Various applications of superabsorbent polymers (SAP) include the use of these materials in agriculture and environmental engineering to increase soil water retention. Under such conditions, there is water absorption of the SAP in soil under load. This paper presents the results of absorbency under load (AUL) of a cross-linked copolymer of acrylamide and potassium acrylate mixed at ratios of 0.3%, 0.5% and 1.0% with coarse sand and sandy loam. The mixtures were subjected to loads equivalent to 10, 20 and 40 cm of soil. The highest differences in AUL values for both soils, compared to the control sample, were obtained after 24 hours and at a maximum load of 5.9 kPa, which corresponds to a load of a 40 cm thick topsoil layer. The AUL was 71.4 g∙g−1 for coarse sand and 52.7 g∙g−1 for sandy loam with a 1.0% SAP addition, which corresponded to 24.0% and 18.0%, respectively, of the absorption in the control sample. All the conducted tests revealed a significantly low rate of water absorbency, which is especially important for capturing the water that infiltrates into the soil profile. The results demonstrate that water absorption by SAPs decreased with the increase in SAP addition.

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Superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) are used in agriculture and environmental engineering to increase soil water retention. Under such conditions, the swelling pressure of the SAP in soil affects water absorption by SAP, and soil structure. The paper presents the results of swelling pressure of three cross-linked copolymers of acrylamide and potassium acrylate mixed at the ratios of 0.3%, 0.5% and 1.0% with coarse sand and loamy sand. The highest values of swelling pressure were obtained for the 1% proportion, for coarse sand (79.53 kPa) and loamy sand (78.23 kPa). The time required to reach 90% of swelling pressure for each type of SAP differs. Samples of coarse sand mixed with SAP K2 in all concentrations reached 90% of total swelling pressure in 100 min, while the loamy sand mixtures needed only about 60 min. The results were the basis for developing a model for swelling pressure of the superabsorbent and soil mixtures, which is a fully stochastic model. The conducted research demonstrated that the course of pressure increase depends on the available pore capacity and the grain size distribution of SAPs. The obtained results and the proposed model may be applied everywhere where mixtures of SAPs and soils are used to improve plant vegetation conditions.