It is important for facilities to identify and clean up contaminated areas, within the proposed construction area, prior t
The MDA licenses agricultural pesticide dealers who
Anhydrous ammonia is used as a fertilizer by field corn and wheat growers. Anhydrous ammonia (or just called ammonia) provides nitrogen, an essential plant nutrient to maximize yields. Ammonia is also found naturally in the environment, the result of vegetation and animal waste decay.
What is anhydrous ammonia?
Anhydrous ammonia is used as a fertilizer by field corn and wheat growers. Anhydrous ammonia (or just called ammonia) provides nitrogen, an essential plant nutrient to maximize yields. Ammonia is also found naturally in the environment, the result of vegetation and animal waste decay.
Fertilizer ammonia is transported from the site of production via barge, pipeline, rail, and truck to fertilizer terminals or directly to dealers. To conserve space and make it easy to handle, ammonia is kept as a liquid under pressure in specially designed bulk tanks. The fertilizer dealer pumps liquid ammonia from their bulk tank into smaller mobile nurse tanks (illustration of common transfer setup). These nurse tanks are towed to a field and hitched up behind a tractor with a tool bar equipped with knives that inject the liquid ammonia into the soil. Once in the soil, ammonia will quickly react with soil moisture and change to a form the crop can use.
How is it transported and applied?
Fertilizer ammonia is transported from the site of production via barge, pipeline, rail, and truck to fertilizer terminals or directly to dealers. To conserve space and make it easy to handle, ammonia is kept as a liquid under pressure in specially designed bulk tanks. The fertilizer dealer pumps liquid ammonia from their bulk tank into smaller mobile nurse tanks (illustration of common transfer setup). These nurse tanks are towed to a field and hitched up behind a tractor with a tool bar equipped with knives that inject the liquid ammonia into the soil. Once in the soil, ammonia will quickly react with soil moisture and change to a form the crop can use.
Ammonia was initially used to produce explosives. After World War I ammonia was used as a fertilizer and in the manufacture of numerous other chemicals. It is also very commonly used as a refrigerant, often for food processing and cold storage facilities. Anhydrous ammonia has also been used of late as a precursor in the illegal production of the highly addictive drug, methamphetamine. Although it has many uses and the MDA is only responsible for it when used as an agricultural chemical, much of the response information here does carry over to those other uses.
