Environmentalist (2008) 28:231235 DOI 10.

1007/s10669-007-9133-5

Nutrient-impregnated charcoal: an environmentally friendly slow-release fertilizer

Modabber Ahmed Khan Ki-Wook Kim Wang Mingzhi Bu-Kug Lim Weon-Hee Lee Jong-Yoon Lee

Published online: 15 September 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Abstract The widespread contamination of surface and ground water quality from the heavy use of fertilizer in modern agriculture is the current concern. Therefore, this study was carried out to develop a slow-release fertilizer using charcoal. The morphology of the charcoal impregnated fertilizer was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). This study also evaluated the release patterns of N, P, and K from impregnated charcoal using a simulated soil solution and distilled water as leaching solutions. The patterns of N, P, and K releases were examined in both static and continuous-ow conditions for 360 h. Releases of N, P, and K from impregnated charcoal were found to be slow and steady. However, the release trends of N, P, and K were higher in soil solution than distilled water under both the above conditions. Dissolution occurred when N, P, and K were released in the above leached solutions. As a result, the fertilizer impregnated charcoal could be developed as slow-release type fertilizer to minimize the contamination. Keywords Charcoal Slow-release Fertilizer Impregnation

1 Introduction Mismanagement of fertilizer, whether organic or inorganic, used in conventional agriculture is well known in inefciencies of plant nutrient use, leading to a loss in farmer prots, potential damage to the environment, and insufcient use of energy (Mortain et al. 2004). Nutrient leaching in soils, with low nutrient retention capacity causes low crop yields and contaminates the ground water (Nelson and Logan 1983; Rao 1991). Slow-release fertilizers have low solubility and can provide a gradual nutrient supply for a long period of time, which improves the nutrient uptake efciency of fertilizer and reduces leaching losses (Escobar et al. 2004; Trenkel 1997). In the last two decades, several types of slow-release fertilizer have been developed and tested to address these concerns (Notario et al. 1995). There are 16 essential nutrients required for plant growth. Among them N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and S are the macro nutrients and the others are micro nutrients (Samual et al. 1995). By impregnation of fertilizer nutrients into charcoal, a supply of major macro nutrients (N, P, and K) will be available for the plant slowly. The key advantage of using fertilizer impregnated charcoal is that it does not need any microbial activity to be released because fertilizer solution is slowly diffused through the cell pit aperture. It has been reported that wood-derived charcoal is useful as a soil amendment, for water purication, and other similar functions (Yatagi et al. 1995; Pulido et al. 1996; Matsumoto 1999). These utilizations are based on charcoals high stability and making a slow-release fertilizer is a new dimension of wood use. This study deals with the impregnation of fertilizer into the charcoal and also documents the release patterns of N, P, and K from impregnated charcoal under both static and continuous-ow conditions to evaluate the release properties of fertilizer impregnated charcoal.

M. A. Khan K.W. Kim W. Mingzhi B.K. Lim W.H. Lee J.Y. Lee (&) Department of Wood Science & Technology, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Republic of Korea e-mail: jyulee@knu.ac.kr M. A. Khan (&) e-mail: manet@knu.ac.kr

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2 Materials and methods Oak wood (Quercus mongolica) was used for this study because it is a most durable wood in terms of strength and tolerance to heat. The air dried oak wood samples were rst cut into pieces and subsequently carbonized at 600C for 4 h in a mufe furnace, resulting in a porous charcoal. Charcoal was then placed in a rotary vacuum evaporator with fertilizer solution and rotated for 24 h at 100C. After the impregnation procedure, the samples were transferred in an electronic furnace at 105C for 24 h. The resulting charcoals were then stored for further experiments. A complete pellet type fertilizer (Green house grade, Haifa chemicals, France) used for this study provides complete plant nutrition, and all nutrients (NPK) are readily available for plant uptake form. The major chemical composition of that fertilizer is given in Table 1. The morphological changes of the charcoal after impregnation process were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM, Hitachi, S-570). Two different solutions, distilled water and a simulated soil solution, were used as leaching solutions to examine the NPK release patterns from impregnated charcoals. The simulated soil solution consisted of 5 mM CaCl2, 1 mM MgCl2, and 0.25 mM KCl (Baker 1973). The NPK release was examined under two different conditions, static and continuous-ow conditions. In static conditions, three pieces of charcoal each weighing a total of 650 mg, lled with selected fertilizer, were immersed in 500 ml of leaching solution. The concentrations of NPK released from impregnated charcoal into the solution were monitored with immersion time. In continuous-ow condition, the same weight of impregnated charcoal was deposited on a glass column. A separating funnel was placed at the top end of the glass column as a reservoir of the leaching solution. The leaching solution was continuously eluted through the column at a ow rate of 10 2 ml/h. The efuent was collected at selected intervals for determination of the concentration of released NPK. All solutions were analyzed by elemental analyzer and inductively coupled plasma
Table 1 Chemical compositions of common pellet fertilizer Compositions N P K Mg Fe B Mn Zn Cu Mo Amount (%) 20 9 20 2 0.025 0.02 0.015 0.0045 0.003 0.0015

