Characterization and effects of cross-linked potassium polyacrylate as soil amendment

234 Pages·2015·6.65 MB·English

Universidad de Sevilla
Tesis Doctoral

Departamento de Cristalografía, Mineralogía y Química Agrícola

Characterization and effects of cross-linked
potassium polyacrylate as soil amendment

Diciembre 2015

Doctorando:
Jorge Sanz Gómez

Directores:
Dr. Ángel Rodríguez Tello (BASF Española S.L.)
Dr. José Luis Muriel Fernández (IFAPA)
Dr. Harald Köhle (BASF SE)

Tutora:
Dra. Carmen Ortega de la Torre (Universidad de Sevilla)
Departamento de Cristalografía, Mineralogía y Química Agrícola

Universidad de Sevilla
Memoria de Tesis Doctoral

Departamento de Cristalografía, Mineralogía y Química Agrícola

Characterization and effects of cross-linked
potassium polyacrylate as soil amendment

Los directores: La tutora:

Dr. Ángel Rodríguez Tello Dra. Carmen Ortega de la Torre
Investigador Senior en BASF Española S.L. Catedrática de Escuela Universitaria
Departamento de Cristalografía,
Mineralogía y Química Agrícola de la
Universidad de Sevilla.

Dr. José Luis Muriel Fernández
Coordinador de I+D+F del IFAPA

Dr. Harald Köhle
Científico investigador en BASF SE

El doctorando:

Jorge Sanz Gómez
Investigador en BASF SE

A mis padres,
Marisol y Javier

A mi esposa,
Carla

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
After 5 years of professional and personal development, there are many institutions,
teams and people to whom I would like to express my most sincere gratitude.

Firstly, I would like to thank BASF for giving me the opportunity and the necessary
resources to complete all the experimental work of this thesis supporting my career development
within their big chemical family. As well to the IFAPA for their enthusiasm and commitment in
this joint research project providing the means, knowledge and expertise to complete all the
experimental work of this thesis.

To my thesis advisors: Dr. Ángel Rodríguez Tello, Dr. Jose Luís Muriel Fernández and
Dr. Harlad Köhle, for their full confidence on my work, their always wise pieces of advice, their
patience, their work and all the knowledge they transmitted to me along these years of continuous
scientific growth. Besides my advisors, I would like to specially mention my tutor from the
University of Seville, Dra. Carmen Ortega de la Torre, who accepted this thesis as her own from
the first day and never stopped encouraging me.

My sincere thanks also goes to my supervisors in BASF: especially to Andreas Hopf, for
opening to me the doors of research in BASF and inciting me to start this thesis. Dr. Egon Haden,
Ramón Navarra Mestre, Dr. Markus Schmid and Dr. Wolfram Zerulla, for their trust, continuous
support and facilitating the time to make this thesis reality.

I do not want to forget all the people I worked together with during the last years: all the
IFAPA colleagues from Las Torres-Tomejil center (Seville, ES) for accepting me like someone
else of their teams. To all the colleagues in the Agricultural Research Station of BASF in Utrera
(Seville, ES) for embracing a chemist in the world of agronomy and making me love my
profession. I do not want to forget my colleagues in the Functional Crop Care team of BASF
(Limburgerhof, DE) for their warm welcoming and making me feeling at home since the first day
I took part of their group.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my friends and family: father, brothers, sister and
family in-law for their unconditional love and affection, and especially to my wife, Carla, for her
indefinite patience and continuous support throughout writing this “never-ending” thesis, in my
day-to-day and life in general.