化肥:氮/钾/磷 (zz from goofiz)

钾
Potash is mined from below ground. The potash source runs from Sask. all the way down to Michigan. But, it gets deeper in the ground and cannot be mined by hard rock mining machines as it get further south. It's an ore product that looks like iron ore rocks that's dug out of the ground. There is some product that is solution mined and uses lots of energy and water, such as the old Noranda mine in Sask., and Kalium's solution mine in Michigan. They are too deep for conventional mining, so only option is to use solution mining methods. But, most of the potash is mined using big mining machines, and then the raw ore product is brought to the surface for the above ground process of producing a potasium fertilizer called potash. The raw ore product is crushed, washed,and the potasium product refined down to 60% K2O. Thats why the its sold as 0-0-60, and Kalium's solution mined product- 0-0-62,
or 62% potash. The rest is junk materials, and salt. The first "0" is the nitrogen content, 2nd "0" is phosphate content, last number is potash content.

POT,MOS

氮
ALL nitrogen fertilzers start with the raw material of natural gas. The natural gas is converted into NH3 and sold as anhydrous ammonia 82-0-0 fertilizer, or converted further
into urea [46-0-0]fertilizer or ammmonia nitrate fertilizer grade [34-0-0].

In China, the internally produced nitrogen fertilizer starts with coal.

Coal and/or natural gas provide the carbon for the CO to CO2 shift that is part of the ammonia process. This shift allows the oxygen to be removed from steam (H2O) to then let the remaining hydrogen to be combined with nitrogen to make NH3.

AGU,TRA

磷
Phosphate fertilizer is made by mining the raw phosphate rock, then processing it. Major sources of phosphate rock are in Florida [IMC and Cargill, now called Mosaic CO] East Coast USA [PCS], Ontario Canada [Agrium]. All of the raw phosphate ore is dug out of the ground, usually by strip mining process. The process uses lots of water, chemicals and energy. Major problem right now is the cost of energy to manufacture the product. Major sources of phosphate are also imported into North America from offshore producers, such as Morroco.

I should also say that offshore producers of potash and nitrogen also exist, with major tonnages of each also being imported. It's truely a global market, with global supply chain affected by many things including energy costs, supply demand, transportation costs, and government policy. Check out the website of Agrium, PCS, Mosaic for information.

MOS,AGU



"the raw stuff is the right stuff."
POT is 'potash first'. AGU may be nitrogen heavy, does not control its raw materials as much, vulnerable to nat. gas as ongoing discussion about Alaska gas reveals.