Research on the use of agricultural waste to manufacture highly hygroscopic materials for agricultural applications

Abstract

Material based on hydrogel from rice-straw with high absorption capacity and slow water release was prepared by cryogenic method, using citric acid as cross-linker and without creating waste stream to the environment. The structure and properties of the material were characterized by SEM, XRD, FTIR and TGA method. The results showed that the largest water absorbency of the material reached 30.67g/g, 4.48 times higher than the original rice-straw. The material was able to slowly release water in 6 days at room temperature and return water absorption of 3.97 g/g when reusing the material. In addition, the material is biodegradable and biocompatible. With the obtained results and simple, inexpensive, environmentally friendly method, this is a material that can be industrially produced and widely used in green agriculture.