in the interaction between university and industry; The production of environmentally friendly anti-cake urea fertilizer reached the stage of commercialization and export

According to the Public Relations report of  University of Tehran, Dr. Hossein Sabahi, a member of the Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies of the University and the executor of the Anti-Cake Urea Fertilizer Production Project, said in this regard: The researchers of the Faculty of New Sciencse and Technologies of University of Tehran  succeeded in introducing a completely environmentally friendly method for The production of anti-cake urea in the petrochemical production line was the first in the world. Currently, this product has reached the stage of commercialization, and Iran can export this product to the applicant countries with the mass production of this fertilizer.

The manager of the anti-cake urea fertilizer production project added: In the production of this fertilizer, natural nanoparticles that are completely compatible with the soil-plant system have been used to prevent the fertilizer from clumping, which, in addition to ease of use, has many environmental benefits.

Dr. Hossein Sabahi said: Until now, formaldehyde was used in petrochemicals to produce anti-caking urea fertilizer, but in the new composite fertilizer, only by replacing 20% ​​of formaldehyde with natural nanoparticles, the anti-caking property is 70%, the release rate of urea is about 16%, and the release of formaldehyde to the atmosphere is 22% less than usual urea. The results of DSC analysis also showed that adding innovative additives to urea increased the energy required for melting and decomposition of urea by 43% and 23%, respectively.
 

The faculty member of the Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies of University of Tehran added: Using natural nanoparticles instead of formaldehyde is also effective in maintaining the health of petrochemical workers and farmers because formaldehyde is a carcinogenic substance that is harmful to people's health in addition to the environment.

He mentioned heat resistance as one of the other benefits of manufactured fertilizer and added: This heat resistance reduces the percentage of biorat production in manufactured fertilizer and also reduces the emission of ammonia from it to the atmosphere while using it in the field.
 

The mass production of urea fertilizer with anti-cake and slow-release properties with a completely environment-friendly and eco-friendly method in the petrochemical production line is happening for the first time in the world, and this achievement, in addition to increasing the profit from sales, improves the standards. Product quality, environment and agriculture and increasing competitive advantage.

This project was a collaboration between Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, Science and Technology Park of University of Tehran and Pardis Petrochemical Company after 10 years of research work and 3 years of efforts for production and commercialization.

Urea fertilizer is widely used in Iran and the world as a nitrogen supply for annual plants including rice, corn, wheat, barley, sunflower, canola, safflower soybean, sugar beet, sugarcane and other annual crops . It is such that about 2 million tons are used annually in Iran and around 150 million tons in the world.

Regarding the importance of using nitrogen fertilizers, especially urea, in one-year crops, it can be said that if they are not used, the production of these plants may decrease to one-half and even one-third of their potential value, especially in the soils of dry regions such as Iran, which According to organic matter, they are weak

.Another noteworthy point is that one of Iran's main petrochemical exports to countries such as India and Brazil is urea fertilizer, so that the annual production of this fertilizer in Iran is 6.5 million tons, of which 4.5 million tons are exported annually after domestic consumption. .

Urea is widely used in the wood industry to make urea-formaldehyde resin glue. The use of this type of urea in the production of wood glue can increase the strength of the produced glue and also reduce the risk of releasing formaldehyde into the atmosphere. Another wide application of urea is as a catalyst in the automobile industry, one of the gases involved in the phenomenon of global warming and climate change, as well as threatening human health, is N2O, which is abundantly released into the atmosphere from the exhaust of diesel cars and ships.

Currently, water-soluble urea is used in car exhaust to convert this dangerous gas into safe N2 gas. But if the temperature rises to 240 degrees Celsius, urea is converted into biuret and cyanuric acid, and its catalytic properties are reduced, causing the release of carcinogenic substances in the air. The temperature has increased and no more dangerous substances are produced