MODELLING AND SIMULATION OF NUTRIENT DISPERSION FROM COATED FERTILIZER GRANULES

The usage of Controlled-Release Fertilizer (CRF) is essential in plants and crops to fulfil the need and requirement for the huge population in this modern world. Therefore modelling and simulation of nutrient release from coated fertilizer has become the best method in way to study the behaviour of some parameters toward water saturation in and nutrient release from the coated-fertilizer granule. This project is the further development of modelling and computer simulation by Basu [1] which include some of the factors affecting the water saturation time and nutrient release time from a coated-fertilizer. The effect of granule radius, the diffusivity of water and nutrient, the temperature of surrounding, the contact areas and the characteristic of the coating are studied and the simulation was developed in this project. The studies and understanding of this project is very important and useful especially to determine the correct parameter in the manufacturing process of the coated-fertilizer granule and also will be useful for the farmers/users in the selection of the best fertilizers for their crops.