______________________________________
             Incipient         Heat of Reaction
    Composition
             Decomposition Temperature
                               BTU's per Ton
    ______________________________________
    29-0-0-9 158.degree. F.     73,600
    18-0-0-17
             176.degree. F.    173,400
    9-0-0-25 176.degree. F.    149,500
    10-0-0-19
             176.degree. F.    195,500
    ______________________________________

The heats of reaction reported in the aforegoing table and elsewhere herein were determined calorimetrically using the reaction of prilled urea with 98 percent sulfuric acid and the amount of water required for the designated formulation.

Incipient decomposition temperatures can be determined by very gradually increasing the temperature of a solution of the designated composition until gas evolution is first observed The incipient decomposition temperature of any formulation can be determined by this procedure.

The evolved gas comprises carbon dioxide and, in the absence of unreacted sulfuric acid, may also comprise ammonia. In the presence of unreacted sulfuric acid, a condition that exists in the reaction zone, the ammonia would react very exothermically with sulfuric acid to increase solution temperature and heat load at a rate even faster than that occasioned by the sulfuric acid-urea reaction. This mechanism may be partially responsible for the observed autocatalytic composition of these solutions at elevated temperature.

As a general rule, incipient decomposition temperatures for the formulations defined herein range from about 155.degree. F. to about 176.degree. F. with the higher decomposition temperatures being associated with products having higher acid to urea ratios.

Gross system temperature is not an adequate indication of incipient decomposition at localized points within a relatively large volume of solution, e.g., in a commercial reactor. For instance, the direct addition of concentrated sulfuric acid to a large volume of urea as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,664 referred to above, will invariably result in localized overheating and temperatures in excess of incipient decomposition temperatures even though the average temperature for the bulk of urea may be somewhat lower. This was confirmed by the fact that samples of materials produced in the process described in that patent were found to contain as much as 5 to 6 weight percent of the decomposition products ammonium sulfamate and/or sulfamic acid.

Solutions essentially or completely free of these toxic components can be consistently produced by the methods of this invention. Thus, solutions containing less than 0.1 percent, preferably less than 0.05 percent, and most preferably no detectable amount of ammonium sulfamate and/or sulfamic acid are obtained by adequate control of process conditions as defined herein.

Although the products produced in these methods and the reacting liquid phase comprising reaction product, urea, sulfuric acid, and, optionally, water, are less corrosive than is dilute sulfuric acid, they still exhibit significant corrosivity to both mild steel and carbon steel. The static corrosion rates of various compositions on mild carbon steel at 75.degree. F. are illustrated generally by the ternary phase diagram of FIG. 2. As can be seen from the Figure, static corrosion of mild steel varies from nominal amounts of 0 to 10 mils per year (MPY) to more than 50 mils per year as a function of urea/acid ratio and water content. Surprisingly, the higher acid content solutions, e.g., those having sulfuric acid/urea ratios in excess of 1, have lower corrosivity than the higher urea content compositions at a comparable water concentration.

There is also a dramatic difference in the relationships of solution temperature to mild steel corrosion rate for various formulations. Examples of these distinctions are illustrated in FIG. 3 which is a correlation of mild steel corrosion rate and solution temperature for the three formulations 29-0-0-9, 10-0-0-19, and 18-0-0-17. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the corrosivity of the 29-0-0-9 formulation, a higher urea, lower acid composition, becomes excessive at temperatures even below 100.degree. F. Although the corrosion rates of the other two products also increase with temperature, the temperature effect is much less dramatic. In fact, it is possible to use the 18-0-0-17 formulation in mild steel equipment at temperatures as high as 160.degree. F.

As can be seen from these observations, the corrosivity of the system can vary significantly with changes in composition. This factor contributes further to the necessity of preventing deviations from the desired composition, particularly at the elevated temperatures existing in the reaction zone.

The process can be batch or continuous, although the continuous method is preferred for several reasons. Continuous processing improves process stability and the control of composition, reaction temperature, crystallization point and corrosivity. All of these factors are important for different reasons.

