Urea Ammonium Nitrate Determination - UAN Fertilizer Concentration
Méthode Applicative

Urea Ammonium Nitrate - UAN Determination

Méthode Applicative

Measure the Concentration of Nitrogen, Urea, Water via Density and Refractive Index

Urea ammonium nitrate determination
Urea ammonium nitrate determination

Urea Ammonium Nitrate (UAN) is one of the most commonly used fertilizers in the world, and is composed of a mixture of urea (CH4N2O) and ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) in water. A common type of fertilizers commercialized is UAN 32, which is composed by 20% of water, 35% of urea and 45% ammonium nitration, totalizing 32% of total nitrogen concentration.

The alternative method to determine the concentrations in UAN provides accurate results in a few minutes, and allows the visualization of all values in one screen!

What is nitrogen and why is it important?

Nitrogen (N) is an element of great importance for life, in fact it occupies 78% of the content of the atmosphere and 3% of the human body; however, the most important role that nitrogen plays is in the world of plants. It is an essential nutrient to create plant mass and, therefore, appears in many fertilizers.

What is urea ammonium nitrate used for?

To allow the correct growth of the crops and vegetables it is necessary to fertilize them with their main nutrients, including potassium, phosphorus and, of course, nitrogen. Urea Ammonium Nitrate or UAN is one of the most commonly used fertilizers as a primary source of nitrogen, and is composed of a mixture of urea and ammonium nitrate (AN) in water. There are several types of UAN, and the most used is UAN 32, which means that it contains 32% of N. It is of major importance to ensure that the concentration of nitrogen in the fertilizer is adequate to permit the satisfactory growth of crops.

With this application note, you can gain an insight into the determination of nitrogen in UAN thanks to an innovative multiparameter analytical method of METTLER TOLEDO that combines results of density and refractive index to calculate the concentration of nitrogen in the sample easily, quickly and accurately.