Sugar press mud as a proposed futuristic aqua-fertilizer – Multi-elemental quantitative characterization by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES)

Abstract

In this research, characterization of press mud, a by-product of sugar industry in respect of its multi-elemental availability was taken into consideration to check its feasibility as an aqua-fertilizer. Eighteen elements including essential macro-elements, essential trace elements and non-essential toxic elements were quantitatively analyzed in sugar press mud by ICP-OES following protocols of AOAC from five randomly selected sugar mills situated in South Punjab, Pakistan. It was observed that the samples contained potential amounts of essential elements, while the toxic elements were present in low quantities. The results were statistically analyzed and compared for their significance and showed significantly higher quantities of Ca, Na, K, Fe, Mg followed by relatively lower quantities of Al, Mn and low quantities of Zn, Co, Ba, Li, Pb, Cu, Sr, Ni, Cr, La and Cd. It was concluded that this naturally fortified by-product of sugar industry can be beneficially employed as a valuable futuristic fertilizer in aquaculture processes.