Sulphur-Based Fertilizer Composition with Humic Acid Content

Abstract

Disclosed herein are fertilizer compositions with enhanced sulphate release, methods of making the fertilizer compositions and methods of using the fertilizer compositions. The disclosed fertilizer compositions combine elemental sulphur with small amounts (relative to the sulphur) of humic acid to enhance delivery of sulphates to soil. The humic acid is added as a humic additive, which may comprise 40% or more humic acid. In many embodiments, the presence of small amounts of humic additive enhances the release of sulphate from soil containing the fertilizer composition from about 1.5- to 4-fold over fertilizer compositions lacking the humic additive.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A fertilizer composition comprising:
 at least 50% by weight of sulphur; and   0.01% to 5% by weight of humic additive.   
     
     
         2 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 1 , further comprising a swelling material. 
     
     
         3 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 1 , wherein the sulphur is elemental sulphur. 
     
     
         4 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 3 , wherein the percentage of elemental sulphur is at least 75% by weight of total weight of the fertilizer composition. 
     
     
         5 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 4 , wherein the percentage of elemental sulphur is 85% by weight of total weight of the fertilizer composition. 
     
     
         6 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 1 , wherein the humic additive is present in an amount of 0.1% to 1.0% by weight. 
     
     
         7 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 6 , wherein the humic additive is present in an amount of about 0.5% by weight. 
     
     
         8 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 2 , wherein the fertilizer composition is a controlled release fertilizer composition. 
     
     
         9 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 8 , wherein the fertilizer composition includes from 5% to 25% by weight of the swelling material. 
     
     
         10 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 8 , wherein the fertilizer composition comprises from 5% to 15% by weight of the swelling material. 
     
     
         11 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 2 , wherein the swelling material is a swelling clay. 
     
     
         12 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 11 , wherein the swelling clay is bentonite clay. 
     
     
         13 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 1 , further comprising one or more additional nutrients selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, potassium, iron, copper, zinc, boron, manganese, and magnesium. 
     
     
         14 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 13 , wherein the one or more additional nutrients is present in the fertilizer composition in an amount of from about 0.01% to about 40% by weight. 
     
     
         15 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 1 , wherein the fertilizer composition is provided as one or more of a pellet, pastille, or granule. 
     
     
         16 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 1 , wherein the humic additive contains at least 40% by weight of humic acid. 
     
     
         17 . The fertilizer composition of  claim 1 , wherein the humic additive contains at least 50% by weight of humic acid. 
     
     
         18 . A method of fertilizing a plant, comprising:
 applying the fertilizer composition of  claim 1  to a soil.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the soil includes a plant or plant seed. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein a plant or plant seed is added to the fertilized soil. 
     
     
         21 . A method of conditioning a soil, comprising:
 applying the fertilizer composition of  claim 1  to the soil.   
     
     
         22 . A method of manufacturing a fertilizer composition containing sulphur and humic acid, the method comprising:
 mixing molten elemental sulphur and humic additive, wherein the humic additive comprises from 0.1% to 5% by weight of the mixture; and   cooling the mixture to obtain the fertilizer composition.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , further comprising forming the fertilizer composition into pastilles, pellets, or granules and then cooling the composition below the melting point of sulphur in the cooling step. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the humic additive has an average particle size of less than 200 Mesh. 
     
     
         25 . A sulphur-containing fertilizer composition comprising:
 elemental sulphur at about 85% by weight of the total weight of the composition;   humic additive at about 0.5% by weight, wherein the humic additive has an average size of less than 200 Mesh, and is at least 50% humic acid;   swelling clay at about 14.2.