Accurate control of reaction phase composition is closely related to temperature control due to the highly exothermic nature of the sulfuric acid-urea reaction. It is also closely related to crystallization point and corrosivity; minor variations in crystallization point can result in solids formation or complete "setting up" of the product in lower temperature treating, storage or application facilities. Increased corrosivity occasioned by composition changes can dramatically increase the corrosion of the reactor and processing facilities, particularly at elevated processing temperatures, as illustrated in FIG. 3.

These several characteristics can be controlled by gradually and simultaneously adding urea, concentrated sulfuric acid and water to the reaction zone at relative rates corresponding to the concentration of each component in a predetermined product composition and cooling the resultant reacting liquid phase sufficiently to maintain it at a temperature below its incipient decomposition temperature and below 176.degree. F. at all times. As pointed out above, bulk system temperature may not accurately indicate the presence or absence of localized over-heating unless the reacting liquid phase is adequately agitated and thoroughly mixed during the course of the reaction.

Although the reaction will proceed at relatively low temperatures, it becomes too slow to be economically desirable at temperatures much below 120.degree. F. Accordingly, the reaction is usually run at temperatures of at least 120.degree. F., preferably below about 160.degree. F. and most preferably at about 150.degree. F. or less. The lower temperatures, e.g. of about 150.degree. F.-160.degree. F., or less, are particularly preferred with the higher urea concentrations, e.g., 29-0-0-9, due to their relative low incipient composition temperatures, and are preferred in all formulations to minimize sulfamate content.

The feed rates of all three components and the composition of the reacting liquid phase should be maintained as closely as possible to the stoichiometric proportion of each respective component in the predetermined product. Thus, the concentration of each component should be maintained within about 2 percent, preferably within 1 percent or less, of its stoichiometric value in the product.

In one preferred embodiment in which a portion of reaction phase is removed from the reaction zone and cooled by direct air contact heat exchange, some water is lost from the system and must be made up by increasing the water feed to the reaction zone by an amount proportional to the rate of water loss in the cooler.

The close tolerances on reactant composition and temperature will generally allow control of product crystallization temperature within 10.degree. F., preferably within 5.degree. F. or less, of the desired crystallization temperature.

Although the considerable heat of reaction theoretically can be dissipated by essentially any cooling means, such as cooling coils within the reactor, heat dissipation and temperature control are facilitated by assuring that the urea, sulfuric acid and water are introduced into a reaction zone containing a mixture of reactants and reaction product corresponding to at least about 0.1,preferably at least about 0.2 times the hourly feed rate in batch systems, provided the system is cooled adequately to avoid incipient decomposition. Much larger volumes, e.g., at least one unit weight of heel per unit weight of reactants, should be used under adiabatic conditions, i.e., in the absence of cooling. For instance, at least 0.75 pounds of inventory, i.e. heel, per pound of reactants, at a temperature of 70.degree. F., are required to maintain a temperature of 150.degree. F. or less in the manufacture of 29-0-0-9. Even larger inventories of 1.4 and 1.6 pounds per pound of reactants are required to maintain temperatures of 170.degree. F. or less in the adiabatic production of 18-0-0-17 and 10-0-0-19, respectively.

In the preferred continuous embodiment in which the reacting phase is continuously cooled, the inventory of reacting mixture maintained within the reaction zone should correspond to at least about 0.5, usually at least about 1, and preferably at least 2 times the hourly feed rate. Although somewhat lower reactor volumes would be adequate to control temperature in the continuous process in some cases, particularly with less exothermic reactions such as 29-0-0-9 production. They would not be adequate to assure complete reaction of the customary forms of urea feeds, i.e., prills and/or granules. Longer holding times and thus larger reactor inventories relative to product withdrawal rate and reactant feed rate are required in the continuous process to assure that the withdrawn product does not contain unreacted urea.

