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A Degradable Inverse Vulcanized Copolymer as a Coating Material for Urea Produced under Optimized Conditions
Ali Shaan Manzoor Ghumman1,2, Rashid Shamsuddin1,2, Mohamed Mahmoud Nasef3
1Chemical Engineering Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia.
Polymers
|November 27, 2021
Summary
This study optimized inverse vulcanized terpolymers from vegetable oils for slow-release urea fertilizer coatings. The green polymer enhances nutrient uptake efficacy and shows improved biodegradability, offering a sustainable agricultural solution.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Polymer Chemistry
- Agricultural Science
Background:
- Chemical fertilizers enhance crop yield but suffer from poor nutrient uptake efficacy (NUE), leading to economic losses and environmental pollution.
- Encapsulating urea with hydrophobic materials offers a potential solution for controlled nutrient release.
- Inverse vulcanized copolymers from vegetable oils are biodegradable, sulfur-enriched polymers with potential for controlled release applications, but require optimization to minimize unreacted sulfur.
Purpose of the Study:
- To optimize inverse vulcanization reaction conditions to minimize unreacted sulfur in vegetable oil-based copolymers using Response Surface Methodology (RSM).
- To synthesize and characterize a terpolymer by adding diisopropenyl benzene (DIB) as a crosslinker to further maximize sulfur conversion.
- To evaluate the nutrient release longevity and biodegradability of urea granules coated with the developed terpolymer.
Main Methods:
- Optimization of inverse vulcanization reaction conditions using Response Surface Methodology (RSM).
- Characterization of the synthesized copolymer using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).
- Coating of urea granules with the terpolymer and evaluation of nutrient release in distilled water and biodegradability via soil burial tests.
Main Results:
- Optimized conditions yielded a copolymer with 82.2% sulfur conversion, closely matching the predicted 82.37%.
- The terpolymer coating on urea granules demonstrated controlled nutrient release, with only 65% of nutrients released after 40 days.
- Soil burial tests showed significant biodegradability of the terpolymer, with a 26% weight loss over 52 days.
Conclusions:
- The developed inverse vulcanized terpolymer is an effective coating material for urea, providing significantly improved nutrient release longevity compared to other biopolymers.
- The terpolymer exhibits favorable biodegradability, addressing environmental concerns associated with conventional fertilizers.
- These sulfur-enriched copolymers show potential for enhancing sulfur oxidation in agricultural applications.
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