Production and Characterization of Controlled Release Urea Using Biopolymer and Geopolymer as Coating Materials

Autor: Babar Azeem, Kuzilati KuShaari, Muhammad Naqvi, Lau Kok Keong, Mohammed Khaloofah Almesfer, Zakaria Al-Qodah, Salman Raza Naqvi, Noureddine Elboughdiri
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Polymers, Vol 12, Iss 2, p 400 (2020)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2073-4360
12020400
DOI: 10.3390/polym12020400
Popis: Synthetic polymers-based controlled release urea (CRU) leaves non-biodegradable coating shells when applied in soil. Several alternative green materials are used to produce CRU, but most of these studies have issues pertaining to nitrogen release longevity, process viability, and the ease of application of the finished product. In this study, we utilized tapioca starch, modified by polyvinyl alcohol and citric acid, as coating material to produce controlled release coated urea granules in a rotary fluidized bed equipment. Response surface methodology is employed for studying the interactive effect of process parameters on urea release characteristics. Statistical analysis indicates that the fluidizing air temperature and spray rate are the most influential among all five process parameters studied. The optimum values of fluidizing air temperature (80 °C), spray rate (0.13 mL/s), atomizing pressure (3.98 bar), process time (110 min), and spray temperature (70 °C) were evaluated by multi-objective optimization while using genetic algorithms in MATLAB®. Urea coated by modified-starch was double coated by a geopolymer to enhance the controlled release characteristics that produced promising results with respect to the longevity of nitrogen release from the final product. This study provides leads for the design of a fluidized bed for the scaled-up production of CRU.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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