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Evaluation of swelling properties of different biochar-doped hydrogels

  • Soils, Sec 1 • Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Nowadays, there is an increasing interest in hydrogel production and usability at different fields especially agricultural applications since biodegradable polymeric hydrogels can enhance the water retention capacity of soil and the nutritional status of plants. This work aimed to determine the biochar-doped hydrogel production and their swelling properties in deionized water, tap water, and saline water 0.5% and 1%. It was also evaluated that the phytotoxicological impacts on wheat seeds.

Method

The hydrogel production was realized using PVA-SA polymers and it contained different amounts of biochar from vineyard pruning wastes, dry leaves, and compost. The characterization analysis of the synthesized biochars, biochar-doped hydrogels, and raw hydrogels was realized by FT-IR and SEM. The swelling capacity, time-dependent swelling kinetics, re-swelling properties, and wheat germination and root-shoot elongation impacts of synthesized hydrogels were evaluated.

Results and conclusion

The hydrogels contained three types of biochar and showed different swelling properties in different aqueous media. The maximum and the minimum swelling capacity was determined in saline water (0.5% and 1%) and deionized water, respectively. The maximum time-dependent swelling capacity was determined at 0.1% leaf (as 193.2%) and vine pruning (as 142.6%) biochar-doped hydrogels, and 0.2% compost (128.93%) biochar-doped hydrogels. The phytotoxicological test results showed that the shoot length decreased by 42.06% for 0.4% LBHG, 27.5% for 0.4% VBHG, and 23.91% for 0.2% CBHG treatment. For hydrogel production, the threshold and eco-toxicological properties should be well determined for hydrogel and hydrogel additives.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by TUBITAK (Project No: 122N055). The authors are grateful to The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) for supports.

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  1. Engineering Faculty, Environmental Engineering Department, Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey

    Yağmur Uysal, Zeynep Görkem Doğaroğlu, Zehranur Çaylali & Mehmet Nuri Makas

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  1. Yağmur Uysal
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  2. Zeynep Görkem Doğaroğlu
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Uysal, Y., Doğaroğlu, Z.G., Çaylali, Z. et al. Evaluation of swelling properties of different biochar-doped hydrogels. J Soils Sediments 23, 3787–3805 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-023-03594-9

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