The birth of the International Standard for controlled release Fertilizer led by China

Editor's Note Recently, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) officially promulgated the international standard for controlled-release fertilizers developed by China. This international standard, jointly formulated by China Shanghai Institute of Chemical Industry, Jinzhengda Group, Shandong Agricultural University and other units, fills the gap that there is no unified controlled-release fertilizer standard in the world so far, and becomes a "gold standard" in the field of controlled-release fertilizers in the world. Today, this newspaper will tell readers about the tortuous experience behind China's formulation of international standards for controlled-release fertilizers, as well as the painstaking scientific research of Chinese researchers and industry leaders, breaking through foreign technical barriers, and realizing the take-off process from backward technology to world leadership in the field of controlled-release fertilizers.

"In September 2012, at the Washington Conference in the United States, we formally proposed the international standard for controlled-release fertilizers. After the proposal, the debate was fierce. Foreign experts said that it was only a few years since your country developed controlled-release fertilizers. Whether you can produce them now is still a problem." Liu Gang, director of the Testing Center of Shanghai Institute of Chemical Industry and a witness to the formulation of international standards for controlled-release fertilizers led by China, recalled that the scene of the standard application stage was still fresh in memory.

A few days ago, experts and scholars who participated in the formulation of the international standard described the difficult and tortuous process from application to final approval at the "Seminar on the Promulgation and Implementation of International Standards for Controlled Release Fertilizers" jointly sponsored by Shanghai Research Institute of Chemical Industry, Strategic Alliance for Technology Innovation of Controlled Release Fertilizer Industry, National Engineering Technology Research Center for Controlled Release Fertilizers and Jinzhengda Group in Beijing. From this, we can see the fierce competition among countries in the world in the formulation of "rules of the game." In this special battlefield, smoke is everywhere. In order to seize the international discourse power of industry, all countries try their best, but the ultimate winner must be the most powerful king in scientific research and industry.

Liu Gang said that before the international standard for controlled-release fertilizers was proposed, China had done a lot of work on controlled-release fertilizers,"for example, the national standard for controlled-release fertilizers in 2009 and the industry standard for controlled-release fertilizers in 2012 were jointly formulated by Shanghai Research Institute of Chemical Industry, Jinzhengda Group and Shandong Agricultural University."

"However, some foreigners 'understanding of China's fertilizer industry is still stuck in the 1970s and 1980s. When international standards were first proposed, their first reaction was: Can you still do this? They object without looking at the indicators, especially the United States and Canada, which are supposed to lead the way in setting international standards." Chen Hongkun, vice president of Jin Zhengda Group, the main participant in this international standard, said.

It is understood that Jinzhengda Group is a leading enterprise in the R & D and production of high-tech fertilizers in China. The Group attaches great importance to the independent R & D of new fertilizers. As early as 2006, it has mastered the core key technologies of controlled-release fertilizers and built the world's largest controlled-release fertilizer production base. The production and sales volume ranks first in the world for 7 consecutive years. At present, the market value ranks first among listed fertilizer companies in China.

In 2010, Jin Zhengda Group took the lead in establishing the Technology Innovation Alliance for Controlled Release Fertilizer Industry, and established the National Controlled Release Fertilizer Engineering Technology Research Center in 2012. The group has undertaken many national tasks, including the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" and "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" national science and technology plans for controlled-release fertilizers, issued a white paper on the development of controlled-release fertilizers industry, and won two national science and technology progress awards.

Jin Zhengda implements a strategy of scientific and technological innovation and standard-led. Chen Hongkun said that Jin Zhengda attaches great importance to the formulation of standards. Since 2007, he has participated in the formulation of industry standards for controlled-release fertilizers, obtained a large amount of analysis and test data, and then participated in the drafting and formulation of international standards for controlled-release fertilizers.

Before the international standard of controlled-release fertilizer was issued, it was basically an enterprise standard in various countries, and the international standard had always been blank. "Enterprise standards are confidential. I'm very impressed. China exports controlled-release fertilizers to Germany. The test results are qualified when he says they are qualified, and unqualified when he says they are unqualified. He never says what test method is used." Liu Gang said.

In fact, China has been trying to participate in the development of international standards for controlled-release fertilizers for many years, but it has not been able to squeeze in. "There is a prerequisite for the development of international standards, there must be five or more countries agree to participate in the development of this standard, this standard can be established, if less than five countries, this standard can not be established." So we did a lot of work during the standard project approval process, and finally 7 countries expressed their willingness to participate in the formulation of China-led controlled-release fertilizer standards."

The standard formulation can be established, but after the NWD draft of the working draft was submitted in June 2013, many developed countries in the world raised doubts. According to Liu Gang, these countries question what China has done and what qualifications it has to set standards. "In fact, some international fertilizer production enterprises do not know what scale controlled release fertilizer is in China. When I communicated with them, I said that Jin Zhengda's production scale is 300,000 to 400,000 tons. They laughed and said that the world adds up to no more than 1 million tons. China adds up to 500,000 tons. In fact, Jin Zhengda can produce 2000 tons a day. The actual production capacity is 600,000 tons. Therefore, through the formulation of this standard, international counterparts have also gained a new understanding of China's fertilizer industry."

Next, China formally submitted the CD draft of the working draft in October 2013, and voted on the CD draft in December. "The final vote was held in March 2014, when there were 21 members, and many countries were interested in becoming voting countries. At that time, the situation was very serious. Only 10 votes from 21 countries agreed, and no more than half of the votes were cast. The debate at the meeting was very heated. I am worried that this standard will not be able to continue." Liu Gang recalled that after the meeting, Chinese standard makers and representatives of various countries conducted a lot of communication work,"We translated Chinese standards into English for them to see, They only know that as early as 2009 China already has a national standard for controlled-release fertilizer."

In fact, controlled-release fertilizer is a new type of intelligent environment-friendly fertilizer, which is a cutting-edge technology based on the demand law of plants for nutrients, using modern plant nutrition theory and jointly controlling the release of nutrients. Controlled release fertilizer adopts coating materials with different properties. This layer of high-tech coating is full of nano-level micropores. These micropores are like "small switches" to regulate the release amount and fertilizer efficiency period of fertilizer nutrients in the soil, so that the supply of nutrients can be synchronized with the fertilizer demand for crop growth and development. When a large amount of nutrients are needed in the vigorous period of plant growth, the "small switches" are opened to control the release of more nutrients. When too much nutrition is not needed in the slow growth period of plants, The "little switch" closes to reduce nutrient release.