Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) Biomass for Agricultural Materials: A Review of Processing Pathways

Siti Fauziah (Universitas Negeri Gorontalo)
Ervan Hasan Harun (Universitas Negeri Gorontalo)
Sarinah Pakpahan (Universitas Negeri Gorontalo)
Arifin Matoka (Universitas Negeri Gorontalo)

JTPG (Jurnal Teknologi Pertanian Gorontalo)
Vol 11 No 1 (2026): JTPG (May)

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is simultaneously an invasive aquatic burden and a potentially valuable lignocellulosic feedstock for agricultural materials. This review critically evaluates its material potential through a structured synthesis of 51 studies supplied in the source corpus, spanning direct water-hyacinth evidence and transferable findings from agricultural residues, biochars, cellulose derivatives, hydrogels, films, composites, adsorbents, and thermal-storage systems published mainly during 2021-2026. The evidence is organized around feedstock variability, physical architecture, chemical composition, thermal conversion, and application-specific structure–property relationships. Direct evidence confirms that water-hyacinth biochar can reduce thermal conductivity and volumetric heat capacity in soil blends, but the corpus lacks standardized datasets for untreated plant fractions, seasonal composition, contaminant burdens, and long-term field performance. Cross-biomass studies show that alkali treatment, bleaching, hydrolysis, silane modification, pyrolysis, activation, and hybridization can convert low-density plant tissue into cellulose fillers, nanocellulose, porous carbon, controlled-release matrices, insulation products, and functional coatings. The synthesis indicates that water hyacinth is most credible as a locally processed feedstock for biochar-based soil systems, sorbents, water-retentive composites, biodegradable films, low-load panels, and thermal-management components. Its high moisture burden, hydrophilicity, heterogeneous ash and mineral content, and potential accumulation of pollutants remain decisive constraints. A design framework is proposed that links plant fraction, pretreatment severity, porosity, surface chemistry, crystallinity, and thermal stability to agricultural function. Future progress requires fraction-specific characterization, contaminant-safe harvesting, low-energy dewatering, benchmarked life-cycle assessment, release and leaching tests, field validation, and standards that distinguish direct water-hyacinth data from analogical inference for circular and climate-resilient agricultural production systems.