Influence of Soapnut on Capillarity Control

Department of Chemistry, Regional Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur

Manuscript received 18 September 1973; revised 13 March 1975; accepted 29 April 1975

Seepage loss through earthen embankments and levees and canals often makes surrounding agricultural land unfit for further cultivation because of salinity intrusions. Of the various methods of controlling seepage, action of surface active agents on soils has been found to be most effective. Laboratory experiments with standard sands saturated with different percen­tages of cheaply available and economically feasible commercial saponin compound namely, soapnut (Sapindus mukorossi) show that 0.3% concentration of the mixture gives the best re­sult and that beyond this concentration the capillary rise, which accounts seepage, is again in the increasing order. Preferential adsorption of colloidal particles on the solid surfaces of the soil explains this characteristic property of saponin compound.