Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)The aim of this work was to evaluate the influence of the operating conditions on the coating efficiency for urea coated in a spouted bed and to analyse the decrease of nitrogen volatilisation for the coated urea. Coating efficiencies in the range (from 44.24% to 73.7%) were obtained for the different process conditions applied. Volatilisation analyses showed that the polymer film coating provided a decrease of the nitrogen loss in the range from 3% to 57%. The use of vinasse in substitution to the water in the coating suspension was tested for the optimum process conditions. (c) 2012 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering913589597Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)