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Increasing the Fertilizer Efficiency of Potassium Silicate by Co-Pyrolysis and Chemical Activation

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Abstract

Brazil relies on imported potassium (K) fertilizers despite having reserves of K silicate rocks, such as glauconite. There is an interest in pyrolysis to produce biochar as a nutrient source for crop growth. So far, few studies have explored the pyrolysis on increasing K availability from silicate rocks. We aimed to evaluate the effect of co-pyrolysis of coffee husk with different proportions of glauconite with and without KOH activation on K solubility and in maize growth. Maize was cultivated under greenhouse conditions and received K fertilization (300 mg kg− 1) through coffee husk biochar, coffee husk biochar co-pyrolyzed with 10%, 25%, and 50% of glauconite, coffee husk biochar co-pyrolyzed with 10%, 25%, and 50% of glauconite and 5% KOH, pristine glauconite, pyrolyzed glauconite, pyrolyzed glauconite with 5% KOH, a commercial dose of glauconite (10% of K2O), KCl (positive control), and control without K. Maize was grown for 57 days, and after harvest, the soil was analyzed to determine K availability. The results showed that KOH activation increased K solubility, resulting in 85% of KCl shoot production. Furthermore, KOH activation was found to break the crystalline structure of glauconite and K-feldspar during co-pyrolysis with coffee husk, increasing the total content and available K in soil. The study suggests that glauconite has limited agronomic efficiency and does not release K in the short term. Therefore, co-pyrolysis of glauconite with K-rich organic materials and KOH can increase the solubility of K from silicates, thereby increasing its fertilizer potential.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES - PROEX) and the Research Support Foundation of the State of Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG – Process number APQ-01159-21). LCA Melo is a research fellow of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq – Process number 311634/2021-4). We thank Livia Botelho and Marienne Duarte for their help with the analysis.

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  1. Aline do, Amaral Leite and Isabela Almeida Durães de Resende contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Science, Federal University of Lavras - UFLA, Lavras, Minas Gerais, 37200-900, Brazil

    Aline do Amaral Leite, Isabela Almeida Durães de Resende, Bruno Cocco Lago, Ana Maria Villarreal Barrera, Andrés Olaya Montes, Thiago de Assis Pereira, Daniela Dourado Leal Queiroz & Leônidas Carrijo Azevedo Melo

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  1. Aline do Amaral Leite
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Contributions

Conceptualization: LCAM, BCL, IADdR. Methodology: LCAM, BCL, IADdR, AdAL. Validation: all authors. Investigation: all authors. Formal analysis: all authors. Visualization: all authors. Writing - original draft: AdAL, LCAM, IADdR. Resources: LCAM. Supervision: LCAM. Project administration: LCAM. Funding acquisition: LCAM, Writing - review & and editing: all authors.

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Correspondence to Leônidas Carrijo Azevedo Melo.

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Leite, A.d.A., Resende, I.A.D.d., Lago, B.C. et al. Increasing the Fertilizer Efficiency of Potassium Silicate by Co-Pyrolysis and Chemical Activation. J Soil Sci Plant Nutr (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-024-01704-1

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