Background
Competition for limited water supplies necessary for the
production of crops on sandy soils is becoming more intense in the US and
globally, particularly with the increasing need for biomass produced as
renewable energy sources. Subsurface water retention
technologies (SWRT) are designed to increase water use efficiencies by as much
as 20 times. SWRT technologies have the potential to impact strategic water and
nutrient conservation and improve food, fiber, and livestock productivity.
Although supplemental irrigation and additional fertilization do increase plant
production on most sandy soils, farming such soils is not sustainable due to the
elevated leaching losses of nutrients and other chemicals into
groundwater.
Description
Michigan State University's technology resolves the depleted water
and nutrient deficits in the plant root zone while reducing groundwater
pollution and the leaching losses of nutrients and other chemicals into
groundwater. Polyethylene (PE) water barrier films that can be shaped to
maximize soil water retention are installed at appropriate depths in
sandy soils with a specially designed barrier installation device (BID).
The technology enables double and triple water retention capacities in plant
root zones via interruption of natural percolation rates within the upper 70-100
centimeter of the soil column. Although large pores within sandy soils absorb
large quantities of rainfall, less than 20 percent of the water is retained
in the root zone between the soil surface and 60-70 cm depths by the
coarse-textured soils.
The SWRT approach incorporates
water barriers at prescribed depths and configurations within coarse textured
and sandy soil profiles in a pattern that alters the hydropedological water
regimes and improves water use efficiencies by up to 20 times for food and
cellulosic biomass crops on sandy soils. SWRT barriers are designed to bring
marginal sandy soils into highly productive natural landscapes with substantial
savings of water and fertilizer costs. SWRT processes can also be used to
confine and reduce the deep leaching and groundwater contamination by
agricultural chemicals and/or remove toxic chemical and biological wastes from
municipal waste disposal and industrial sites to locations better suited for
long-term sorption and bioremediation.
Benefits
* Durable and easier to
install than asphalt barriers: Polyethylene barriers can last at
least 40 years and can be installed more quickly and with less labor than
asphalt barriers.
* Enhanced plant and food crop
production: The technology could potentially have an
immediate impact in areas where marginal lands are the only option for
production of food crops.
* Better water resource usage: Subsoil
water retention technology has the potential for increasing water use
efficiencies.
* Better chemical
utilization: Just as better water resource efficiencies could
potentially be derived, so could better utilization of fertilizers and other
agricultural chemicals.
Applications
* Agriculture
industry: Any crops (food, biofuel, and biomass) that are being
grown in marginal regions would potentially benefit from the CEPEM and BID
technologies.
* Waste
management: Potential for use in landfills as a method for reducing
toxic leaching exists.
IP Protection
Status
Patent pending
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Direct Link
http://msut.technologypublisher.com/technology/7112