Process for producing mineral fertilizer with coatings containing biological powders

Abstract

Powder coatings, for granular fertilizers that incorporate a dry or powder substrate including a biological additive, a fertilizer product including granules with said coating thereon, and processes for producing the fertilizer product with said coating. The fertilizer product includes a plurality of fertilizer granules, and a powdered biological agent covering an outer surface of the fertilizer granules. A tacking additive or adhesive can be incorporated to adhere the powdered biological agent to the outer surface of the fertilizer granules.

Description

[0001] UTILITY PATENT APPLICATION

[0002] PROCESS FOR PRODUCING MINERAL FERTILIZER WITH COATINGS CONTAINING BIOLOGICAL POWDERS

[0003] RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0004] The present disclosure claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 606,441, filed December 5, 2023, which is hereby fully incorporated by reference in its entirety.

[0005] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0006] The present disclosure describes the process of adhesion of biological powder substrates on the surface of mineral granular fertilizers. The biological powders act as soil biological activity inducers.

[0007] BACKGROUND

[0008] Traditionally, coatings have long been applied to mineral fertilizers to control dust from the detachment of material from the surface of the granules due to mechanical wear resulting from material handling and storage. One example of a commercially available dust control coating is DUSTROL®, available from Arkema.

[0009] Biological agents can be composed of fermentation products for the multiplication of microorganisms, multiplication of bacteria or fungi, co-products of the production and / or multiplication of these bacteria or fungi, organic compounds from biomass composting processes, algae extract, substrates for the multiplication of microorganisms based on plant extracts, starches, enzymes, amino acids, proteins, lignins, cellulose, starch, sucrose, and other sugars, in addition to carbon compounds such as biochar, peat, composted peat, fulvic acids, humic acids, humin. Biological agents are typically commercially available as a solid such as a powder or as a liquid. There remains a need for a mineral fertilizer coating that provides the advantages of biological agents.

[0010] SUMMARY

[0011] The present disclosure is directed to coatings, such as powder coatings, for granular fertilizers that incorporate a dry or powder substrate including a biological additive, a fertilizer product including granules with said coating thereon, and processes for producing the fertilizer product with said coating. In an embodiment, the powder substrate used in this process is a proprietary biological additive produced by the Company Microbiol Industria e Comercio LTDA. The additive, commercially available as ENZYFERT®, is generally composed by combination of mineral and organic compounds with another organic compound resulting from a proprietary process of composting and fermentation of microorganisms, said additive as described in U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2022 / 0024831 Al entitled “Use of a biological additive inducing microbiome for use in combination with mineral fertilizers,” incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The final material is thermic and physically treated to produce a very fine powder. Other suitable additives can include, for example, fermentation products for the multiplication of microorganisms, multiplication of bacteria or fungi, co-products of the production and / or multiplication of these bacteria or fungi, organic compounds from biomass composting processes, algae extract, substrates for the multiplication of microorganisms based on plant extracts, starches, enzymes, amino acids, proteins, lignins, cellulose, starch, sucrose, and other sugars, in addition to carbon compounds such as biochar, peat, composted peat, fulvic acids, humic acids, humin, or any combination thereof.

[0012] The powder substrate has a particle size of 50 pm or less, and a moisture content from about 0.5 wt% to about 50 wt%, and more particularly from about 1.5 wt% to about 25 wt%. The powder substrate is introduced into a mixing vessel, such as a drum mixer, containing a plurality of fertilizer granules, such as any of a variety of fertilizer NPK compositions, including phosphate fertilizers (e.g. monoammonium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, combinations thereof), nitrogen fertilizers (e.g. urea fertilizers), and / or potassium fertilizers (e.g. potash). Optionally, the granular fertilizers can contain one or more micronutrients, secondary nutrients, or additional primary nutrients.

[0013] In an example, the powder substrate containing a biological additive is added to the mineral fertilizer in a drum mixer, without the addition of any adhesive agent. In other examples, due to the coarse particle size characteristic of the inductor, electrostatic attraction alone is not enough to ensure uniform adhesion of the powder to the surface of the mineral fertilizer. To promote the adhesion of the powder inducer to the surface of the fertilizer, adhesive coating additives in the form of mineral oils, vegetable oils, waxes, and / or resins were added.

[0014] The above summary is not intended to describe each illustrated example or every implementation of the subject matter hereof. The figures and the detailed description that follow more particularly exemplify various examples.

