Preparation and Properties of Chitosan Coated Nano Dolomite for Effective Remediation Acid Soils

Soil acidity(pH < 5.5) is common in all regions where precipitation is high enough to leach appreciable quantities of exchangeable base forming cations (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺k⁺ and Na⁺)from the surface layers of soils. Liming of acid soils the changes (pH 5.5 to 6.5), rectifies adverse effects and also improves the soil fertility. But large quantity of Dolomite used (7.2 tons per acre). In order to optimize the rate of Dolomite we used nano technological approach. Naturally available micro-size conventional calcium-magnesium carbonate (CaMg (CO₃)₂) particles were used for synthesis of nanocrystals through physical method of top down approach, using high energy ball milling (HEBM) with different hours and encapsulated with non-ionic surfactant (1%chitosan). It produced uniform nanosized particles (nano-lime), which were characterised using particle size analyser (approximately 115–120 nm,) zeta potential (−50mV), Powder X-ray diffraction (d spacing 3.13). It confirmed that presence of Ca and Mg with Raman Shifts (713, 1086 cm⁻¹) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (844.7 cm⁻¹). Shape and structure was observed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Synthesized of calcium carbonate nanocrystalline particles were environment friendly. Reduced particle size and increased surface area where offered an opportunity for reclamation of soil acidity as an amendment and can be scaled up for agricultural production.