When producing a high-quality product for crop nutrition, the consistency and integrity of fertilizer granules are critical. Granulation aids help achieve this by building granule mass, increasing crush strength, improving size distribution and reducing recycling volumes during manufacturing. The right granulation aid may also provide a range of secondary benefits that make the fertilizer product more marketable.
Granulation aids can also make granules more prone to crumbling due to moisture absorption, so binder selection is unique to the individual fertilizer, the type of granulation process, and the end-user exact needs. When selecting a granulation aid, key factors must be considered. In the Nov/Dec Fertilizer International issue, Arkema-ArrMaz’s North America Manager of Coating Technologies, Christina Konecki, outlines how to properly evaluate granulation aid performance by simulating the granulation process and measuring granule hardness and moisture absorption in the lab.
