Alkali-Activated Potassium Persulfate Treatment of Sugarcane Filter Cake for the Rapid Production of Fulvic-like-Acid Fertilizer

Abstract

In recent years, alkali activation for potassium persulfate (PS) treatment has been proven a promising method in the advanced oxidation processes. However, the majority of studies have focused on water pollution control and remediation processes. There are few reports on the application of PS to transform organic solid waste into a resource. In this study, the sugarcane filter cake (SFC) was treated with PS activated by calcium hydroxide (CH) to convert it into an organic fertilizer (CH-PS/ SFC) with high amounts of fulvic-like acid (FLA). CH-PS/SFC could also be used to remediate the acid soil and immobilize heavy metals (HMs). Due to the simple structure and high sucrose content of SFC, the sucrosesaturated solution was to investigate the CH-PS treatment and the result was the production of a large amount of (785.7 mg/g) after 2 h. In optimal conditions, the yield of FLA in CH-PS/SFC could reach 316.8 mg/g, and the subsequent use as a fertilizer offered a germination index of over 80% and a decrease in the leachability of HMs. In addition, in the humification the maximum temperature was found to be 80.3 °C and the moisture decreased by 20% during the humification of SFC. Furthermore, pot experiments showed that CH-PS/SFC could promote Chinese cabbage growth, decrease the yellow leaves rate, and decrease the absorption of HMs by Chinese cabbage.