Preparation and properties of clay-based air-permeable and water-retention material

• Published in: Procedia engineering Vol. 27; pp. 475 - 481
• Main Authors: Zhang, Zengzhi, Wang, Botao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 2012
• Subjects: air-permeable and water-retention; germination rate; OP-10; sand fixation; soil particle; vegetable oil; vegetable oil; soil particle; sand fixation; germination rate; OP-10; air-permeable and water-retention
• ISSN: 1877-7058; 1877-7058
• DOI: 10.1016/j.proeng.2011.12.476

To solve the problem of available water conservation in sand fixation, the clay-based air-permeable and water-retention material which was used to plant grass and stabilize sand in desertification region was prepared with clay modified by emulsifying discarded vegetable oil and emulsifier OP-10. The water retention property was studied in simulating desertification environmental climate and the materials were characterized by means of UV-Vis, SEM, TG and porosity analysis. The result showed that the materials has excellent air-permeable and water-retention properties, which owning to that vegetable oil adhering evenly to clay particle surfaces, making the clay pores changing from hydrophilic to hydrophobic and so inhibiting the water evaporation. Grass-planting experiment showed that, with reasonable mass ratio of emulsifier, vegetable oil and soil particles being 1:4:20, the materials not only inhibits water evaporation but also maintains sound air permeability so shat the germination rate and survival rate of grass was significantly improved.