Chemical Dosing

One of the great advantages of liquids is their ability to act as carriers for products such as trace elements, fungicides, inoculants etc.

In Western Australia UAN (eg. Flexi N) is frequently used as the carrier for these products. In South Australia both Phosphoric acid and water have been used for similar purposes.

Dosing of the carrier liquid can be achieved by a number of methods.

1. Tank Mixing
2. Percentage based Mechanical Dosing
3. Electronic Variable Dosing

Tank Mixing

This is by introducing the desired additive product to the main tank / carrier liquid and mixing as a batch. Always make sure that products are compatible! Normally, good agitation is essential --- ensure you use one of our systems with 'Level 2' agitation'.  However, there are exceptions - please refer to Product Compatibility.  Our systems are designed in such a way as to be able to accommodate these differing scenarios.

Percentage Based Mechanical Dosing

Percentage based Mechanical Dosing systems are a means of introducing products to the carrier liquid. Typically they are positive displacement  mechanical devices activated by the flow of the carrier liquid and adjusted manually to a percentage of that flow. Such devices generally have percentage ranges (eg. 0.2-1.6%, 0.5-2.0%, 1-10%, 5-20%) of carrier flow.  Precise carrier rates are essential for these systems to function correctly as dosing rates are inextricably tied to carrier rates.

There are some issues to consider, however!

Questions that you must ask.

•  With this apparatus, how can I be sure that it’s actually operating, if for instance I’m using it at night?
•  How can I be absolutely sure that I’m applying the correct rate (eg. have I a means of monitoring its performance)?
•  If I am using this proportional pumping apparatus can I change rates on-the-go?
•  If I’m intending to integrate this system with VRC (eg. using variable rate technology to apply the carrier liquid), does the targeted application rate of my dosed product also change?
•  Would I require an agitation system for the dosing products tank if I wanted to apply several products at once using a single unit?
•  Can the pulsing created by these mechanisms affect the performance of controllers?

* Always make sure that products are compatible!

Electronic Dosing. (Variable Rate technology)

This is the most advanced method of chemical dosing and is usually utilized in conjunction with variable rate application of the carrier. For instance, utilizing GPS mapping to precisely apply liquid fertilizer at varying rates according to soil requirements usually means that trace elements or other chemicals need to be applied at rates that are at odds to a fixed ratio to the carrier liquid.

• Ensure the flow ability of product.
• Ensure that the application rate is within system design parameters.