UAN Corrosion Management

Urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) is very popular source of nitrogen fertilizer in North America. The beauty of UAN is that it delivers a high concentration of both fast and slow release nitrogen nutrients in an aqueous form that can be stored at reasonable ambient temperatures. UAN owes much of its popularity to the ability of mixing herbicides with the UAN solution for one-pass application on the farm.

The downside of UAN is that it is highly corrosive to storage tanks, pipes, rail cars, and agricultural application equipment.

Left Untreated, UAN corrosion can lead to following detrimental impacts for producers:

• Unscheduled plant shutdowns
• Discoloration and sludge formation
• Damage to storage tanks and rail cars
• Increased maintenance and downtime costs
• Increased financial and environmental claims