control of product moisture content can improve production capacity, reduce system burden, increase operating rate, alleviate product agglomeration problems, and facilitate the storage, transportation, sale, and use of products. Moisture is a very important indicator for quality control of compound fertilizers. Visible and near infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy technology combined with chemometrics can quickly determine the moisture content in compound fertilizers.

Krüger, O., Fiedler, F., Adam, C., Vogel, C., & Senz, R. (2017). Chemosphere, 182, 48-53.

Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is usually carcinogenic, highly acutely toxic, and highly mobile, posing serious risks to health and the environment. Fertilizers often contain high levels of chromium. Therefore, reliable analysis of the content of chromium and hexavalent chromium is crucial for the safe use of fertilizers. With increasing demand for fertilizers and corresponding supply risks, more and more recycled fertilizers are emerging, and it is expected that this issue will worsen in the future.