Working in the Phosphate Industry. But, what is phosphate?

Phosphorus is a nutrient vital to human, animal, and plant life. It is one of the most common substances in our environment, naturally occurring in our food, our water and our bodies. In your body, phosphorus is present in your genes, your teeth, and your bones — even your muscles work because of the phosphorus in adenosine triphosphate.

Phosphate is an ingredient in manufacturing of fertilizer products. In the Nitrophosphate process or Odda Process (invented in 1927), phosphate rock with up to a 20% phosphorus (P) content is dissolved with nitric acid (HNO3) to produce a mixture of phosphoric acid (H3PO4) and calcium nitrate (Ca(NO3)2). This can be combined with a potassium fertilizer to produce a compound fertilizer with all three N:P:K: plant nutrients in easily dissolved form.

Phosphate rock can also be processed into water-soluble phosphate (P2O5) with the addition of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) to make the phosphoric acid in phosphate fertilizers. Phosphate can also be reduced in an electric furnace to make high purity phosphorus; however, this is more expensive than the acid process.

Potash can be used to make potassium (K) fertilizers. All commercial potash deposits come originally from marine deposits and are often buried deep in the earth.


Looking for a job in the Phosphate Industry?

FertilizerRecruitment has strong ties with the Urea and Ammonia Fertilizer industry and has spent the last 5-8 years specializing towards this specific industrial branch. As of 2013 FertilizerRecruitment is also surveying the phosphate fertilizer industry. As the production of phosphate fertilizers differs from the ammonia/urea related fertilizer a strong emphasis is placed on mining, solid state chemistry and solid state operations.

FertilizerRecruitment offers divers HR Services to our clients, like:

  • Actif Search (executive, management & specialists search & headhunting)
  • Support Interim (we offer freelance & temporary labour workforce – min. Bachelor degree)
  • HR-Legal Services (assist clients regarding labourcontracts, legal issues etc)
  • Smartflecs (managing temporary labour)
  • 1on1careercoaching
  • ScanTalents (assessments in 30 languages)
  • SafeArbo (risk management)
  • ImpactServices (assisting foreign employees with housing, immigration-legal issues)
  • LeanExcellence (assist clients towards Operational Excellence)

The phosphate based fertilizers are made by a long list of companies like:

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