Technology Overview

This technology offers a method to manufacture leaching solutions, which can be used for leaching tests to determine the inorganic contents in soil.

The precise adjustment of pH in the soil is challenging, as the pH of the soil can change over time, resulting in unstable and inaccurate results during analysis. Moreover, when the pH of leaching solutions has changed, the change cannot be easily identified—with the naked eye—leading to the use of denatured leaching solutions and inaccurate analyses. Consequently, the wrong fertilisers could be prescribed, which will negatively impact plant growth.

This technology offers method to manufacture a leaching solution, where the pH does not change even during long-term storage, and the pH change, if any, can be easily determined with the naked eye through colour change. Thereby enabling accurate soil analyses and proper fertilizer prescription ideal for plant growth. Aside from the manufacturing process, the company will also transfer knowledge on analysing soil using the leaching solution.

Technology Features, Specifications and Advantages

This technology offers 3 different solution compositions that are capable of extracting the available phosphate, silicate and exchangeable cations in soil, and carries the following features:

• pH change can be determined by the naked eye
• Solution is colourless at normal state, coloured when the solution is contaminated
• pH stable over long-term storage (>1 year), and does not denature over time, offering accurate soil analysis
• Does not involve harmful reagents, reducing the exposure during the manufacturing process

Potential Applications

This technology can be applied in the management of farmlands for accurate soil analysis. Large scale agricultural companies and research institutions that are looking into agriculture and environment could be potential customers for the invention.

Customer Benefits

The pH of leachate has to be adjusted accurately in the manufacturing process of reagents and should not denature over time. While other leaching solution cannot maintain pH level over time and its change cannot be distinguished with the naked eyes, this technology provides a leaching solution where the pH does not changed over long-term storage, and the pH change, if any, can be distinguished with the naked eye. This will satisfy the needs of customers who store and use leaching solutions.