Granulation Process in Compound

Fertilizer manufacturing
Dry Granulation and Wet Granulation

In general, compound fertilizer granulation tech can be divided into two types: wet
granulation and dry granulation. The difference is whether the process involved
liquid solution such as water or binder. The dry granulation usually uses physical
extrusion and does not involve the addition of water or binder, while the wet
granulation does.

Dry granulation

It is mainly used for granulation of raw materials with low moisture content,
generally below 10% moisture. (There are also very few materials can reach 16%,
such as: some materials themselves only with crystal water). Dry granulation
produces mostly irregular particles (like Common granular potash) or, more
generally, similar in shape to small gravel. With the domestic industrial upgrading
and environmental protection requirements are more and more strict, a lot of
chemical, building materials powder need to be granulated.

There is no water or binder needed during the dry granulation process, raw
materials are aggregated and squeezed into granules under the high pressure from
the extrusion between rollers. All the granulated product is free of drying and
cooling, and can be packaged just after screening, so dry granulation method is
widely for small and medium scale fertilizer manufacturing plants with low
investment. The fertilizer granules produced by dry granulation are always with
oblate shape.

Extrusion Granulation Technology

Double roller extrusion granulator is the key equipment in extrusion granulation

technology. The roller extruder granulator has two rollers, one roller's axis line is
fixed, the other roller's axis line can be moved in parallel, so that there is a precise
small gap between the two rollers. The size of the clearance is adjusted by two or
four hydraulic cylinder push rods moving the roller axis line to ensure a constant
extrusion pressure.

The pressure in the hydraulic cylinder can be adjusted through the hydraulic
circuit. Usually, the feeding device is above the parallel roller, and the friction force
between the material and the roller of the feeding system will force the material
into the gap between the two rollers. The material is brought in by rolling roll,
pressed into thin pancake (sheet) shape, broken into small pieces by mace after
falling behind, and then screened to obtain qualified particles as finished products.
The production process of the roller extrusion granulator absorbs the advanced
technology of similar models at home and abroad, and integrates the powder
extrusion molding of the granulator, crushing, and screening of finished products,
with compact structure and easy operation. The powder is continuously and
uniformly added from the hopper to the top of the two rollers.

Under the action of continuous rotation of the extrusion roll, the powder is bitten
into the two rollers and extruded into sheet material. Then the sheet material falls
off under the centrifugal action and its own gravity, and reaches the shaping wheel
with toothed claws, which is struck and separated into particles.

Advantage of Extrusion Granulation Technology

1.  The extrusion granulation technology does not need dry or cool process.

2.  The fertilizer granulation rate is high and the final granules are rough, but with
high solidity.

3.  The granulation technology can be used to produce compound fertilizer with low
concentration.

The compound fertilizer granulation was completed by extrusion granulation

technology, and the material was directly pressed into granules under normal
temperature. Using ammonium bicarbonate, urea, ammonium chloride and
ammonium phosphate as raw materials, the compound fertilizer produced by
extrusion granulation technology has the characteristics of high strength and good
sustained release performance, and the fertility can be increased by about 20%. In
addition, there is no loss of material properties and nutrients in granulation process
by using the mechanical physical extrusion technology.

Wet Granulation

Compared with the dry granulation, wet granulation produces granular fertilizer
with a higher moisture so the finished product should be dried, cooled and
solidified. In wet granulation process, the most commonly used fertilizer
granulation equipment is rotary drum granulator machine, disc pan granulator
machine and tower spray granulation equipment.

Rotary Drum Granulation Technology

Rotary drum granulator machine is a key equipment in fertilizer manufacturing

industry, it can produce both high and low-density compound fertilizer. The
principle of rotary drum granulation process is that all the raw materials roll and
solidify in the drum so that the raw materials could be fully react with each other, so
the material particles are granulated into compound fertilizer balls under the
pressing force of constant rotation.

Features of Rotary drum granulation technology

 It is widely used in large scale compound fertilizer production

plant.
 It can be used to produce many kinds of compound fertilizer
such as DAP(Diammonium phosphate), MAP(mono-
ammonium phosphate), Ammonium Sulfate, TSP(Triple
super phosphate), SSP(single super phosphate) and Urea etc.

