Hydrogel production from sewage sludge and evaluation of fertilizerpotenti̇al

The increasing population of the world and the effects of climate change are creating great pressures on ensuring sustainability in the agricultural sector and causing the depletion of water and phosphorus, which are a limited resource. New strategies are needed in the agricultural sector for sustainable food production, green and next-generation technologies are needed that cause minimal damage to the environment and provide maximum impact. Hydrogels, which attract attention with their water adsorption capacity and permeability properties, have the potential to be an excellent intermediate material for water and nutrients, which are the two basic building elements of plant development. In this direction, in the thesis proposal, it is aimed to produce a plant nutrient with a high moisture content from treatment sludge with a high phosphorus content, which is selected as an alternative to commercial fertilizer in the context of the cyclic economy of hydrogels, and to investigate its effects on plants. In this context, determining the moisture and fertilizer potential of the hydrogel material recovered from the treatment sludge instead of the fertilizers imported in our country will make a great contribution both commercially and economically and socially in terms of waste assessment.