What are the environmental impacts of long-acting nitrogen fertilizers produced with dicyandiamide?

There are both positive and negative aspects of the environmental impacts of long-acting nitrogen fertilizers produced with dicyandiamide.

On the positive side:

- Reduction of water pollution: Dicyandiamide can inhibit the conversion of ammonium nitrogen to nitrate nitrogen, reducing the possibility of nitrate nitrogen being washed away by water. Once nitrate nitrogen enters water bodies, it can cause eutrophication and a series of environmental problems such as excessive growth of algae. The use of such long-acting nitrogen fertilizers can effectively reduce the amount of nitrogen leaching into water bodies, which is of positive significance for protecting the water quality of surface water and groundwater.

- Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions: Since the denitrification process of nitrogen in the soil is reduced, the emission of nitrous oxide (a greenhouse gas) is correspondingly decreased. During the denitrification process, microorganisms will produce nitrous oxide when converting nitrate nitrogen into nitrogen gas.

On the negative side:

- Risk of dicyandiamide residue: If dicyandiamide is not completely decomposed in the soil, there may be certain residues. Although dicyandiamide has relatively low toxicity, a large amount of residues may also affect the microbial community in the soil and interfere with the normal functions of the soil ecosystem.

- Pollution in the production process: If the environmental protection measures in the production process of dicyandiamide itself are not in place, pollutants such as wastewater and waste gas will be generated. For example, the production process may emit waste gas containing ammonia and cyanide, and the wastewater contains high concentrations of organic matter and ammonia nitrogen, all of which will cause pollution to the surrounding environment.