Sugarcane filtrate mud hour-level humification to remediate Cd(II)-contaminated acidic soil

• Sugarcane filtrate mud (SFM) is humified in an hour to get an organic fertilizer . • The treated-SFM is rich in fulvic-like acid which can promote the growth of crop. • An acidic soil remediation agent (ASRA) was prepared based on humified-SFM. • Red mud (RM) was added to ASRA for improving the pH of acidic soil (AS). • ASRA could significantly decrease dissolved divalent cadmium content in AS. Acidic soil (AS) has a severe effect on crop growth and human health, becoming an urgent issue in agriculture field. In this work, an acidic soil remediation agent (ASRA) was developed based on humified-sugarcane filtrate mud (SFM) and red mud (RM). Therein, hour-level humification of SFM was realized in one hour by degradation-polymerization reactions induced by •O 2 − , 1 O 2 , SO 4 2− •, and •OH generated from calcium hydroxide-activated sodium persulfate, fabricating an organic fertilizer rich in fulvic-like acid (FLA). To improve pH of AS, RM (pH 13.2) was added to the organic fertilizer to obtain ASRA. The as-prepared ASRA could significantly decrease dissolved divalent cadmium (Cd(II)) content in AS through hydrogen-bond, chelation, and precipitation interactions. In addition, pot experiment proved ASRA could remarkably increase AS pH, promote corn growth, and reduce Cd uptake. Therefore, this study provides a high-efficiency and simple method for SFM and RM recycling and remediation of Cd(II)-contaminated AS, which shows a huge application prospect. In this work, an acidic soil remediation agent (ASRA) was fabricated based on humified-sugarcane filtrate mud (SFM) and red mud (RM) to remediate Cd(II)-contaminated acidic soil (AS). Therein, the treated-SFM was rich in fulvic-like acid and RM could improve the pH of AS.