[0015] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The disclosure may be more completely understood in consideration of the following detailed description of examples of the disclosure in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

[0017] FIG. l is a process flow diagram according to an embodiment of the disclosure; and FIGs. 2-8 are charts depicting test results according to embodiments of the disclosure.

[0018] While various examples are amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the intention is not to limit the claimed inventions to the particular examples described. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the claims.

[0019] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] A granular fertilizer product, according to embodiments of the disclosure, includes fertilizer granules that incorporate a dry or powder substrate including a biological additive. The granular fertilizer can include, for example, any of a variety of NPK (nitrogen-phosphorus- potassium) fertilizer compositions, including phosphate fertilizers (e.g. monoammonium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, triple super phosphate, etc., or combinations thereof), nitrogen fertilizers (e.g. urea fertilizers), and / or potassium fertilizers (e.g. potash, muriate of potash, sulfate of potash, etc. or combinations thereof). Optionally, the granular fertilizers can contain one or more micronutrients such as boron (B), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), and chlorine (Cl), one or more secondary nutrients such as calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S) in either elemental and / or sulfate form, one or more additional primary nutrients, or any combination thereof.

[0021] In an embodiment, the powder substrate used in this process is a proprietary biological additive produced by the Company Microbiol Industria e Comercio LTDA. The additive, commercially available as ENZYFERT®, is generally composed by combination of mineral and organic compounds with another organic compound, such as described in U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2022 / 0024831 Al entitled “Use of a biological additive inducing microbiome for use in combination with mineral fertilizers,” incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. More specifically, the biological additive can comprise a composition breakdown as follows: Total organic fraction of 89.00% (Organic Matter (37.94%); Organic Carbon (16.24%); Other (51.06%)), and total mineral fraction of 11.00% (Nitrogen (0.61%); Phosphorus (0.24%); Potassium (0.16%); Calcium (2.04%); Magnesium (0.24%); Sulfur (0.04%); Other (7.67%)). In embodiments, the powder substrate has a particle size of 50 pm or less, and a moisture content from about 0.5 wt% to about 50 wt%, and more particularly from about 1.5 wt% to about 25 wt%.

[0022] Optionally, an adhesive coating agent can be incorporated to assist with the adhesion of the powdered biological additive. The adhesive coating agent can comprise, for example, a liquid oil-based sticker additive, originally designed for coating of powdered fertilizers on the surface of granular fertilizers in blend facilities. The selection of the sticker additive was based on its physical chemical properties, such as viscosity, heating temperature for flux and application dosage, different solid:liquid ratios. Commercial sticker additives can include, for example, MICROSTICKER 2300 available from Arkema, MEGAMICRO available from Adfert. Several coating techniques have been considered to ensure the adhesion of the powder substrate to the surface of the fertilizers that preserved its biological activity inducer properties.

[0023] A process flowsheet of the industrial process according to an embodiment is presented in FIG. 1. In this embodiment, a simultaneous dosage of a powder substrate containing a biological additive and a granular fertilizer is weighed such that the biological additive is from 1 kg / ton of fertilizer up to 30 kg / ton of fertilizer (“kg / t”) is added to the ribbon or drum mixer and rotated. A tacking additive is added to the mixture in dosages from 1 kg / t of fertilizer up to 20 kg / t, depending on the desired dosage of powder substrate on the final product. The ratio of tacking additive to biological agent can be anywhere in a range of 0: 1 to 5.1, and more specifically, 0.1; 1:5; 1 :4; 1 :3; 1 :2; 1: 1; 2: 1; 3: 1; 4: 1; and 5: 1. The tacking additive could be a mineral oil or vegetal oil, wax or resin based. One embodiment, the tacking additive comprises a mineral based or mineral oil coating with viscosity between 120 - 220 cP at maximum 60 °C. The mixing time may vary from 5 seconds to 10 minutes, with or without heat.

[0024] In an example, and referring to FIGs. 2-4, a sulfur enhanced phosphate-based fertilizer (MAP) commercially available from the applicant as MicroEssentials® with 15% sulfur or MES15® combined with a powder substrate containing a biological additive (ENZYFERT) without a dust control agent was compared to MS 15® combined with ENZYFERT and a dust control agent (DUSTROL). Dust retention and emission were measured, as well as moisture absorption. Now referring to FIGs. 5-8, various fertilizer products (MAP, MES15® , MES9®) were used for a design of experiment in which the amounts and types of additives were varied, as well as the amount of powder substrate containing a biological additive (ENZYFERT), were varied. The control was the fertilizer granules (MAP, MES15® , MES9®) coated with DUSTROL 5012 at 2 kg / t, and no biological additive: The products coated and tested were as follows:

[0025]

[0026] The dust emission and retention were measured and compared. From the results shown in FIGs. 5-8, it appears that the MICROSTICKER additive outperforms both the DUSTROL and the MEGAMICRO on most fertilizer products with the powder substrate containing the biological additive.

