Grantee Research Project Results

Final Report: UreaHS—A New Humic-Based Enhanced Efficiency Urea Fertilizer

EPA Contract Number: 68HERC25C0033
Title: UreaHS—A New Humic-Based Enhanced Efficiency Urea Fertilizer
Investigators: Lamar, Rich
Small Business: Huma Inc.
EPA Contact: Richards, April
Phase: I
Project Period: December 16, 2024 through June 15, 2025
Project Amount: $100,000
RFA: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - Phase I (2025) RFA Text |  Recipients Lists
Research Category: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)

Description:

This project focused on the commercial production and field testing of a novel urea/humate fertilizer called Urea^HS.  This fertilizer combines the high N concentration of urea with the demonstrated plant biostimulant capabilities of ore-derived humic substances.  The Urea^HS has a N content of 38.5% and a humic acid concentration of about 13%.  There were three primary objectives to be addressed during this project.  These were: (1) to demonstrate the ability of the Bepex International LLC (Bepex) Solidaire, which is a jacketed wipe-film dryer, to melt the urea/humate mixture to a molten state; (2) demonstrate pastillation of the Urea^HS using the Solidaire to melt the urea/humate and introduce the molten urea/humate into pastillation equipment to produce Urea^HS in pastille form; and, (3) test the efficacy of the UreaHS in a field test to demonstrate that the amount of nitrogen could be lowered substantially, using the Urea^HS in place of urea as a corn N fertilizer, and obtain the same productivity (bushels of corn per acre). 

Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):

For the first objective, an NDA was secured with Bepex and the melting test was successfully run using a 75/25 mixture of urea and pulverized humate that had been dried to a moisture content of < 2%.  For this test, the jacket on the Solidiare (Figure 1) was heated, using super-heated steam, to a temperature of 154˚C.  During this test the molten urea/humate mix was observed to begin to foam after several minutes.  The foam would make the mixture impossible to pump, under pressure, to be introduced into pastillation equipment.  Thus, the decision was made to produce a granulated product for use in field testing, using other Bepex materials handling equipment.  For this process, initially, both jacket sections of the Solidiare were heated to approximately 155˚C.  This worked at first and the molten Urea^HS flowed readily from the end pipe.  However, after a few minutes the Urea^HS stopped flowing and it was found that the urea/humate mix being fed into the Solidaire was beginning to melt and solidify so that the feeding tube became clogged.  The solution was to lower the temperature of the first jacketed section of the Solidiare to 140˚C, to prevent the softening and solidification of the feed mixture. 

• Figure 1. The Bepex Solidiare wiped film dryer was used to melt the urea/humate mixture.  It is the horizontal tube with open inlet on the left side to accept the material to be dried, or in this case melted. The Solidiare has two jacketed sections which can receive either steam or oil to be heated.  The outlet, on the right side, was modified to deliver the molten Urea^HS directly to the solidification unit.  The copper tubing was used to heat this section of pipe so that the Urea^HS would not solidify in the pipe.

After this adjustment the molten urea/humate mix flowed freely and was collected in 3” x 12” diameter cake tins in which it was allowed to cool and solidify (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Overview of Solidiare melting the urea/humate mix and collecting the molten UreaHS in a cake pan (a), molten urea flowing into a cake pan (b) and, the solidified Urea^HS removed from the cake pan prior to breaking it up (c).

The chunks of UreaHS were then fed into a pulverizer and ground to a powder.  The powder was then fed into a compactor and from the compactor into a granulator to produce a 1-4 mm irregular granule.  In order to make material that could be used in the field investigation, Bepex produced about 450  lbs of the 1-4 mm chip.  The resulting Urea^HS had 38.5% N and a humic acid concentrtion of 13.5%.

 

 

 

Conclusions:

Although the field investigation will not be able to run during the SBIR contract time, Huma still plans to run the study at Agricenter International located in Memphis, TN.  The test will be run on corn, as planned.