Urea is an effective, neutral nitrogen-based fertiliser with a nitrogen content of 44-48%. It has the highest nitrogen content of all solid nitrogenous fertilisers in common use, and therefore has the lowest transportation costs per unit of nitrogen nutrient. Urea is suitable for various crops and land, and will not leave any residue in the soil. Urea is highly soluble in water and therefore also very suitable for use in fertiliser solutions (in combination with ammonium nitrate). It can be produced as prills, granules, flakes, pellets, crystals and solutions.
Solid urea is marketed as prills or granules. The advantage of prills is that they can be produced more cheaply than granules because of its smaller particle size, therefore it has an advantage over prills when applied mechanically to the soil. Properties such as impact strength, crushing strength and free-flowing behaviour are particularly important in product handling, storage and bulk transportation.