[0027] The disclosure may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the essential attributes. Therefore, the illustrated examples should be considered illustrative and not restrictive in all respects. Any claims provided herein are to ensure adequacy of the present application for establishing foreign priority and for no other purpose. Various examples of systems, devices, and methods have been described herein. These examples are given only be way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the claimed disclosures. It should be appreciated, moreover, that the various features of the examples that have been described may be combined in various ways to produce numerous additional examples. Moreover, while various material, dimensions, shapes, configurations, locations, etc. have been described for use with disclosed examples, others besides those disclosed may be utilized without exceeding the scope of the claimed disclosures.

[0028] Persons of ordinary skill in the relevant arts will recognize that the subject matter hereof may comprise fewer features than illustrated in any individual example described above. The examples described herein are not meant to be an exhaustive presentation of the ways in which the various features of the subject matter hereof may be combined. Accordingly, the examples are not mutually exclusive combinations of features; rather, the various examples can comprise a combination of different individual features selected from different individual examples, as understood be persons of ordinary skill in the art. Moreover, elements described with respect to one example can be implemented in other examples even when not described in such examples unless otherwise noted.

[0029] Any incorporation of reference of documents above is further limited such that no claims included in the documents are incorporated by reference herein. Any incorporation by reference of documents above is yet further limited such that any definitions provided in the documents are not incorporated by reference herein unless expressly included herein.

[0030] For purposes of interpreting the claims, it is expressly intended that the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) are not to be invoked unless the specific terms “means for” or “step for” are recited in a claim.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A fertilizer product comprising: a plurality of fertilizer granules; and a powered biological agent covering an outer surface of the fertilizer granules.

2. The fertilizer product of claim 1, further comprising an adhesive agent for securing the powered biological agent to the outer surface of the fertilizer granules.

3. The fertilizer product of claim 1 or 2, wherein the powered biological agent has a mean particle size of 50 pm or less.

4. The fertilizer product of claim 1 or 2, wherein the powered biological agent has moisture content from about 0.5 wt% to about 50 wt.

5. The fertilizer product of claim 4, wherein the moisture content is from about 1.5 wt% to about 25 wt%.

6. The fertilizer product of claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of fertilizer granules comprises a phosphate fertilizer.

7. The fertilizer product of claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of fertilizer granules comprises a potash fertilizer.

8. The fertilizer product of claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of fertilizer granules comprises a urea fertilizer.

9. The fertilizer product of claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of fertilizer granules comprises a phosphate fertilizer.

10. The fertilizer product of claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of fertilizer granules further comprises a micronutrient selected from the group consisting of boron (B), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), chlorine (Cl), and combinations thereof, a secondary nutrient selected from the group consisting of calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S), and combinations thereof, or both.

11. The fertilizer product of claim 2, wherein a ratio of tacking additive to biological agent is 0: 1; 1 :5; 1:4; 1 :3; 1:2; 1 :1; 2: 1; 3: 1; 4: 1; or 5: 1.

12. A method of making a fertilizer product having a biological agent, the method comprising: blending granular fertilizer with a powdered biological additive; adding a tacking additive to the granular fertilizer and powdered biological additive; and mixing to adhere the powdered biological additive to an outer surface of the granules.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the biological additive is added in an amount of from about 1 kg / ton of fertilizer to about 30 kg / ton of fertilizer.

14. The method of claim 12 or 13, wherein the taking additive is added in an amount of from about 1 kg / ton of fertilizer to about 20 kg / ton of fertilizer.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein a ratio of tacking additive to biological agent is 0: 1; 1 :5; 1 :4; 1 :3; 1 :2; 1 : 1; 2: 1; 3:1; 4: 1; or 5: l.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the tacking additive comprises a mineral oil, a vegetal oil, a wax, or a resin-based material.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein a viscosity the tacking additive is from about 120 - 220 centipoise (cP) at 60 °C.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein a mixing time is from about 5 seconds to about 10 minutes, with or without heat.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein mixing is performed in a ribbon mixer or drum mixer that is rotated.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the powered biological agent has a mean particle size of50 pm or less.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the powered biological agent has moisture content from about 0.5 wt% to about 50 wt.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the moisture content is from about 1.5 wt% to about 25 wt%.

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