Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corporation (PhilPhos) is a fertilizer company based in Makati, Metro Manila [1] which is partly-owned by the government of Nauru. Its headquarters is located at the Pacific Star Building [ 1 ] which was also built by the Nauru government.
Phosphate is also used in animal feed supplements, food preservatives, anti-corrosion agents, cosmetics, fungicides, ceramics, water treatment and metallurgy. The production of fertilizer is the largest source responsible for minerals mined for their phosphate content.
The construction industry is the number one user of phosphogypsum in 2020, with 10.5 Mt used as concrete set retarder and 3.5 Mt used in drywall. [13] It is also used as a chemical feedstock for producing sulfates , and as a soil conditioner similar to regular gypsum. [ 14 ]
The small island nation of Nauru and its neighbor Banaba Island, which used to have massive phosphate deposits of the best quality, have been mined excessively. Rock phosphate can also be found in Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Western Sahara, Navassa Island, Tunisia, Togo, and Jordan, countries that have large phosphate-mining industries.
The term phosphate is also used in organic chemistry for the functional groups that result when one or more of the hydrogens are replaced by bonds to other groups. These acids, together with their salts and esters , include some of the best-known compounds of phosphorus, of high importance in biochemistry , mineralogy , agriculture , pharmacy ...
The majority of the inorganic feed phosphates used in the EU and worldwide are calcium phosphates in different forms (mono-, di- and monodi-calcium phosphates) but also magnesium phosphates, sodium phosphates and even ammonium phosphates are used in animal nutrition. The end-product quality depends on the treatment and production process.
Low phosphate levels are an important limit to growth in a number of plant ecosystems. The vast majority of phosphorus compounds mined are consumed as fertilisers. Phosphate is needed to replace the phosphorus that plants remove from the soil, and its annual demand is rising nearly twice as fast as the growth of the human population.
The process was subsequently improved by reacting phosphate coprolites with sulfuric acid. Subsequently, other phosphate-rich deposits such as phosphorite were discovered and used. Soluble phosphate is an essential nutrient for all plants, and the availability of superphosphate revolutionised agricultural productivity.