U of S Researchers get $320,000

Posted April 01, 1998


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 1, 1998
98-04-02-ENG

U of S Researchers get $320,000 to
study moisture
control in fertilizer exports

University of Saskatchewan engineering researchers will
get $320,000 in corporate and federal funding to find ways
of preventing deterioration of fertilizer exports in hot or
humid climates.

The four-year project is funded 50-50 by PCS Potash, a
subsidiary of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc., and
the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
(NSERC), Canada s largest scientific granting council.

A five-person research team led by engineering professor
Robert Besant will identify fertilizer shipping, handling and
storage conditions that will decrease the risk of caking due
to water vapor accumulation in humid climates or of
particle breakdown and dust formation in hot areas.

Very little research has been done anywhere on this
problem, Besant said.

PCS officials say the project will ensure continued high
quality of Saskatchewan potash exports, noting PCS is the
largest fertilizer producer in the world. They stressed
climate problems affect only a tiny percentage of potash
exports.

The team, which includes professors Shahab Sokhansanj
and Hugh Wood, will study the response of fertilizers to
different climates, sensor technology for monitoring the
condition of fertilizers, and computer models for predicting
changes to fertilizer quality en route to customers.

The project will enable the engineering college to hire a
couple of graduate students and two post-doctoral
students to assist in the research, Besant said.

The researchers will use PCS s fertilizer product testing and
climate simulation facilities at Innovation Place.

The new research builds on previous U of S work on
moisture control in other agricultural export such as alfalfa
pellets, Besant said.

He said the team is pleased to be awarded the NSERC grant
especially since the council awarded grants to only 25 per
cent of applicants in the latest industrially oriented
research grants competition.

The three-way partnership represents a new approach to
funding university research, he said.

We are working hard to form partnerships with industry so
that we can get this kind of matching funding, he said.

For more information, contact:

Professor Robert Besant
Mechanical Engineering
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-5452
FAX: (306) 966-5427