The minimum reactor volume required to prevent the discharge of unreacted urea during continuous operation can be defined by the following expression, which is unique for this reaction system: ##EQU1## where k is the first order rate constant in reciprocal minutes, d is the diameter of the largest urea particles in millimeters, V.sub.o is the volume of the liquid phase within the reaction zone in gallons, and u is the production rate from the reaction zone in gallons per minute.

From this relationship, it can be seen that theoretically very small reactor volumes could be used with very small diameter urea feeds, e.g., urea dust. As a practical matter, however, minumum volumes of about one-half hourly production are required to provide sufficient inventory for adequate cooling to prevent incipient decomposition and for more effective process control.

The first order rate constant can be determined from the expression unique to this system: ##EQU2## where t is the time in minutes required for dissolution of the type of urea feed, e.g. prills, pellets, granules, etc.

The dissolution rate varies with urea type, e.g., prilled urea or granular urea. Prilled urea is usually less dense and somewhat more porous than is granular urea, and is produced by forming droplets of molten urea in a prilling tower of sufficient height to allow the urea droplets to solidify during their descent. Granular ureas are usually produced by spraying molten urea onto urea "seeds" or dust in granulating apparatus such as pan or drum granulators.

The reaction rate constant can be determined experimentally for any given product composition and urea feed type by determining the rate at which the urea particle dissolves in the given formulation.

The reaction rate is first order and varies markedly with temperature. Experimentally observed values for the rate constant for the three products, 29-0-0-9, 18-0-0-17, and 10-0-0-19, and the effect of temperature on the rate constant for each respective product using prilled urea and granular urea, are graphically illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively.

The rate of urea dissolution can be determined by any one of several means. The data illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 were obtained by suspending several urea prills or granules of known diameter by mild agitation in a large excess of the selected solution at a predetermined temperature. The elapsed time within which the urea particle disappeared was determined by visual observation and was taken as the value of t for that urea type and product solution. The same procedure can be used to determine the value of t, and thus the reaction rate constant k, for any combination of urea type and reactant phase composition.

The reaction rate constant k diminishes markedly with temperature. Thus, from the relationship between V.sub.o and reaction constant discussed above, it can be seen that larger reactor volumes are required to obtain the same production rate of the same product at lower reaction temperatures.

Adequate control of the factors discussed above, particularly heat load, solution temperature, composition, crystallization point and corrosivity, becomes particularly important in industrial scale reactors of relatively large volume in which the excess heat associated with decomposition cannot be rapidly dissipated. Most commercial systems will have reaction zone volumes of at least about 50 gallons, usually at least about 100 gallons, and most often in excess of 500 gallons. The reaction phase is relatively viscous even at reaction temperatures, and that factor, combined with the relatively low specific heat of these compositions, makes adequate temperature control and rapid heat exchange even more difficult in the large volumes associated with commercial production.

The process can be better understood by reference to FIG. 6 which is a schematic illustration of one embodiment of the preferred, continuous method of this invention employing countercurrent direct air heat exchange. Solid urea, water and sulfuric acid are simultaneously and continuously added through pipes 1, 2, and 3 to reactor 4 provided with efficient agitating means such as impeller 5 driven by motor 6 or other means. The reacting liquid phase is continuously passed from reactor 4 through pipe 7 to spray nozzles 9 in the direct air heat exchanger 8. Ambient air or cooled air is introduced to the lower portion of the heat exchanger through pipe 11 or other means, and passes upwardly through packed section 10 into direct contact with downward flowing liquid phase. Following contact with the liquid, the warmed air passes through demister section 14 and can be emitted directly to the atmosphere. Even at elevated temperatures, very little sulfate is present in the effluent air. Cooled product is removed from heat exchanger 8 through pipe 16 and is either passed to storage via pipe 13 or is returned as cooling medium to reactor 4 by pipe 12.

