Assessing the Potential of Using Biochar as a Soil Conditioner

3rd International Conference Environment and Sustainable Development of Territories: Ecological Challenges of the 21st Century

生态环境科学;地球科学;经济学

Glazunova, D.M.^1 ; Kuryntseva, P.A.^1 ; Selivanovskaya, S.Y.^1 ; Galitskaya, P.Y.^1

Institute of Environmental Sciences, Kazan Federal University, Kremlevskaya str. 18, 420008, Russia^1

关键词: Alternative fertilizers;    Cation exchange capacities;    Electrical conductivity;    Laser particle size distribution;    Organic fraction of municipal solid wastes;    Scanning electronic microscopy;    Total nitrogen content;    Total organic carbon content;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/107/1/012059/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1755-1315/107/1/012059

学科分类：环境科学（综合）

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

Biochar is a product of pyrolysis of biomass such as plant tissues, manures, sewage sludge, organic fraction of municipal solid wastes etc. Nowadays, biochar is being discussed as an alternative fertilizer that improves the air and water balance of the soil and provides soil microbiota with slow releasing biogenic elements. Many factors such as initial substrate properties, pyrolysis temperature and regime may influence biochar characteristics. In this study, characteristics of the two biochars prepared from chicken manure (ChM) and sewage sludge (SS) at 550°C were analyzed in order to reveal their agricultural potential. It was found, that the ChM biochar had a pH value of 5.80±0.21, which was 1.6 lower than the pH of the SS sample. The electrical conductivity of the ChM sample was 6 times higher than that of the SS sample, being 6.42±0.30 mS cm-1and 1.02±0.10 mS•cm-1, respectively. The cation exchange capacity was estimated to be 7.6±0.26 and 45±0.14 cmol•kg-1in the ChM and SS samples, respectively. In the ChM sample total organic carbon content was 24.93±3.2%, which is nearly twice as large as that in the SS sample (12.36±4.1%), whereas total nitrogen content was estimated to be 0.33±0.03% and 0.10±0.01% for ChM and SS samples, respectively. Using scanning electronic microscopy and laser particle size distribution analysis, it was shown that the SS sample was more homogeneous in its structure and consisted of particles having a lower size of 1 to 200μm with particles of 10 to 100μm being the most frequent, while the ChM sample was nonhomogeneous and its particle size varied between 2 and 2000 μm. To observe the influence on plants, 1% of biochar was added to soil, and wheat seeds were planted. The germination index estimated for soil treated by SS biochar was estimated to be 97%, while that of soil treated by ChM biochar was lower at about 78%.