Fertilizer Project

Chapter one
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background
Agriculture has been old as mankind since it is through it
man sustains life. Agriculture is a means in which land is cultivated
for crops and animals for human consumption. The systems of
agriculture have gone through different revolutions as technology
advances. And this revolution is unnecessary in the past because
there was less population to feed. As the world population grew,
it became very necessary for better practice to be sought. And of
course, these practices have tremendously improved as compared
to what is obtainable in the past. Of all the improvements, the
system of crops cultivation has taken a paradigm shift from land
cultivation which requires soil to soiless system which requires
less soil without nutrient.
In the last four decades, there have been urbanization and
industrialization in the city center which has made less or no land
available for agriculture, for example Lagos State. And indeed,
there was also large influx of people into the city thereby creating
much food scarcity and to overcome this kind of problem, in
which more food can be produced in the city, alternative system
of agriculture to traditional agriculture which requires vast land
needs to be sought. It is of note also that, soil agriculture requires
much waters, land and nutrients, so innovative system such as
soiless agriculture will solve farming problem in the city. It can as
well name ‘future urban agriculture’.
For soiless agriculture, some carefully selected fertilizers are
required to drive the innovation. Since soil is not expected to
supply nutrients to the crops as in the case of conventional
agriculture, mineral fertilizers are needed to supply nutrients to
crops along side with water. Some fertilizers that are generally
found application in soil agriculture would not be suitable to
soiless agriculture. For example, ammonium salts or urea
fertilizers release nitrogen only after nitration by the soil micro-
organisms. So, fertilizers used for soiless agriculture will be sort of
fertilizers that make nutrients available directly to the crops after
dissolving in water.
For these reasons, the following table displays some examples of
soiless fertilizer and the respective nutrients supplied.
Table 1.1
FERTILIZER NUTRIENT SUPPLIED
Calcium Nitrate Calcium, Nitrogen
Potassium Nitrate Potassium, Nitrogen
Potassium Sulphate Potassium, Sulphur
Magnesium Sulphate Magnesium, Sulphur
Potassium Phosphate Potassium, Phosphorus
There are others which fall under micro-nutrient fertilizers.

In this project, calcium nitrate, a soiless fertilizer would be a
subject of discussion. Calcium nitrate has been described in many
texts as an excellent source of calcium nutrient to the crops its
solubility in water. Most of the calcium compounds are insoluble
in water therefore making them unfit for the source of calcium to
the crops. It also gives nitrogen directly to the crops through
nitrate without undergoing nitration, the problem encountered in
applying ammonium salts or urea fertilizers, so making these
fertilizers unfit for soiless farming(1).
Furthermore, some important techniques/tools in chemical
engineering will be utilized to demonstrate industrial production
of calcium nitrate. Based on the theoretical knowledge about
properties of reaction mechanisms of calcium nitrate, kinetic
model, which is the simplification of the real world would be
obtained through kinetic modeling. Here, optimization of the
production of calcium nitrate will be done through the process
variables obtained during laboratory experiment of the
production in order to explore the variables that give maximum
yield of calcium nitrate.
1.2 Problem Statement

Kinetic modeling and optimization of fertilizers production for
soiless agriculture involves three core areas that are also peculiar
to the industrial techniques namely production, optimization of
the production and kinetic modeling. The production of the
calcium nitrate involves the neutralization of calcium carbonate
with nitric acid. In this project, ground limestone, which can be
sourced locally and 50-56% concentrated of nitric acid will be
used to produce calcium nitrate in the laboratory. The conditions
that affect neutralization and heterogeneous reactions will be
studied in relation to the yield of the calcium nitrate since the
reactants involved are of different phases and generally the action
of acid on solid is mostly exothermic. Furthermore, optimization
of the production of the calcium nitrate is done with Minitab
software using the values obtained from the laboratory
experiment.
Lastly, kinetic modeling will be established using reaction
mechanism of calcium nitrate. Ordinary differential equation and
steady state approximation will serve as tools/techniques to
achieve modeling objective.
1.4 Aim and Objective

The aim and objective of this project is:-
To produce soiless fertilizer under laboratory conditions.
To optimize the production of soiless fertilizer.
To derive kinetic model for the reaction mechanism.
To use the model developed for design purpose.
1.5 Scope of the Work

The scope of this project is limited to the laboratory production of
calcium nitrate which is one of the soiless fertilizers. Its choice is
based on the availability of abundant limestone in Nigeria which
serves as base raw material.
1.6 Significant of the Study

It is to provide fertilizer industry the needed research work that
would enable them to embak on the production of calcium
nitrate. This will boost soiless farming in a city like Lagos, which
will lead directly to higher agriculture production.

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Chapter one

FERTILIZER NUTRIENT SUPPLIED

Calcium Nitrate Calcium, Nitrogen

Potassium Nitrate Potassium, Nitrogen

Potassium Sulphate Potassium, Sulphur

Magnesium Sulphate Magnesium, Sulphur

Potassium Phosphate Potassium, Phosphorus

There are others which fall under micro-nutrient fertilizers.

1.2 Problem Statement

1.4 Aim and Objective

1.5 Scope of the Work

1.6 Significant of the Study

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