spectroscopy, respectively. In addition, samples were analyzed in triplicate. 3 Results and discussion 3.1 Chemical composition of fertilizer The major chemical composition of the selected fertilizer is given in Table 1. The fertilizer contains 20:9:20 NPK with other seven micro-nutrients like magnesium, iron, boron, manganese, zinc, copper, and molybdenum. This fertilizer has no other impurities like sodium and chloride. They are 100% nutrients and these nutrients are easily absorbed by plants. 3.2 SEM analysis The cellular micro structure of the oak wood is presented in Fig. 1, which shows the oak charcoal has numerous hollow channels of various diameters that originated from tracheid cells. The channels can be classied into three groups, depending on cross-sectional area: large, medium-sized, and small channels, which form honey comb structures (Qian et al. 2004). In addition, most of the cellular pores showed a round or elliptical shape. SEM micrographs of the resulting composites are shown in Fig. 2. It is seen that crystalline structures appear in the core portion and surface of the charcoal (Fig. 2a, b) and also the cellular pores were uniformly lled up with fertilizer after impregnation process (Fig. 3a, b). 3.3 Release property of fertilizer compositions from charcoal Release experiment was conducted to determine the release rate of N, P, and K from impregnated charcoal. In case of

Fig. 1 SEM micrograph of carbonized oak wood obtained at 600C for 4 h

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Environmentalist (2008) 28:231235 Fig. 2 SEM micrographs of charcoal after impregnation procedure (a) vertical-section to axial direction of core portion, and (b) surface portion

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Fig. 3 SEM micrographs of charcoal after impregnation procedure (a) cross-section to axial direction of core portion, and (b) surface portion

static condition, Figs. 4, 5, and 6 show the release patterns of NPK in the presence of soil solution and distilled water, respectively. Releases of N, P, and K from impregnated charcoal in static conditions were found to increase over several days. Release patterns continued even after 360 h. All initial release rates and the cumulative released amount of N, P, and K were much higher in the soil solution than in distilled water. In addition, N and K releases by both leaching solutions were found to be nearly the same in both patterns and also higher than the release amount of P, although the amount of K was slightly higher than that of released N. Figs. 7, 8, and 9 show the release patterns of N, P, and K respectively, under the continuous-ow condition. These release patterns were comparable to those in the static solutions. The soil solution resulted in much higher initial release rate than those observed in distilled water. In soil solution, the release amount was higher in the rst 72 h in both distilled water and soil solution; thereafter the release amount became steady and continued up to 360 h. It has also been found that N, P, and K had an almost linear release pattern with increasing time (Notario 1995). Conclusively, it is apparent that the fertilizer compositions (NPK) that impregnated into the charcoal were released slowly and continuously in both methods. Thus, the results suggest that fertilizer impregnated charcoal will release nutrients slowly and minimize losses due to leaching and volatilization.

3.4 Nutrient release mechanism In hard wood species, usually large and small vessels and ber cells act like capsule for the retention of nutrient and they help for longitudinal penetration of the nutrient solution. When fertilizer solution is impregnated into the charcoal, it penetrates from one pore to another. The release of fertilizer nutrients depends on capillary pores and saturation of nutrients with leaching solutions. Smaller the pore size, lower the nutrient releasing rate. Also, differences of release patterns were due to the differences of chemical composition (NPK-%) present in selected fertilizer.
20 16

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Fig. 4 Release patterns of N from charcoal by distilled water and soil solution of static method

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Fig. 8 Release patterns of P from charcoal by distilled water and soil solution of ow method
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Fig. 5 Release patterns of P from charcoal by distilled water and soil solution of static method
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Fig. 9 Release patterns of K from charcoal by distilled water and soil solution of ow method

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Fig. 6 Release patterns of K from charcoal by distilled water and soil solution of static method

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from impregnated charcoal were slower in distilled water than a simulated soil solution. The release trends were higher in soil solution than distilled water in static and continuous-ow conditions. Capillary phenomenon and saturation occurred when N, P, and K were released into soil solution and distilled water. As a result, the fertilizer impregnated charcoal could function as a slow-release fertilizer that permits maximum uptake and utilization of the nutrients. Fertilizer impregnated into the charcoal does not contain any harmful coating materials that deteriorates the soil properties. Besides, the charcoal material adds organic matter after its decomposition.
Acknowledgment The Agricultural R & D Promotion Center (ARPC) of Korea (2030099-3) supported this work.

Conc. (ppm)

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Fig. 7 Release patterns of N from charcoal by distilled water and soil solution of ow method

References
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4 Conclusion In the present work common pellet type fertilizer was impregnated into the charcoal. The morphology of the resulting fertilizer impregnated charcoal was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. Release patterns of NPK

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