Microwave Assisted Synthesis of a Novel Biochar Based Slow Release Nitrogen Fertilizer with Enhanced Water Retention Capacity
Biochar based slow release nitrogen fertilizers (BSRFs) have been arousing a great deal of interest from researchers and academics, but many of these fertilizers do not possess water retention capacity. In this work, a polymer matrix has been introduced into NH4+ loaded biochar (N BC) using microwave (MW) irradiation, for the purpose of acting as a superabsorbent polymer to improve soil water retention capacity. The polymer matrix is composed of cotton stalks (CSs) acrylic acid (AA) 2 acrylamide 2 methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS) and bentonite (bent. N BC was prepared via the adsorption of NH4+ onto BC, and its adsorption behavior was investigated. The structure and properties of the resulting samples were characterized using various characterization methods. Results suggest that BSRFs could significantly improve the water holding and water retention capacity of soil. BSRFs effectively reduced the nitrogen release rate (69.8% of nitrogen was released after 30 days) and possessed low nitrogen leach.