Elemental analysis of Egyptian phosphate fertilizer components.

The accumulation of certain elements in vitally important media such as water, soil, and food is undesirable from the medical point of view. It is clear that the fertilizers vary widely in their heavy metals and uranium content. A shielded high purity germanium HPGe detector has been used to measure the natural concentration of 238U, 232Th, and 40K activities in the phosphate fertilizer and its components collected from Abu-Zaabal fertilizers and chemical industries in Egypt. The concentration ranges were 134.97-681.11 Bq kg(-1), 125.23-239.26 Bq kg(-1), and 446.11-882.45 Bq kg(-1) for 238U, 232Th, and 40K, respectively. The absorbed dose rate and external hazard index were found to be from 177.14 to 445.90 nGy h(-1) and 1.03 to 2.71 nGy y(-1), respectively. The concentrations of 22 elements (Be, Na, Mg, Si, P, S, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Sr, Zr, Mo, Cd, Ba) in the samples under investigation were determined by inductively coupled plasma optical-emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The results for the input raw materials (rock phosphate, limestone and sulfur) and the output product as final fertilizer are presented and discussed.