Patent Application
20220274896
Embodiments of the present invention is directed to fertilizers and manufacture thereof, and more particularly incorporation of biological agents into fertilizers.
Agricultural inorganic fertilizers typically include a base comprising at least one of three primary inorganic nutrients—nitrogen (N), phosphate (P), and potassium (K). These fertilizers are identified by their NPK rating in which the N value is the percentage of elemental nitrogen by weight in the fertilizer, and the P and K values represent the amount of oxide in the form of P2O5 and K2O that would be present in the fertilizer if all the elemental phosphorus and potassium were oxidized into these forms. The N—P—K proportions or concentration vary across fertilizer types and user needs.
For example, the base fertilizer can comprise a phosphate fertilizer (such as monoammonium phosphate (“MAP”), diammonium phosphate (“DAP”), a potash fertilizer (such as muriate of potash (“MOP”)) or other potassium-based fertilizer, or a nitrogen-based fertilizer such as a fertilizer containing urea. The fertilizers can also include any combination of secondary nutrients and/or micronutrients. The secondary nutrients can include sulfur compounds, calcium, and/or magnesium, and the micronutrients can include iron, manganese, zinc, copper, boron, molybdenum, and/or chlorine. The micronutrients and/or secondary nutrients can be added to solution in their elemental form, or as compounds, such as a salt.
Stressed areas, such as those areas where soil conditions are highly saline, experience frequent drought or other stresses, often cannot support agriculture or have materially reduced yield levels. In these conditions, application of fertilizers alone may be insufficient to render the stressed area profitable. Much of the world is covered by such stressed areas, and therefore a solution to make these areas suitable for the profitable cultivation of crops is needed.
According to embodiments of the invention, biological-laden or -inoculated fertilizer granules includes a dry fertilizer granule, and particularly an N—P—K based fertilizer (in which each of N, P, and K range from 0 to 100% relative content of each element), and a biological coating containing one or more biological agents or compositions, or “biologicals”, applied to the dry fertilizer granule. In some aspects, the biological agents or compositions, or “biologicals,” can comprise, for example, one or more biological chemicals, plant and other extracts, microbial agents, and/or other organisms. In some embodiments, the biological agent can comprise microorganisms, including, but not limited to, one or more species from a bacterial genus such as, but not limited to, Bacillus, Rhizobium, Azobacter, and Azospirillum, one or more species from a fungal genus or fungi such as Aspergillus, Mycorhizzae, Beauveria, Metarhizium, and Trichoderma, and/or one or more species from a yeast genus such as Saccharomyces, Schizosaccharomyces, Sporobolomyces, Candida, Trichosporon, and Rhodosporidium. In other cases, the biological agent can comprise agents that are not microorganisms, including, but not limited to, small molecule and peptide-based compositions such as metabolites, peptides, lipopetides, hormones, peptide hormones, siderophores, glycopepetides, humates, surfactants, vitamins, enzymes, amino acids and amino acid derivatives, and/or nucleic acids and nucleic acid derivatives. Optionally, in addition to the biological agent, antimicrobial agents, pesticides, insecticides, fungicides, surfactants, emulsifiers, pigments, dyes, and/or other additives can be combined with the biological agent(s) in a biological composition.
In some embodiments, the biological coating is formed from a material or composition including an aqueous solution or dispersion and one or more biologicals dispersed throughout. In other embodiments, the biological coating material includes an oil-based carrier and one or more biologicals dispersed throughout. In yet other embodiments, the biological coating material contains a water-in-oil or an oil-in-water emulsion of an oil and a solution of water and one or more biologicals. In other words, the biologicals, and optional other additives, are dispersed in water to form a biological composition, and then the dispersion or solution is emulsified with oil, such that the biologicals are encapsulated by the water phase.
A biological-laden fertilizer can be made by a process including providing a plurality of granulated pellets comprising a fertilizer, mixing the plurality of granulated pellets, and spraying or otherwise coating the plurality of granulated pellets with such a biological-containing coating material.
The above summary of embodiments of the invention is not intended to describe each illustrated embodiment or every implementation of the present invention. The figures and the detailed description that follow more particularly exemplify these embodiments.
Embodiments of the invention may be more completely understood in consideration of the following detailed description in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
While the invention is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the intention is not to limit the invention to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Biologicals, such as, but not limited to, biological chemicals, plant and other extracts, microbial agents, and/or other living organisms, such as, for example, endophytes, fungi, yeasts, and bacteria, can be added to dry fertilizers to improve plant health and overall crop yield. The biologicals are added to fertilizer in the form of an emulsion, so that the biological can be suspended in water without undesirably increasing the moisture content of the fertilizer beyond a critical relative humidity at which the fertilizer is more likely to cake. Use of fertilizers containing such biologicals can be sufficient to render stressed areas more profitable.
The granulation system illustrated in
One or more of these biologicals (or others and/or other additives) can be dissolved into or suspended in the carrier medium in vessel 6. In embodiments, vessel 6 can be a shear mixer, emulsifier, roller, or shaker/agitator, for example.
In an embodiment, the biological coating solution or dispersion that is formed in vessel 6 is sprayable via spray station 8. Biological spray station 8 can be used to sparge/spray the solution onto dry fertilizer. Biological spray station 8 can be positioned within or proximate dry fertilizer at granulation drum 10, according to the embodiment shown in
In one embodiment, the system includes one or more spray stations 8 for application of a biological solution in combination with one or more other additives. For example, spray stations 8 can be used to apply a de-dust oil to fertilizer granules in addition to a solution containing biological, either sequentially or simultaneously. Alternatively, as discussed above, the solution can comprises an aqueous based solution, an oil-based solution, or an emulsion, such as an emulsion of water-encapsulated biologicals emulsified with an oil.