Disc Pan Granulation Technology

The principle of disc pan granulator machine is that all the mixed materials rolling
in a disc pan, with the addition of binder and water to make different sizes of
fertilizer granules.

Features of disc pan granulation technology

 With small budget, cost 30% less, with production capacity

from 1-4t/h.
 Wild application in many fields, such as fertilizer, pharmacy,
feeds, coal etc.
 High granulation rate.

Spray Granulation Technology

Spray granulation technology is widely used to produce urea with high nitrogen
content more than 20%. The liquid urea is sprayed by high pressure pump into the
compound fertilizer granulation equipment to improve the nitrogen content during
the granulation process.
The spray granulation technology costs more than the other granulation
technology, but the end product is often more expensive because of its high nutrient
content.

Tower Granulation Technology

Tower granulation technology is a typical wet granulation method. The raw

materials are all liquid solution. The principle of this tower granulation technology
is all the melting materials mixed in a certain ratio are sprayed from a high point
and become granules during falling. It is mainly to produce high concentration of
NPK fertilizer.

Compared with the common NPK fertilizer manufacturing process, the high tower
granulation technology has the following features:

 Tower granulation directly use urea or ammonium nitrate

melt, reduce the spray process, and solid urea packaging,
transportation, crushing, simplify the production process.
 Granulation process using the heat energy of molten urea or
ammonium nitrate, material moisture content is very low, do
not need drying process, greatly save energy consumption.
 The qualified rate of particles is high, so there is almost no
return material in the production process.
 No waste emissions, it is a clean production process.

Compound Fertilizer Granulation Process 

There are four basic compound fertilizers NPK, SSP(single super phosphate),
DAP(Di-ammonium phosphate), and SOP(single super phosphate).

NPK Fertilizer Granulation Process

The NPK fertilizer production line can be customized, the capacity varies from
20,000 tons to 100,000 tons per year. NPK fertilizer granulation plant is designed for
maximum flexibility in the use of raw materials, including Urea.
SSP (single super phosphate) Granulation Process

Raw materials for SSP production are rock phosphate and sulfuric acid, where rock
phosphate is a natural deposit of calcium phosphate containing fluorine and
carbonate.

Phosphate Rock + Sulfuric Acid --> Single Super phosphate

Key steps in SSP granulation process:

 Crushing the rock phosphate to the correct size.

 Accurately metering the phosphate rock, sulfuric acid and
water.
  Mixing all the materials together thoroughly.
 Right time for the reactions.

After fully reaction, all the materials should be transferred into the rotary drum
granulator and then screened by screening machine to get the qualified product.

The single super phosphate contains 16% P2O5 in water soluble form and has
traditionally been very popular in agriculture. Being as one of the cheapest forms of
phosphate, it can supply sulphate and calcium for many crops and pasture needs
and helps maintain soil structure.

DAP (Di Ammonium Phosphate) Manufacturing Process

DAP is a type of fertilizer that is rich in phosphate. The main raw material for DAP
production is the phosphate ore form phosphate rock. The N:P ratio of 1:1 makes
the effective source of nitrogen and phosphate dissolves quickly in soil to release
plant-available phosphate and ammonium.

The phosphoric acid is made from the reaction between the phosphate rock and
sulfuric acid, which is then reacted with ammonia in tanks to form a slurry, the
slurry is then processed into rotary drum granulator to produce granular DAP. All
DAP granules need to dry in rotary drum dryer to get rounded and polished.

SOP (Sulphate of potash) Granulation Process

SOP fertilizer can supply two essential nutrients K2O (50%) and S (18%). Its nutrient
content is about 41% potassium and 18% sulfur.

SOP are used in crops that are sensitive to chloride, such as tea, photo, orange,
apple and vegetables, or fertilizer burn like tobacco, pineapple or avocado, or
where sulfur is deficient. It lowers soil salt index. The SOP granulation technology is
not difficult. In general, the materials for SOP are powder and other adhesives in a
certain ratio.

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