superphosphate

superphosphate

1. a mixture of the diacid calcium salt of orthophosphoric acid Ca(H₂PO₄)₂ with calcium sulphate and small quantities of other phosphates: used as a fertilizer

2. a salt of phosphoric acid formed by incompletely replacing its acidic hydrogen atoms; acid phosphate; hydrogen phosphate

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

superphosphate

[¦sü·pər′fä‚sfāt]

(materials)

The most important phosphorus fertilizer, derived by action of sulfuric acid on phosphate rock (mostly tribasic calcium phosphate) to produce a mix of gypsum and monobasic calcium phosphate.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Superphosphate

 

the most widely used mineral phosphorus fertilizer. The phosphorus in superphosphate is usually in the form of monocalcium phosphate and free phosphoric acid. The fertilizer contains gypsum and other admixtures, such as iron and aluminum phosphates, silica, and fluorine compounds. Superphosphate is obtained by the treatment of natural phosphates—apatite or phosphorite—or an apatite concentrate with sulfuric acid according to the reaction

Ca₃(PO₄)₂ + 2H₂SO₄ = Ca(H₂PO₄)₂ + 2CaSO₄

Double superphosphate is derived by treating apatite or phosphorite with phosphoric acid.

Several types of superphosphate are produced industrially in the USSR. Ordinary superphosphate is a gray powder that is virtually noncaking and of average drillability; in fertilizer it provides 14–19 percent P₂O₅ that is available to plants. Granular superphosphate is derived from powdered superphosphate by adding moisture to it and rolling it into granules, usually 2–4 mm in diameter, in rotating drums. The granular type has a high drill-ability. Double superphosphate contains 45–48 percent available P₂O₅ and very little gypsum, and is usually made in granular form. Ammoniated superphosphate contains, in addition to 14–19.5 percent available P₂O₅, not less than 1.6 percent ammonia. Manganese superphosphate contains 1.5–2.5 percent manganese, boronated superphosphate contains 0.1–0.3 percent boron, and molybdic superphosphate contains 0.1 percent molybdenum.

Superphosphate is used in all soils as a basic presowing fertilizer; it may be applied at the time of sowing, in which case granular superphosphate is the best type, or for top dressing. It is especially effective in alkaline and neutral soils. In acidic soil the phosphoric acid of the fertilizer is converted into aluminum and iron phosphates, which are difficult for plants to assimilate. In this case, the effectiveness of the superphosphate is increased by mixing it with phosphorite flour, limestone, chalk, and humus before application to limed fields.

REFERENCES

Prianishnikov, D. N. Izbr. soch., vol. 1. Moscow, 1965.
Spravochnik po udobreniiam, 3rd ed. Moscow, 1964.
Superfosfat. Moscow, 1969. (Translated from English; edited by A. A. Sokolovskii.)

G. A. CHEREMISINOV

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.