Hexavalent Chromium Adsorption from Aqueous Solution by Agricultural Waste Materials

Abilities of agricultural waste materials (walnut shell-WS, rice husk-RH, and peanut hull-PH) were tested as adsorbents for the adsorption of Cr(Ⅵ) from aqueous solution. Batch adsorption experiments were carried out to study the adsorption kinetics mechanism of Cr(Ⅵ) effect of adsorbent dosage, pH, contact time, and temperature. The best results are obtained at 15g/L adsorbent concentration, 60min contact time, 298K temperature, and 50mg/L adsorbate initial concentration at pH 2. The adsorption isotherms, using initial concentrations of Cr(Ⅵ) between 10 and 500mg/L for the Cr(Ⅵ) removal, show the maximum metal uptake capacities of adsorbent were 10.48, 6.71, and 8.54mg/g for WS, RH, and PH, respectively. And the adsorption data fitted well to the Langmuir adsorption isotherm for WS, RH, and PH with correlation coefficients of 0.9862, 0.9723, and 0.9714, respectively. Moreover, the FTIR analysis of WS, RH, and PH before and after adsorption of Cr(Ⅵ) suggested that Cr ions were combined to some functional groups of compounds contained in these materials.

Simulation and evaluation of tomato growth by AquaCrop model under different agricultural waste materials

This study aimed to enhance the utilization of agricultural waste and identify the most suitable agricultural waste materials for tomato cultivation. It utilized a locally modified substrate labeled as CK, along with five different groups of agricultural waste materials, designated as T1 (organic fertilizer: loessial soil: straw in a ratio of 4:5:1), T2 (organic fertilizer: loessial soil: straw: grains in a ratio of 3:5:1:1), T3 (organic fertilizer: loessial soil: straw: grains in a ratio of 2:5:1:2), T4 (organic fertilizer:loessial soil:straw:grains in a ratio of 1:5:1:3), and T5 ( loessial soil:straw:grains in a ratio of 5:1:4), the AquaCrop model was employed to validate soil water content and tomato growth and yield under these treatments. Furthermore, a multi-objective genetic algorithm was employed to determine the optimal agricultural waste materials that would ensure maximum tomato yield, water use efficiency (WUE), partial factor productivity of fertilizer (PFP) and sugar-acid ratio. The results indicated that the AquaCrop model reasonably simulated volumetric soil water content, tomato canopy cover, and biomass, with root mean square error (RMSE) ranges of 20.0-69.4 mm, 15.2%-25.1%, and 1.093-3.469 t/hm2, respectively. The CK group exhibited an R-squared (R2) value of 0.63 for volumetric soil water contents, while the ratio scenarios showed R2 values exceeding 0.80. The multi-objective genetic optimization algorithm identified T5 as the optimal ratio scenario, resulting in maximum tomato yield, WUE, PFP, and quality. This study offers a theoretical foundation for the efficient utilization of agricultural wastes and the production of high-quality fruits and vegetables.