TECHNOLOGIES / NBPT
The nitrogen that doesn't evaporate.
NBPT (N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide) is a urease inhibitor built into CEON’s nitrogen fertilizers to stop urea from turning into gas before your crop can use it.
The problem: Urea is the most widely used nitrogen source in the world, but it has a weak point: soil urease enzymes convert it into ammonia within as little as 48 hours of application. When that happens faster than the ammonium can be absorbed by soil or roots, it volatilizes — escapes into the air as gas. Research has measured losses of up to 40% of applied nitrogen this way, especially with surface-applied, unincorporated urea. That’s nitrogen the grower paid for and never got.
How it works: NBPT is a competitive urease inhibitor: it temporarily binds to the active site of the urease enzyme itself, physically blocking urea from reaching it. This doesn’t stop the conversion to ammonium permanently — it slows it down, buying days rather than hours. In that window, urea has time to move into the soil profile (via irrigation, rainfall, or incorporation) before hydrolysis happens, and the ammonium it produces gets held on soil exchange sites instead of escaping as gas.
Keeps more of the applied nitrogen where the root zone can reach it
Reduces the urgency of immediate incorporation or irrigation after application
Most valuable exactly where growers are most exposed: surface-applied urea, delayed rainfall, warm conditions
Protects the economics of every tonne of urea-based fertilizer applied
Where it fits
NBPT is used across CEON’s Plant Nutrition and Specialty Fertilizers lines wherever urea is the nitrogen base — and is frequently paired with DMPP or DCD (see below) for full-cycle nitrogen protection: NBPT slows the urea → ammonium step, the nitrification inhibitors slow the ammonium → nitrate step that follows.
