Preparation of Hydrogel from Agriculture Waste For the Improvement of Soil Irrigation System

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The uncontrolled decomposition of waste from agro industrial sources can result in large-scale contamination of land, water, and air. Therefore recycling of agro-industrial waste for developing value added products is established as a solution to this problem. Agricultural industry is boosted by smart polymeric materials because of their high water and mineral retention capacity. Therefore hydrogels made from plant wastes like dead dry leaves and industrial cotton waste act as smart immobilising system, due to their day-to-day applications in modern waste management system. METHODS: The hydrogels were extracted from leaf and cotton waste using acid alkali hydrolysis followed by gel formation using dry cellulose, N, N-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA), potassium per sulfate (KPS), and neutralized acrylic acid (AA). The hydrogels obtained were checked for physical parameters like water retention capacity, absorbency and optical parameters like Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, X-Ray Diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy. FINDING and CONCLUSION: This experimental study mainly focused on how to increase the productivity of hydrogels from agro-industrial waste. The hydrogels were characterized by NMR, XRD and FESEM -EDX. This research also discussed the application of novel and advanced hydrogels with their applications in sanitary and irrigation industries.