Phosphatic clay products for use as soil wetting agents, and methods of delivery of phosphatic clays to soil

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9512046-B2
Application number	US-201414473131-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2014
Priority date	Aug 16, 2012
Publication date	Dec 6, 2016
Grant date	Dec 6, 2016

Abstract

Phosphatic clays, and the use of phosphatic clays as a soil wetting agent. Phosphatic clays as wetting agents aid in the retention of water in sandy soil, and/or for prevention or reduction of leaching of nutrients. Due to its unique mineralogy, rheology, particle size and shape, phosphatic clay exhibits high water absorbing and retaining qualities as compared to other clay varieties. Further, phosphatic clay is readily available as a by-product of mining of phosphatic ore. The phosphatic clay wetting agents increases the effectiveness of the water applied to the soil, thereby reducing the amount of run-off, and reducing the amount of water needed to accomplish sufficient irrigation. The phosphatic clay wetting agents can be delivered to the soil as a sprinkle-on product, granule product, spray-on product, soil amendment, fertilizer or seed coating, or fertilizer composition.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Soil wetting granules for altering moisture retention qualities of soil, the soil wetting granules comprising:
a granulated agglomerate of phosphatic clay grains having an average clay grain particulate size of about 4 μm or less; and
a binder.

2. The soil wetting granules of claim 1 , wherein the phosphatic clay grains comprise clay and a material selected from the group consisting of mined phosphate mineral particulates, filler mineral grains, elemental metal particles, radionuclide particles, and combinations thereof.

3. The soil wetting granules of claim 1 , wherein the binder is selected from the group consisting of calcium lignosulfonate, corn syrup, poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA), PVA-based adhesives or glues, wheat starch, molasses, and combinations thereof.

4. The soil wetting granules of claim 1 , wherein the binder is present in an amount of about 0.1 wt % to about 20 wt %.

5. The soil wetting granules of claim 1 , wherein the granules have a granule size of about 0.1 mm to about 5 mm.

6. The soil wetting granules of claim 5 , wherein the granule size is from about 1.0 mm to about 2.0 mm.

7. A method of producing soil wetting granules, the method comprising:
providing a phosphatic clay source including phosphatic clay grains having an average clay grain particulate size of about 4 μm or less;
providing a binder material; and
agglomerating the phosphatic clay grains by granulating the phosphatic clay source in the presence of the binder material, thereby forming the granules.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the binder is selected from the group consisting of calcium lignosulfonate, corn syrup, poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA), PVA-based adhesives or glues, wheat starch, molasses, and combinations thereof.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the binder is present in an amount of about 0.1 wt % to about 20 wt %.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the granules have a granule size of about 0.1 mm to about 5 mm.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the granule size is from about 1.0 mm to about 2.0 mm.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the phosphatic clay grains comprise clay and a material selected from the group consisting of mined phosphate mineral particulates, filler mineral grains, elemental metal particles, radionuclide particles, and combinations thereof.

Assignees

• Mosaic Co

Inventors

• Beckingham Neil
• Pospichal Tom
• Baylor Bryan

Classifications

• C05G3/70

  for affecting wettability, e.g. drying agents · CPC title

• C05G5/30

  Layered or coated, e.g. dust-preventing coatings · CPC title

• C05D9/00 Primary

  Other inorganic fertilisers · CPC title

• B01J20/26

  Synthetic macromolecular compounds · CPC title

• B01J20/3028

  Granulating, agglomerating or aggregating · CPC title