Obviously, a number of various process schemes can be designed in view of the principles of operation discussed above. For instance, multiple reactors or multiple coolers can be provided and the reactant feeds can be proportioned between the multiple reaction vessels. Also, more conventional heat exchange means such as conventional tube or coil coolers can be employed in place of, or in addition to, the direct contact air cooler. However, the direct contact air cooler is particularly preferred since it mitigates corrosion and expedites heat exchange with the viscous reacting liquid phase and can be operated inexpensively with ambient air.

In the preferred continuous embodiment, urea, sulfuric acid and water are continuously and simultaneously fed to the reaction zone, with urea and sulfuric acid being fed separately of each other, at rates equivalent to the stoichiometric proportions of each respective component in the predetermined product within the ranges discussed above. Urea can be fed in any available form, such as prills, granulars, powder and the like.

The minor variations in the purity of commercial ureas can be sufficient to significantly affect process conditions, even though purity varies only from about 46 to 46.6 weight percent nitrogen. The urea feed is preferably periodically analyzed for nitrogen content and its feed rate adjusted accordingly in view of the stoichiometry of the desired product. However, that precaution is not essential when the process is controlled as described hereinafter, and does not eliminate the need for such control.

The sulfuric acid feed can be concentrated sulfuric acid, usually 92 to 98 weight percent H.sub.2 SO.sub.4, or it can be diluted with water before introduction into the reaction zone although the amount of water cannot exceed that allowable in the predetermined product. Fuming sulfuric acid can also be used. Essentially, any acid source is suitable. Spent alkylation acid can also be used in this process. Concentrated sulfuric acid is presently preferred due to commercial availability, and the markedly higher corrosivity of more dilute acid solutions.

If dilute acid feeds are employed, care should be taken to assure that the amount of water added with the acid feed does not exceed the amount permitted in the product. This amount varies substantially from product to product. For instance, the minimum acid concentration that can be employed in the manufacture of 18-0-0-17 is 85 weight percent H.sub.2 SO.sub.4 for 10-0-0-19 and 73.1 weight percent H.sub.2 SO.sub.4 for 29-0-0-9. The use of more dilute acids will result in the addition of excess water to the reaction zone which will result in the formation of an off-specification product unless the excess water is somehow removed in the process.

Although numerous other constituents potentially useful in the final composition may be added to the reactor such as crop micronutrients and other compounds, it is presently preferred to produce the urea-sulfuric acid mixtures neat and make custom formulations downstream as required.
Once the continuous process is commenced, it can be run indefinitely provided that sufficient provision is made to control corrosion and that changes in product composition are not required.

In starting up the preferred embodiment of this invention for either batch or continuous operation, a product inventory can be manufactured in the reaction vessel by gradual addition of the reactants in stoichiometric proportions provided that sufficient cooling is available to maintain the reacting mixture at a temperature below the incipient decomposition temperature. It is presently preferred, however, to begin with an inventory of material produced in a previous operation and retrieved from storage. In either event, the initial inventory, or heel, should be of the same composition as that of the desired product so that deviations in composition, crystallization point, heat of reaction or corrosivity do not occur during the process.

During startup, the initial inventory may be of lesser volume than that ultimately maintained in the reaction zone to assure complete reaction. Apparently, the initial heel acts in a manner described by Moore and Mullen, Jr., supra, to enable adequate control of reaction temperature developed by the exothermic reaction during startup.

The heat of reaction involved in the formation of any product can be determined calorimetrically by reacting the selected urea and sulfuric acid feeds and, optionally, water when required by the formation, in any one of several available calorimeters under closely controlled temperature conditions sufficient to prevent incipient decomposition. The heat of reaction for a given product can then be used to calculate the total heat load on a given system, and thus the cooling capacity required for a given production rate. In the alternative, the heat of reaction can be calculated from the following expressions: ##STR1##

The overall reaction is illustrated by: ##STR2##

Applying these expressions to the amount of solid urea and sulfuric acid added to the reaction zone will yield the amount of heat to be expected in the reaction. That value in turn allows the determination of production rates permissible in any system assuming the process is limited by cooling capacity, or, conversely, the cooling capacity that must be provided for the production of that product at a given rate.

