Large quantities of the ammonium phosphates are used as fertilizers and in fertilizer formulations. The compounds furnish both nitrogen and phosphorus essential to plant growth. The compounds also are used as fire retardants in wood building materials, paper and fabric products, and in matches to prevent afterglow. Solutions of the ammonium phosphates sometimes are air dropped to retard forest fires, serving the double purpose of fire fighting and fertilizing the soil to accelerate new plant growth. The compounds are used in baking powder formulations, as nutrients in the production of yeast, as nutritional supplements in animal feeds, for controlling the acidity of dye baths, and as a source of phosphorus in certain kinds of ceramics.
Ammonium phosphates usually are manufactured by neutralizing phosphoric acid with NH3. Control of the pH (acidity/alkalinity) determines which of the ammonium phosphates will be produced. Pure grades can be easily made by crystallization of solutions obtained from furnace grade phosphoric acid. Fertilizer grades, made from wet-process phosphoric acid, do not crystallize well and usually are prepared by a granulation technique. First, a highly concentrated solution or slurry is obtained by neutralization. Then the slurry is mixed with from 6× to 10× its weight of previously dried material, after which the mixture is dried in a rotary drier. The dry material is then screened to separate the desired product size. Oversize particles are crushed and mixed with fines from the screen operation and then returned to the granulation step where they act as nuclei for the production of further particles. Other ingredients often are added during the granulation of fertilizer grades. The ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus can be altered by the inclusion of ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, or urea. Potassium salts sometimes are added to provide a 3-component fertilizer (N, P, K). A typical fertilizer grade diammonium phosphate will contain 18% N and 46% P2O5 (weight).
There has been a trend toward the production of ammonium phosphates in powder form. Concentrated phosphoric acid is neutralized under pressure, and the heat of neutralization is used to remove the water in a spray tower. The powdered product then is collected at the bottom of the tower. Ammonium nitrate/ammonium phosphate combination products can be obtained either by neutralizing mixed nitric acid and phosphoric acid, or by the addition of ammonium phosphate to an ammonium nitrate melt.
