Last edited 03 May 2018

Soil treatment

Soil treatment can be used to make contaminated soil usable for agriculture and other purposes. If soil contains chemicals or wastes such as oil, alkali or some other non-degradable material, this can be treated using microbes. Soil contamination can be caused by a number of activities, such as the inappropriate disposal of industrial waste, sewage, agricultural chemicals, and so on. Moisture holding capacity, aeration, and nutrients are depleted in polluted soil.

Government initiatives to improve food cultivation techniques to satisfy the growing population is driving soil treatment, however, a lack of knowledge and awareness in underdeveloped countries about the significance of soil treatment is restraining the market. New and green technologies will generate growth of the market, along with demand from developed nations.

Soil treatment types can be classified as:

Organic amendments (compost, crop residue, animal dung, and sewage sludge among others).
pH adjusters (such as gypsum and aglime among others).
Soil protection (pest and weed control).

Soil treatment technologies can be classified as:

Biological treatment.
Physicochemical treatment.
Thermal treatment.

Biological treatment consists of biosparing, phytoremediation, bioventing, bioremedation. Physicochemical treatment includes electric resistance heating, soil flushing, chemical oxidation, soil vapour extraction (SVE), fracturing, solidification and stabilisation. pH adjustors, soil protection, organic amendments are also types of soil treatment. Weed and pest control are subtypes of soil protection and this area holds the largest market share. Crop residue, sewage sludge, manure, and compost are types of organic amendments, of which crop residue is emerging as a potential market. Gypsum and Aglime are the key pH adjusters for soil treatment.

The soil treatment market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa. U.S., Germany, UK, France, China, Japan and India will fuel the growth of market in future. Asia-Pacific is expected to become the largest market, due to the rising population and increasing food demand.

Key companies leading in soil treatment markets are Monsanto Company, AgraQuest, Syngenta AG, Solvay S.A., AMVAC Chemical Corporation, Novozymes A/S, Kanesho Soil Treatment, Arysta Life Science, Arkema S.A, BASF SE.