As discussed before, one of the most difficult problems in the design and operation of these methods is the control of the exothermic heat of reaction and reaction temperature. Reaction temperature must be maintained below permissible maximums and is preferably maintained above certain minimums so that the practical operating range is relatively narrow. Even minor changes in process conditions can result in temperature excursions beyond these ranges.

The high viscosity, low specific heat, low maximum allowable temperature, high corrosivity to conventional alloys at high fluid velocity, and low water content of these products place severe limitations on conventional heat exchangers. Nevertheless, conventional designs such as shell and tube, coil, etc., can be used although they must be designed in view of the product characteristics mentioned above.

It has been found, however, that the hot reacting liquid phase within the reaction zone can be adequately cooled by direct contact countercurrent heat exchange with ambient air making use of a relatively simple cooling unit design such as that illustrated in FIG. 6, and that this approach mitigates the problems associated with the high corrosivity, high viscosity and low specific heat of these compositions. It has also been found that the direct air heat exchange method adequately cools the reacting liquid phase even though it has very low vaporizable water content, and that it does so without introducing or removing uncontrollable amounts of water to or from the reaction phase or polluting the atmosphere.

The contact section of the cooler illustrated in FIG. 6 can consist of any corrosion and heat resistant shell, e.g., stainless steel, and an adequate quantity of acid-resistant packing of any one of numerous types. Acceptable packing materials include plastic, glass, stainless steel or ceramic saddles and the like.

The design of the direct contact exchanger for any particular operation should be based upon the highest heat load anticipated which is a function of product composition and production rate, and can be established by testing different combinations of packing material, packing section design, product flow rate and air flow rate through the exchanger.

As a practical matter, the packing section should have a height to diameter ratio of at least 1 and, for most packing materials, should be operated at liquid flow rates of about 25 to about 200 lbs. per hour per cubic foot of packing and air flow rates of about 25 to about 100 cubic feet per minute per cubic foot of packing material. Significantly higher liquid flow rate should be avoided to avoid flooding the cooler. Higher air flow rates should be avoided to prevent excessive resistance to downward liquid flow and product carryover into the demister section.

Continuous monitoring and compensation for water removal from the system is preferred, and is necessary for precise control of composition, temperature, and corrosion. This can be achieved by monitoring product or reactor phase composition or water removal rate in the cooler, and adding water as required to the reaction zone.

It has also been found that sulfate emissions from the cooler can be controlled at levels sufficiently low that they do not constitute a pollution hazard. Sulfate emissions are primarily related to the air/liquid velocity ratio in the packing section of the cooler and are acceptably low at air/liquid velocity ratios of about 120 or less. However, they can increase dramatically at air/liquid ratios substantially above that limit.

Product composition can be controlled by periodically sampling the reaction phase or product effluent and analyzing for sulfuric acid, urea and water, and gradually modifying reactant feed rates as necessary to maintain specification product composition.

Acid content can be determined by standard acid titration techniques, and both acid and urea concentrations can be determined by mass spectrographic analysis, high precision infrared or liquid chromatographic analysis, or by standard wet chemical test procedures. Having determined sulfuric acid and urea concentration, water can be determined by difference. Product composition is also reflected by specific gravity and refractive index. Thus, one or both of these tests can be used in combination with total acidity to determine urea and the sulfuric acid concentration while water, again, can be determined by difference.

As pointed out above, the methods of this invention are capable of producing urea-sulfuric acid reaction products containing little or no sulfamate which usually consists of sulfamic acid, ammonium sulfamate, or combinations of those compounds. The preferred compositions contain less than about 0.1 weight percent, and preferably no detectable amount of sulfamic acid and/or ammonium sulfamate. Sulfamates are known herbicides and ammonium sulfamate is registered as a herbicide under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodeticide Act. Thus, for several reasons, the absence of sulfamates makes these compositions particularly preferred as fertilizers for animal or human food crops in contrast to previously available urea-sulfuric acid reaction products that contained significant amounts of sulfamic acid and/or ammonium sulfamate.

