Development Feasibilities of Glauconite as an Alternate Source of Potash in India : Pros and Cons

摘要

In the present paper,a brief review on the techno-economic extraction feasibility of glauconite-bearing rock as a possible alternate non-conventional source of potash fertilizer in the potash-starved India is given.Limiting factors in the development of indigenous glauconitic rock resources as direct or in a modified form of K fertilizer identified include i)the low K2O concentration in glauconite vis-a-vis conventional potash fertilizer,ii)the locked presence of potash content in silicate structure in glauconite requiring extensive energy intensive thermal or acid leaching process routes to get the available K released in water soluble form,iii)non-commensurate enrichment and recovery efficiency of K2O after beneficiation,iv)limiting marketing radius,v)effects of non-potash constituents present in the glauconitic rock on their direct application to the soil,and vi)the issue of project economics.The paper simultaneously reviews the application feasibility of glauconite as an alternate source of K fertilizer in ground,enriched or in modified form on account of its advantageous properties like the slow and sustainable potash releasing characteristics,soil conditioning abilities,intrinsic crop protection and cationic exchange properties etc.Necessity of comprehensive sequential and holistic investigation of the subject by a multidisciplinary scientific team comprising of domain specific specialists at the highest policy-making level with the task of providing a road map on the future uses of indigenous glauconite resources is advocated.