The fertilizer release into water and soil as the biodegradation process in the sustainable material enhancing the fertilizer efficiency

Abstract

Encouraging the development of sustainable agriculture is very important to reduce the negative effects of land overuse. Enhanced efficiency fertilizer combined with sustainable policies improves the effectiveness of fertilizer use. However, there is a gap in the literature to comprise how these materials behave concerning biodegradation, release in water, and soil, demanding more research. Composites of poly (3-hydroxybutyrate), sugarcane bagasse fibers, and potassium nitrate were melting-processed in an internal mixer chamber with different approaches to best trap the nutrient. For this purpose, we evaluated the composites regarding the nutrient release, in water and soil, and biodegradability. In water, the material with fibers released 20% less fertilizer than those without fibers during the first 9 h. The mathematical modeling performed to the release data indicated a predominance of the Peppas–Sahlin model among the three models studied. Also, fibers induced a decrease in nutrients lixiviation and favored biodegradation due to polymer crystallinity reduction. Sugarcane bagasse composites display the potential to slow the nutrients release and reduce the amount of polymer. • It is relevant the use of biopolymers and natural fibers for agricultural purposes. • The fibers decreased the lixiviation process in the soil. • The fibers decrease the matrix crystallinity favoring the biodegradation. • PA#2: Melt the polymer first incorporates better the nutrient and fibers. • The nutrient release occurs by diffusion and relaxation.