These compositions can be used as pre-plant, pre-emergent or post-emergent fertilizers and can be applied either topically, subsurface, foliarly or through irrigation systems. They can be applied directly as the concentrates or after dilution with water within the range of about 0.5 to about 100 volumes of water per volume of concentrate. Even minor dosage rates have a beneficial agronomic effect. However, the compositions are usually applied at rates of at least about 40, and preferably about 100 to about 400 pounds of urea per acre.

The concentrated and diluted compositions can also be foliarly applied to resistant crops having sufficient waxy cuticle to prevent excessive phytotoxicity. Illustrative are members of the lily family, including onions, garlic, etc.; leeks, broccoli, brussel sprouts, red cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cotton, carrots, asparagus, dormant alfalfa, dormant parsley, and monocotyledonous grain crops and grasses of the family Gramineae such as wheat, barley, rye, bermuda grasses, blue grass, and the like. However, solutions diluted with water in ratios within the ranges described above and dosages of about 10 to about 30 gallons per acre (undiluted basis) are presently preferred for foliar use in order to reduce the possibility of crop damage due to uneven distribution and localized overdose.

EXAMPLE 1

The composition 18-0-0-17 was continuously produced from prilled urea, concentrated sulfuric acid and water using an apparatus similar to that illustrated in FIG. 6 having a 300 gallon stainless steel reactor and a countercurrent direct air heat exchanger. The heat exchanger packing section was 15 inches in diameter and 6 feet in height and was packed with 1 inch polypropylene Intalox Saddles.

The run was commenced by adding to the reactor 76 gallons (1,000 lbs.) of 18-0-0-17 and then simultaneously feeding urea, sulfuric acid and water in separate streams and stochiometric quantities until reactor temperature reached about 150.degree. F. Recirculation through the cooler was then commenced and product withdrawal was initiated after the active reaction zone volume, i.e., the total volume of product-containing reacting liquid phase, had reached the designated volume of 150 gallons.

The system was then operated continuously for 16 hours during which time prilled urea, concentrated sulfuric acid and water were independently and continuously added to the reactor at the following rates: urea, 386.3 lbs. per hour; sulfuric acid, 521.5 lbs. per hour; and water, 127.5 lbs. per hour. Some water was added with the sulfuric acid which had a concentration of 93.76 H.sub.2 SO.sub.4. The feed water contained 35.3 lbs. per hour of makeup water to account for the water removed in the cooler.

The active volume in the reaction zone was maintained at a level of approximately 150 gallons (1950 lbs.) and product 18-0-0-17 was continuously removed from the return line from the cooler to the reactor at a rate of 1000 lbs. per hour.

Reaction temperature was continuously monitored by a temperature probe within the reactor vessel and was maintained at 159.degree. F. throughout the run. The reaction zone heat load was 100,491 BTUs per hour and the ratio of active reactor volume to hourly production volume was 1.95.

Air flow to the cooler was maintained at 243 cubic feet per minute with a product recycle rate through the cooler to the reactor of 600 gallons per hour. Product composition, reaction temperature, and other process conditions were maintained at predetermined levels by monitoring reaction temperature, reactant feed rates, water loss, product withdrawal rate, and product composition, and making minor changes in reactor feed rates as required.

EXAMPLE 2

The operation of Example 1 was repeated using the following feed rates: urea prills, 193.2 lbs. per hour; sulfuric acid (94.70 percentage H.sub.2 SO.sub.4), 275.4 lbs. per hour; and water, 45.6 lbs. per hour. The water feed to the reaction zone comprised 14.2 lbs. per hour water in addition to that required by the stoichiometry of the reaction to replace water removed in the air cooler.

