InterPore2021

Targeted delivery of fertilizer in coarse textured soils using foam as carrier

1 Jun 2021, 10:00

1h

Poster (+) Presentation (MS2) Porous Media for a Green World: Water & Agriculture Poster +

Speaker

Mohammad Javad Shojaei (Imperial College London)

Description

Agrochemicals and fertilizers are central to modern agriculture and are credited with the large increase of crop yield as part of the Green Revolution of the 1960’s. Timely and targeted fertilizer application is an important component for reducing costs and minimizing unintended release to the environment and water resource pollution. The efficiency of highly mobile fertilizers (i.e., nitrate) is affected by drainage and preferential flow pathways that bypass root bearing soil volumes. We report a novel liquid fertilizer delivery method using foam as carrier. The highly controlled transport of foam (defined as a dispersion of gas in a continuous liquid phase) in coarse soils (most susceptible to unstable flows) offers a means for targeted delivery to desired root zone volumes at concentrations and floe geometry that minimizes losses and promote its uptake. As proof of concept we conducted transport experiments in cylindrical soil columns using foam and conventional fertilizer application. Our results show that foam-assisted fertilizer application decreased the leaching of fertilizer and improved its retention in the soil column potentially offering a vehicle for fertilizer delivery in soil.

References

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Etesami, H. and S.M. Adl, Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and their action mechanisms in availability of nutrients to plants, in Phyto-Microbiome in Stress Regulation. 2020, Springer. p. 147-203.
Koch, M., et al., The importance of nutrient management for potato production Part I: Plant nutrition and yield. Potato Research, 2020. 63(1): p. 97-119.
Shojaei, M.J., et al., Foam flow investigation in 3D-printed porous media: fingering and gravitational effects. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 2018. 57(21): p. 7275-7281.
Shojaei, M.J., et al., Foam stability influenced by displaced fluids and by pore size of porous media. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 2018. 58(2): p. 1068-1074.
Shojaei, M.J., et al., Dynamics of foam flow in a rock fracture: Effects of aperture variation on apparent shear viscosity and bubble morphology. Journal of colloid and interface science, 2019. 552: p. 464-475.