Effect of Humidity on NPK Fertilizer Drying |
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| Authors: | G.M. Walker T.R.A. Magee C.R. Holland M.N. Ahmad N. Fox N.A. Moffatt |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemical Engineering , The Queen's University of Belfast , Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT9 5AG, UK;2. Irish Fertilizer Industries Ltd , Herdman Channel Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT3 1AP, UK |
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| Abstract: | ABSTRACT The drying process within rotary coolers during the manufacture of granular NPK fertilizer plays an important role in the production of fertilizer granules possessing both a low moisture content and low caking propensity. A theory for fertilizer drying has been developed which takes into account the low critical relative humidity of complex fertilizer found at high temperature. The theory proposes that the gradient between the partial vapour pressure of moisture in the air and the vapour pressure moisture adjacent to the surface of the fertilizer granule, is the rate controlling stage in the drying of hot granular fertilizer rather than the internal diffusion of moisture within the particle. |
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| Keywords: | fertilizer drying rotary coolers critical relative humidity humidity data |
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