Reacting liquid phase was recycled through the cooler operating at an air rate of 193 cubic feet per minute and was returned to the reactor at a rate of 900 gallons per hour. Product was removed from the reaction zone at a rate of 500 lbs. per hour to maintain a ratio of reactor volume to hourly production rate of 2.5. The temperature of the reacting liquid phase within the reaction vessel was maintained at 138.degree. F. throughout the run.

Total heat load was 52,049 BTUs per hour and product quality was maintained by monitoring product composition as described in Example 1. The product was analyzed for sulfamates and was found to be free of sulfamic acid and ammonium sulfamate.

The only emission in the cooler exhaust gas was a trace amount of entrained product and remained relatively constant at a level of 20 grams per hour throughout the run.

The lower reaction temperature of 138.degree. F. substantially reduced reaction rate and markedly reduced total heat load on the system.

EXAMPLE 3

The operation of Example 1 was repeated for the production of 29-0-0-9 at a reaction temperature of 141.degree. F. and reactant feed rates as follows: urea, 1337 lbs. per hour; sulfuric acid (91.80 weight percent H.sub.2 SO.sub.4), 646 lbs. per hour; and water, 292 lbs. per hour. The water feed comprised 11.4 lbs. per hour required to replace water lost in the cooler.

Product 29-0-0-9 was removed at a rate of 2275 lbs. per hour to maintain a reactor volume/production rate ratio of 1.8.

These conditions resulted in a total heat load of 79,096 BTUs per hour. Temperature was controlled by the air cooler described in Example 1 operating at an air flow rate of 72 cubic feet per minute and a product recycle rate to the reaction vessel of 900 gallons per hour.

EXAMPLE 4

Solution 10-0-0-19 was produced by the procedure described in Example 1 operating at a reaction temperature of 173.degree. F. Reactants were continually passed to the reactor at the following rates: urea, 252 lbs. per hour; sulfuric acid (95.7 weight percent H.sub.2 SO.sub.4), 710 lbs. per hour; water, 242 lbs. per hour. The feed to the reaction zone comprised 36.8 lbs. per hour water in addition to that required by the stoichiometry of the reaction to replace water lost in the cooler. Product 10-0-0-19 was continuously withdrawn at a rate of 1167 lbs. per hour.

These conditions resulted in a reactor heat load of 113,969 BTUs per hour. Reaction temperature was controlled by operating the air cooler at a recycle rate of 900 gallons per hour to the reactor and a total air flow of 193 cubic feet per minute.

EXAMPLE 5

The operation of Example 4 was repeated at a reaction temperature of 158.degree. F. and reactant feed rates as follows: urea, 180 lbs. per hour; sulfuric acid (93.9 weight percent H.sub.2 SO.sub.4), 519 lbs. per hour; water, 166 lbs. per hour. 28.3 lbs. per hour water, in addition to that required by reaction stoichiometry, was included in the water feed to replace water removed in the cooler. Product was removed from the reaction zone at a rate of 837 lbs. per hour.

These conditions resulted in a total heat load of 81,809 BTUs per hour. The cooler was operated at a total air flow rate of 193 cubic feet per minute and a product recycle rate from the cooler to the reactor of 600 gallons per hour.

Product composition and crystallization temperatures and stable operating conditions were maintained by monitoring product composition and process conditions as described in Example 1.

EXAMPLE 6

Cotton was fertilized by topical application of sulfamate-free 29-0-0-9 diluted with 3 volumes of water per volume of 29-0-0-9. The dilute solution was applied at a rate of 120 gallons per acre corresponding to a nitrogen dosage of 104 lbs. per acre.

EXAMPLE 7

Green onions, approximately 2 inches high, were fertilized by foliar application of sulfamate-free 18-0-0-17 diluted with 4 volumes of water per volume of 18-0-0-17 by foliar application of the dilute solution at a rate of 100 gallons per acre corresponding to a nitrogen dosage of 47 lbs. per acre.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been described, it will be understood, of course, that the invention is not limited thereto since many obvious modifications can be made and it is intended to include within this invention any such modifications as will fall within the scope of the appended claims.