Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP)
IUPAC name diammonium hydrogen phosphate;
Chemical formula (NH4)2(HPO4)
It is one of a series of water-soluble ammonium phosphate salts that can be produced when ammonia reacts with phosphoric acid.
DAP is used as a fertilizer.
When applied as plant food, it temporarily increases the soil pH, but over a long term the treated ground becomes more acidic than before, upon nitrification of the ammonium.
DAP can be used as a fire retardant.
It lowers the combustion temperature of the material, decreases maximum weight loss rates, and causes an increase in the production of residue or char.
These are important effects in fighting wildfires as lowering the pyrolysis temperature and increasing the amount of char formed reduces that amount of available fuel and can lead to the formation of a firebreak.
DAP is also used as a yeast nutrient in winemaking and mead-making.
DAP as an additive in some brands of cigarettes purportedly as a nicotine enhancer.
DAP used to prevent afterglow in matches, in purifying sugar.
As a flux for soldering tin, copper, zinc and brass.
To control precipitation of alkali-soluble and acid-insoluble colloidal dyes on wool.
Why it is in news?
Russian companies have ceased offering fertiliser such as di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) to India at discounted prices due to tightening global supplies.
The move by Russian companies to offer fertilisers at market prices could increase India’s import costs and subsidy burden amid a rally in global prices, as top exporter, China, tries to curtail overseas sales.
India’s fertiliser imports from Russia more than tripled to a record 4.35 million tons in the 2022-23 financial year as suppliers gave discounts to the global market price for DAP, urea and NPK fertilisers.
Russia’s aggressive selling last year eroded the Indian market share of other fertiliser exporters including China, Egypt, Jordan, and the UAE.
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