Efficient Soil Stabilizers Against Wind Erosion Based on Lignin and Lignosulfonate Composites of Dubb Humic Acid as a Value-Added Material Extracted from a Natural Waste

The abilities of Dubb Humic Acid (DHA) composites with Lignin and Lignosulfonate as stabilizers to reinforce soil against wind erosion. These stabilizers were obtained as value-added materials extracted from a natural waste. The properties of stabilized soils were examined, which included cation exchange capacity and organic matter amount. Influences of DHA/Lignin and DHA/Lignosulfonate were tested against wind erosion by soil stabilization and decreasing loss of soil using a wind tunnel flowing a turbulent wind of 7 m/s velocity. The soil employed in wind erosion tests was composed of sand (90.12%) and silt/clay (9.88%) particles. To explore soil stabilization influence, different weight ratios of DHA to Lignin or Lignosulfonate (1:1, 1:2, 1:3, and 1:4 w/w%) were evaluated. Also, the total solution concentration was changed from 9 to about 13 w/v% in order to find out its effect on the film forming capacity/quality. Various composites of DHA/Lignin and DHA/Lignosulfonate were applied on soil which were incubated at ambient conditions for 5–7 days and then coated soil plates were subjected to wind flowing experiments. In the simulated turbulent flow condition, loss of soil was measured for 10-min duration. Experimental results obtained for DHA/Lignin and DHA/Lignosulfonate stabilized soils were compared to untreated soil sample. It was found that all of DHA/Lignin and DHA/Lignosulfonate stabilized soils were resistant against wind erosion. Furthermore, the DHA/Lignin films were more even and exhibited much less number of cracks than DHA/Lignosulfonate films. The most homogeneous films were formed using DHA/Lignin composite in 1:2 ratio using 9 w/v% solution concentration.