Biologicals applied accordingly have the potential to enhance the growth and development of plants as well as function as a bio-pesticide to treat plant pests, such as, for example, plant diseases. Application rates of the liquid-biological mixture can be in the range of 1-10 L/dry ton of fertilizer, for example. In some embodiments, the biological-inoculated composition can be applied to dry fertilizer in the range of 2-3 L/dry ton of fertilizer. After application, fertilizers can possess various densities of CFUs. In one embodiment, fertilizers can be sprayed with biological spray station 8 until they have a biological concentration of 106 CFU/g or more.
Once the fertilizer has been treated with biologicals, it can be applied to soil via broadcasting, banding or other potential means. The fertilizer acts as the delivery method for introducing biologicals to the soil. Once in the soil, the biological targets the plant rhizosphere and reduces the plant stress in one or more of several ways such as in the following descriptions. For example, biologicals can compete with pathogens for nutrients at the root surface. Further, biologicals can produce toxins that inhibit growth and reproduction of pathogens. Biologicals can produce stimulatory compounds absorbed by the roots of plants, and can also parasitize fungal pathogens, insects, or nematodes.
One example of potash fertilizer manufacturing process shown in
In the embodiment shown in
Mixing system 200 includes pipe 206out, which is the outlet of a vessel. Pipe 206out is connected to sprayers 207. Sprayers 207 deliver biological coating solution 208 which can comprise, as discussed above, an aqueous-based solution or dispersion, an oil-based solution or dispersion, or an emulsion of oil or water and biological-laden water (e.g. inoculated water-in-oil or -in-water, or inoculated water-in-oil-in-water), onto fertilizer 210. While sprayers 207 are spraying biological spray 208, mixer 212 agitates fertilizer 210, to promote even distribution of biological coating solution 208 onto the pellets of fertilizer 210.
In some embodiments, oil 306 can be a dedusting oil, such as those described in WIPO Publication No. WO 2015/026806, entitled SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR ADDITION OF BENEFICIAL AGRICULTURAL, BIOLOGICAL, AND/OR DEDUSTING ADDITIVES TO GRANULAR FERTILIZERS, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, and/or can comprise oil having the trade name Dustrol, Dustrol Plus, VM160, N100, N150, N300 etc., mineral oils, vegetable oils, optionally inoculated with biologicals.
In embodiments, the biological-inoculated liquid or aqueous portion of the emulsion can have a biological concentration equal to or greater than 109 CFU/g. For example, the biologicals 302 are present in the emulsion 310 at a final concentration of about 103 to about 1012 CFU (colony forming units)/g, and more particularly about 106 to about 109 CFU/g. The coating is then added to the fertilizer, such as, for example 4.1 mls of an aqueous solution comprising biologicals can be added to every 1 lb of fertilizer, or alternatively, about 1012 to about 1015 CFU/L can be added to liquid fertilizer to achieve the above final target concentration.
According to this embodiment, water 300 is inoculated with biologicals 302. Optional other additives, such as those described above, can also be dispersed within water 300. An oil, such as mineral oil, load-out oil, and/or another oil source, is obtained and used as oil 306 such that the inoculated water solution 304 is mixed with the oil 306 using a high-shear mixer or blender to create water particles or pockets (containing biological and optional other additives) inside the oil. In an embodiment, the water particles can comprise 30-80% of the total emulsion. In this way, the critical relative humidity of the fertilizer is no changed or increased, thereby reducing the probability of caking. Because inoculating oils 306 with biologicals 302 directly can hinder the viability of the biological, suspending the biological in water in an oil-in water or water-in-oil emulsion can provide increased stability and/or efficacy. As such, it is often desirable to use water to protect the health of the biological 302, but reduce the volume of water 300 on the fertilizer that is subsequently coated by emulsion 310 by suspending the biological-laden water solution 304 in oil.
Various embodiments of systems, devices and methods have been described herein. These embodiments are given only by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. It should be appreciated, moreover, that the various features of the embodiments that have been described may be combined in various ways to produce numerous additional embodiments. Moreover, while various materials, dimensions, shapes, configurations and locations, etc. have been described for use with disclosed embodiments, others besides those disclosed may be utilized without exceeding the scope of the invention.
Persons of ordinary skill in the relevant arts will recognize that the invention may comprise fewer features than illustrated in any individual embodiment described above. The embodiments described herein are not meant to be an exhaustive presentation of the ways in which the various features of the invention may be combined. Accordingly, the embodiments are not mutually exclusive combinations of features; rather, the invention may comprise a combination of different individual features selected from different individual embodiments, as understood by persons of ordinary skill in the art.
Any incorporation by reference of documents above is limited such that no subject matter is incorporated that is contrary to the explicit disclosure herein. Any incorporation by reference of documents above is further limited such that no claims included in the documents are incorporated by reference herein. Any incorporation by reference of documents above is yet further limited such that any definitions provided in the documents are not incorporated by reference herein unless expressly included herein.
The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/324,473, filed Jan. 6, 2017, which is a national phase entry of PCT Application No. PCT/US2015/039302, filed Jul. 7, 2015, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/021,552 filed Jul. 7, 2014, each of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62021552 | Jul 2014 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15324473 | Jan 2017 | US |
| Child | 17674754 | US |
