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The Fertilizer and Pesticides Industry:

Improvement of Resource Efficiency and Environmental Performance

Fertilizers and pesticides are a form of secondary chemical production. It is necessary to understand the fundamentals of basic chemicals and synthetic chemicals production in order to understand the pollution prevention opportunities in the fertilizer and pesticides industries. The most fundamental principle for environmental protection in these sectors is avoiding their use altogether through advanced agricultural practices. Many farms and companies that used expensive fertilizers and pesticides in the past have been able to drastically reduce and even eliminate fertilizer and pesticide use through methods such as crop rotation, selective livestock grazing, mixed crop plantings, integrated pest management and other "organic" strategies. In many cases this has enabled the growers to gain a new marketing advantage. This may not seem attractive to producers of fertilizers and pesticides at first, but in fact it can create new market opportunities in helping farmers manager their crops in a more systematic manner. Some companies have been able to change from chemical producers to agricultural consultants, and increase their profits.

When fertilizers and pesticides continue to be produced, the most important solution for environmental protection is reformulation of products with ingredients that are less toxic and more biodegradable. Many government programs around the world are helping industry to develop alternatives to traditional fertilizer and pesticide chemical formulations. The Basic Chemicals document describes several such programs and resources. Several popular pesticides are likely to be banned from international use in the next decade, so finding alternative products to produce is an important strategy. There are many associations and organizations concerned about pesticide use, but very few focused on pesticide production. Most of the companies in this sector are major chemical producers, so the basic chemicals industry is a primary reference area.

In production of fertilizers and pesticides, the best management practices from the basic and synthetic chemical industries are applicable. Prevention of leaks and spills is a major opportunity for savings. Solvents are often used heavily in production, and solvent substitution and recovery are important solutions for reducing lost materials and pollution. Solvent vapors can be recovered to reduce material losses and costs. Reduction of spills and leaks reduces the need for washing. There are many other opportunities to reduce wastewater through dry cleaning, water reduction and recycling.

The table below lists solutions to reduce waste and pollution in fertilizers and pesticide production. Company environmental programs should demonstrate that these options have been considered thoroughly. Direct links to online guides to pollution prevention in these industries follow the table.

Solutions to Increase Efficiency and Reduce Waste in Fertilizer Manufacturing Companies
  • Meter and control the quantities of active ingredients to minimize wastage.
  • Reuse by-products from the process as raw materials or as raw material substitutes in other processes.
  • Use automated filling to minimize spillage.
  • Use "closed" feed systems for batch reactors.
  • Use nitrogen blanketing where appropriate on pumps, storage tanks, and other equipment to minimize the release of toxic organics.
  • Give preference to nonhalogenated and nonaromatic solvents where feasible.
  • Use high-pressure hoses for equipment cleaning to reduce wastewater.
  • Use equipment washdown waters and other process waters (such as leakages from pump
  • seals) as makeup solutions for subsequent batches.
  • Use dedicated dust collectors to recycle recovered materials.
  • Vent equipment through a recovery system.
  • Maintain losses from vacuum pumps (such as water ring and dry) at low levels.
  • Return toxic materials packaging to the supplier for reuse or incinerate/destroy in an en-vironmentally acceptable manner.
  • Minimize storage time of off-specification products through regular reprocessing.
  • Find productive uses for off-specification products to avoid disposal problems.
  • Minimize raw material and product inventory to avoid degradation and wastage that could lead to the formation of inactive but toxic isomers or by-products.
  • Label and store toxic and hazardous materials in secure, bounded areas.

 

Source: Pesticides Manufacturing. The World Bank.

http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/essd/essd.nsf/GlobalView/PPAH/$File/72_pestm.pdf

 

Links

Technical Guides to Cleaner Production

Case Studies on Alternatives to Methyl Bromide: Technologies with low environmental impact explains a number of alternatives to this common pesticide.

The World Bank provides several chapters about this industry in the Pollution Abatement and Control Handbook.

Fertilizer production and marketing in Egypt : baseline study is an extensive report with good process information.

http://www.dec.org/pdf_docs/PNACE911.pdf

These three documents from the International Fertilizer Industry Association are major reports with extensive information:

Case Studies

Environmental assessment : Cargill fertilizer blending operation in Ukraine

http://www.dec.org/pdf_docs/PNACG752.pdf

Use of Tannery Sludge to Make High-Nitrogen Fertilizer

http://es.epa.gov/studies/cs403.html

Recovered Ammonia Used to Produce Commercial-Quality Fertilizer by 3M

http://es.epa.gov/studies/cs386.html

Process and Equipment Modification in the Pesticide Formulating Industry

http://es.epa.gov/studies/cs416.html

Dust Collecting Baghouses Reduce Hazardous Waste for Pesticide Company

http://es.epa.gov/studies/cs124.html

Cleaner Production Measures at the Chemical Manufacturing Plants

http://www.emcentre.com/unepweb/tec_case/chemical_24/process/p6.htm

Waste Minimization at a Pesticide Manufacturing Plant

http://www.emcentre.com/unepweb/tec_case/chemical_24/process/p23.htm

Saving Raw Materials and Reducing Emissions at a Fertilizer Plant

http://www.emcentre.com/unepweb/tec_case/chemical_24/process/p22.htm

Waste Minimization at a Fertilizer Plant

http://www.emcentre.com/unepweb/tec_case/chemical_24/house/h7.htm

Pollution Prevention Engineering Increases Fertilizer Production

http://www.epa.gov/docs/opptintr/p2home/p2case.htm#NUM3

Pesticides Formulator in India Introduces Cleaner Production

http://www.emcentre.com/unepweb/tec_case/chemical_24/recovery/r12.htm

The Envirosense site lists 29 case studies with some relation to fertilizer.

http://es.epa.gov/search97cgi/s97_cgi

Major Sites Devoted to the Fertilizer and Pesticides Industry and the Environment

Fertilizer and Environment is a collection of publications from the International Fertilizer Industry Association, including booklets of process descriptions for various fertilizer types, guidelines for fertilizer application in different regions, and specific environmental reports.

http://www.fertilizer.org/environ.htm

UNEP IE's OzonAction Programme has many publications and reports about elimination of methyl bromide, one of the most common pesticides used in food production.

http://www.uneptie.org/ozonaction.html

U.S. Office of Pesticide Programs is a major program about environmental protection from pesticides, with many resources.

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides

Fertilizer and Pesticide Industry Associations

Most fertilizers and pesticides are produced by major chemical companies. See the Basic Chemicals and Synthetic Chemicals documents for related trade associations.

International Fertilizer Industry Association

http://www.fertilizer.org

Western Crop Protection Association

http://www.wcpa.org

 

 

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