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

Abstract 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.