893 Journal of Scientific and Innovative Research 2013; 2 (5): 893-902 Available online at: www.jsirjournal.com Research Article ISSN 2320-4818 JSIR 2013; 2(5): 893-902 © 2013, All rights reserved Received: 27-08-2013 Accepted: 27-10-2013 Nor Nadiah Abdul Hamid, Noraiham Mohamad, Lum Yip Hing, Mohd Fairuz Dimin Engineering Materials Department, Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia Mohd Asyadi Azam, Mohd Haneesyah Che Hassan, Mohd Khairul Shahril Mustaq Ahmad, Azizah Shaaban Engineering Materials Department, Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia Correspondence: Noraiham Mohamad Engineering Materials Department, Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia Tel: +606-331-6976 Fax: +606-331-6411 E-mail: noraiham@utem.edu.my The effect of chitosan content to physical and degradation properties of biodegradable urea fertilizer Nor Nadiah Abdul Hamid, *Noraiham Mohamad, Lum Yip Hing, Mohd Fairuz Dimin, Mohd Asyadi Azam, Mohd Haneesyah Che Hassan, Mohd Khairul Shahril Mustaq Ahmad, Azizah Shaaban Abstract Chitosan has been widely used in many applications due to its biodegradability and non- toxicity. This article discusses the effect of different chitosan loadings on properties of urea fertilizer which prepared through direct wet mixing process. Absorption and soil degradation tests were performed to measure the amount of water intakes and the life-cycle of the fertilizer. The chemical interaction and thermal properties were analyzed using FTIR and DSC, respectively. It was found that water absorbency and degradation rate increases with chitosan loading, and FTIR confirms the presence of urea in as-produced fertilizers from a unique –NH and amide C=O functional groups. Keywords: Chitosan, Urea Fertilizer, Degradation, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Introduction Fertilizer is a chemical compound containing three elements which are nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. It is added to soil to release nutrients which are essential for growth and development of crops. There are various types of fertilizer either organic or synthetic fertilizers. An important synthetic fertilizer is urea fertilizer; a major source of nitrogen nutrient for plants. 1 Unfortunately, the practical use of this fertilizer is not efficient due to the loss during application. Potential hazards of fertilizers to the environment have resulted in limitation of their use. The used of conventional fertilizers may lead to concentration levels that are too high for effective action. High concentration fertilizer may produce undesirable side effects either in the target area, which could lead to crop damage, or in the surrounding environment. 2 Therefore, it is important to improve its performance during utilization process. To address these problems, slow and controlled-release technology in fertilizer is considered as a suitable method to efficiently supply nutrients to plants and at the same time to decrease the loss and contamination. The technology is designed for the fertilizer to release their nutrient contents gradually and to coincide with the nutrient requirement of a plant. These properties can be physically imparted in fertilizers by coating techniques on granule of conventional fertilizers with various materials that reduce their dissolution rate. 3, 4 Urea formaldehyde (UF) is an example of a commercial, widely used and slowly soluble synthetic organic fertilizer compound.