Have you heard about the uses of urea?
One of the reasons why urea is considered valuable by many industries is the applications of urea. Some of the most important uses of urea are as follows :
01.
Agriculture
One of the most important and major uses of urea is agriculture. They use urea or carbamide in the production of fertilizers containing nitrogen. Nitrogen is one of the most important elements that the plant needs and must be available to it.
When urea is added to the soil, it breaks down and produces ammonium. Ammonium is the form that the plant can easily absorb. In some types of soil, bacteria decompose ammonium and nitrate is produced. This substance is also one of the substances that the plant needs and plays an important role in many basic processes in the plant.
Entering nitrogenous compounds into water and runoff will be harmful and the environment will suffer serious damage. For this reason, when professional farmers want to use compounds containing urea, they do it at other times of irrigation.
02.
Industries
Industries are among other places that take advantage of the properties of urea. The names of some of these industries are as follows:
- One of the industries that need a lot of urea is the production of various resins.
- Plastic production industries are other places that use this material abundantly.
- The properties and characteristics of this material are used to produce various types of adhesives, such as urea formaldehyde and urea melamine formaldehyde.
- Potassium cyanate producing industries are among the other industries that use this substance.
- Urea compounds are used in the production of an explosive called urea nitrate.
03.
Automobile manufacturing
The automotive industry is moving towards the production of cars with the lowest amount of pollution. To achieve this goal, systems such as SCR and SNCR are used so that the least pollution enters the air. Urea plays a very important role in the production and construction of these systems.
Bluetec systems are an example of urea applications in automobile manufacturing. In this system, a solution containing carbonyl diamide with water base is injected into the exhaust system. The produced ammonia enters the hydrolysis process, reacts with nitrogen oxide and finally turns into water and nitrogen. Trucks and cars that use diesel fuels as the main source of energy have to transport the exhaust liquid, which is water-soluble urea.
04.
Laboratory
Other places where the effective presence of urea can be used is the production of chemical substances and compounds. If urea is in a concentration of 10 mM, it will be a very powerful substance and it will show interesting effects. This advantage and characteristics of urea can be used to increase the solubility of some types of proteins.
Good to know, they use a mixture of urea and choline chloride as a solvent similar to ionic liquids. Similar ionic solvents are also referred to as eutectic solvents. When urea is dissolved in one of these eutectic solvents, the proteins present in the solution do not multiply.
05.
Medicines and cosmetics
Creams that have the right amount of urea are good options for hydrating the skin. Urea is also used to treat conditions such as corns, eczema, dry skin, psoriasis, keratosis, corns, and keratotherapy. Other uses of urea in medicine include the following:
- Urea is also used to measure the amount of nitrogen in the blood.
- They use this substance as a marker to determine how the kidney is functioning.
- Urea is found in lower amounts in blood compared to markers such as creatinine.
- Urea is also used in making some hair conditioners and shampoos.
- In the medical field, they use the urea breath test to determine whether there is bacteria in a person’s stomach or not.
- This material is also used in the manufacture of depilatory materials and soap production.
06.
Airports
Another place where the space is well prepared for the use of urea is the production of antifreeze. Urea is referred to as an irreplaceable substance for anti-freeze and preventing the formation of ice on the road surface. In airports, this material is used so that the surface of the runway and the surface of the sidewalks do not freeze.
Other uses of urea
- One of the places where the properties of urea can be used and meet the existing needs well is the production of explosives.
- In lanthanide chemistry, urea has been introduced as a very important and useful reagent.
- They use this material to produce polyurethane foams.
- Urea is also used in textile coatings.
- When molding is needed, the properties and advantages of urea appear very helpful.
- In special animal feed, this substance is used to enhance animal growth.
- Urea is also used in the production and manufacture of fertilizers and food supplements.
- Urea is used in factories to create brown color.
- Urea is also used in making tooth whitening toothpastes.
- In non-linear optics, urea is used to create fluctuations in optical parameters.
- Urea is used for geo-engineering purposes and to provide plankton with the nutrients they need in the laboratory.
- Yeasts use diammonium phosphate and urea together to convert sugar into ethanol.
- In textile dye bath, urea is used as an additive to increase the humidity of the bath and increase its solubility.
- They use urea to produce plywood.
- Urea is widely used in the production of plastic and medicine.
- Urea is used to produce dishwashing soap.
