Magazine: 500 Jan-Feb 2021

A complete listing of all articles and news items that appeared in Fertilizer International during 2020

Fertilizer coatings play an integral role in minimising the degradation of fertilizers during transport, handling and storage. Increasingly, customers also want to know if the coatings they buy are sustainable too. But what exactly is a sustainable fertilizer coating – and how can its sustainability be properly defined and measured? Lucas Moore , director of coatings technology at Arkema-ArrMaz, weighs up these thorny questions and provides some clear-cut answers.

Nouryon is introducing a new anionic ‘gemini’ collector for phosphate flotation under the product name Phospholan G10. These novel dimeric reagents offer distinct performance advantages over conventional fatty acid collectors.

Prayon’s Hadrien Leruth and Marc Sonveaux highlight the latest phosphate production developments at the company – and share their experience of how innovative ideas are validated, industrialised and turned into commercially-viable technologies.

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues, we look ahead at fertilizer industry prospects for the next 12 months, including the key economic and agricultural drivers likely to shape the market during 2021.

Market Insight courtesy of Argus Media

The quality of finished fertilizers can be maintained during transport, handling and storage by protecting the surfaces of granules and prills with coating agents. We survey the range of anti-caking, water repellent and anti-dusting additives currently on the market.

Despite the unprecedented economic woes inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the global MOP industry still managed to endure in 2020, says Andy Hemphill , senior editor for potash at ICIS Fertilizers, thanks to its ‘essential’ status.

No one in this industry should ever need a reminder that commodity markets are cyclical. The corollary of that is – every once in a while – markets can, and will, abruptly change direction.

The degradation of fertilizer granules during handling and storage can be economically-costly and therefore needs to be avoided. Preventing unwanted caking and dust formation requires tailor-made coatings, as Kim ten Wolde, product manager at Holland Novochem, explains.