Use of Polyhydroxybutyrate and Ethyl Cellulose for Coating of Urea Granules Milene M. E. Costa, † Elaine C. M. Cabral-Albuquerque, † Tito L. M. Alves, § Jose ́ Carlos Pinto, § and Rosana L. Fialho* ,† † Laborató rio de Polı ́ meros e Bioprocessos - Programa de Pó s-Graduaç ã o em Engenharia Industrial, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Rua Aristides Novis 2, Federaç ã o, Salvador BA 40210-630, Brazil § Laborató rio de Engenharia de Polı ́ meros - Programa de Engenharia Quı ́ mica/COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Cidade Universita ́ ria, CP: 68502, Rio de Janeiro RJ 21945-970, Brazil ABSTRACT: Fertilizers contain essential nutrients for agricultural growth and development. However, most nitrogen fertilizers are substances with high solubility of ions and are very susceptible to leaching and volatilization. To minimize these losses, an alternative is the creation of a physical barrier around granules. One way is to coat granules with polymers. In the present work urea granules were coated with polyhydroxybutyrate and ethyl cellulose in various conditions in the presence of emulsifiers. The original granules and the final products were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetry, to evaluate the surface morphology, the interaction between the granules and the coating, and the rates of mass change. The rates of urea release in distilled water were measured with a commercial enzyme kit. It is shown that those polymers are effective for coating of granules, leading to reduction of rates of urea dissolution in water. KEYWORDS: urea fertilizer, coating, slow release ■ INTRODUCTION Urea is by far the most used fertilizer in agriculture. The worldwide production of urea in 2012 was about 184 million metric tons. 1 The popularity of urea is due to important characteristics, such as its high nutrient content (46.6 wt % of nitrogen), low production costs, solubility in water, non- corrosive properties, and easy mixing with other com- pounds. 2-4 A main problem associated with the use of urea as a fertilizer is the high rate of loss to the environment through leaching and volatilization. 5-10 Environmental losses can represent about half of the total amount of applied urea fertilizer, depending on the climate, soil conditions, and application technologies, thereby causing environmental pollution and increasing the costs of crop production. 11-14 A possible alternative to reduce nutrient losses is the development of slow-release or controlled- release fertilizers, by coating urea granules with materials that present lower water solubilities. 6,12-14 Coating of urea particles can be performed using a physical process (for example, by casting with a polymer solution) or a chemical process (for example, by promoting a surface reaction between urea and formaldehyde). The selection of the coating materials determines the final quality of the controlled-release fertilizer. Coatings should be cheap, present good coating properties, and not contaminate the environment. 15 Particularly, biodegradable polymer materials (polyacid lactic, 16 ethyl cellulose, 17 starch, 18 chitosan 19 ) have often been used for the coating of urea granules mainly because they can be degraded by microorganisms. 20 Furthermore, they allow for improved retention of macro- and micronutrients in the coated particles, reducing dissolution rates in water and consequently environmental losses. 21 However, the efficiency of the polymer coating depends significantly on the physical and chemical interactions between the polymer material and the fertilizer and on the homogeneity of the produced polymer shell. This efficiency may be improved by modifying the polymer or by adding additives, such as compatibilizing agents. 22 Surprisingly, the effects of adding compatibilizers to the polymer solutions used to coat urea particles with biodegrad- able polymer films have not been studied in detail. This is particularly true when solutions of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and ethyl cellulose (EC) are considered. For this reason, the commercial compatibilizers Triton X-100, cetyl trimethylam- monium bromide (CTAB), and sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) are added to PHB and EC solutions to analyze how the compatibilizers affect the characteristics and morphology of polymer films produced during coating of urea granules through distinct processes. On the basis of the previous remarks, the main objective of the present work is to coat urea granules with PHB, a biodegradable polymer currently used for the production of biomedical implants, drug coating, and packaging devices, 23 or EC, a biodegradable polymer already used for film coating of agricultural products, 17 in the presence of different commercial compatibilizers. To achieve a proper coating, the effects of the commercial compatibilizing agents Triton X-100, CTAB, and SLS (emulsifiers that act at the interfaces of immiscible materials, reducing the interfacial tension) and operation conditions (production process) are analyzed for the first time. The original urea granules and the obtained coated products are then characterized through scanning electron Received: April 29, 2013 Revised: September 19, 2013 Accepted: September 23, 2013 Article pubs.acs.org/JAFC © XXXX American Chemical Society A dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf401185y | J. Agric. Food Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX-XXX