J Henry Fair: Industrial Scars

At this fertilizer plant, the phosphate rock is processed with sulfuric acid to convert the phosphate into phosphoric acid, and again with ammonia to produce a diammonium phosphate, which is water soluble and thus available for uptake by roots. For every ton of phosphoric acid, five tons of phosphogypsum waste are produced, which, due to the presence of naturally occurring uranium and radium, is radioactive. Therefore it must be stored in “gyp stacks,” contaminating ground and surface water.

		industrial scars

		Fertilizer


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	<		At this fertilizer plant, the phosphate rock is processed with sulfuric acid to convert the phosphate into phosphoric acid, and again with ammonia to produce a diammonium phosphate, which is water soluble and thus available for uptake by roots. For every ton of phosphoric acid, five tons of phosphogypsum waste are produced, which, due to the presence of naturally occurring uranium and radium, is radioactive. Therefore it must be stored in “gyp stacks,” contaminating ground and surface water.	>