Quantifying water release into the soil from water absorbing polymers under drought conditions

Saha, Abhisekh, Sekharan, Sreedeep, Manna, Uttam and Tripathy, Snehasis ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1632-7668 2025. Quantifying water release into the soil from water absorbing polymers under drought conditions. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering

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Abstract

The use of water absorbing polymers (WAPs) is evolving as an amicable solution for preserving soil moisture and promoting vegetation cover under extreme drought conditions associated with changing climate. WAPs can absorb significant amount of irrigation/rainwater and release water to soil when moisture deficit occurs. As compared to the water absorbing characteristics, comprehensive information on the water release characteristics of WAPs when interacting with various soil types is scarce in the literature. The objective of this study is to develop an experimental methodology for understanding the water release characteristics (WRCs) of different WAPs in various soils. A horizontal soil column test (HSCT) setup was used for studying the WRCs of two WAPs [fly ash-derived WAP (FA-WAP) and commercially available acrylic-based WAP (Com-WAP)] in three different soils (sand, silt loam, and clay loam). The tests were conducted on dry soils and with the WAPs at two initial conditions, including fully hydrated conditions and limited water availability conditions. A two-parameter kinetic equation was found suitable for quantifying the water release characteristics of the WAPs both in (a) soils and (b) atmosphere. The study revealed that the dry soils in contact with the FA-WAP able to quickly achieve more than 95% saturation within 12 hours whereas the dry soils in contact with Com-WAP remain well below full saturation after the same time interval. The different combinations of soils and WAPs suggests better efficiency of FA-WAP and clay loam soil for higher WRC if sufficient amount of water is available in WAP. The water release rate from FA-WAP to dry soil was found to be much higher than the Com-WAP during initial stage. Under the limited water availability conditions, FA-WAP was able to release 97% of the total absorbed water to the initially dry soils as compared to Com-WAP where 90% of the stored water was released.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Engineering
Publisher:	American Society of Civil Engineers
ISSN:	0733-9437
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	7 March 2025
Date of Acceptance:	20 February 2025
Last Modified:	10 Mar 2025 15:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/176721

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