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Biochar: Preparation, Properties and Applications

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A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Surface Sciences and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2022) | Viewed by 10176

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Manfred Lübken

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Institute of Urban Water Management and Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany
Interests: wastewater filtration; water reuse; mathematical modeling
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biochar is a carbon-rich product produced by the thermal decomposition of organic material. Since no complete carbonization takes place, biochar contains both carbonized and non-carbonized phases. Organic materials used as feedstock and the selected pyrolysis conditions change the physical and chemical properties, such as surface area, polarity, and elemental composition, of the resulting biochar. Due to the high degree of porosity, large surface area, and high number of functional surface groups, there are various possible environmental applications for biochar. For example, biochar can contribute to soil improvement in agriculture. In livestock farming, biochar can be used as a feed additive, and for manure treatment. This can achieve a significant reduction in odor nuisance. Due to its low thermal conductivity and water absorption capacity, biochar has suitable characteristics for use in building construction as an insulating material and for moisture control. Biochar can also be used to decontaminate polluted soils and water resources.

The Special Issue discusses different methods for biochar production and provides an overview of current and future applications of biochar in environmental systems.

Dr. Manfred Lübken
Guest Editor

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Keywords

biochar
adsorption
pyrolysis
thermal conversion

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1940 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Influencing Characteristics of Biochars for Ammonium Adsorption

by Aubrey Shenk, Jean-Paul A. Ivan, Sebastian Schwede and Monica Odlare

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(19), 9487; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12199487 - 21 Sep 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1830

Abstract

This article summarizes and performs a systematic analysis using experimental results from recent research on ammonium recovery from aqueous sources using biochar. Numerous studies have focused on using different materials to produce biochar adsorbents, and many have attempted to draw conclusions about the physical or chemical characteristics that dominate the adsorption to infer the mechanism. However, to date, there has not been statistical analysis performed on a large set of adsorption data and physical/chemical characteristics of chars to be able to draw conclusions about ammonium adsorption mechanisms. From this analysis, it was found that consistency in experimental methods and characteristic measurement reporting is lacking, and therefore it is difficult to perform metadata analysis and draw conclusions about ammonium adsorption on biochar. Among the important factors influencing ammonia recovery proposed in literature, the meta-analysis only strongly supports the effect of BET surface area and NH₄⁺ concentration, with weaker support for the importance of cation exchange capacity and pyrolysis temperature. This suggests that standard procedures for biochar production, experiments and analysis of physical and chemical characteristics are needed to usefully compare results across different studies. Examples of the present difficulty in identifying trends across studies are shown by comparing clusters in the data identified by the analysis. The ability to make such comparisons would provide clearer direction in how best to further improve the adsorption capacity of biochars. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochar: Preparation, Properties and Applications)

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11 pages, 1973 KiB

Open AccessArticle

High Rates of Biochar Soil Amendment Cause Increased Incidences of Neurotoxic and Oxidative Stress in Eisenia fetida (Oligochaeta) Exposed to Glyphosate

by Nomasonto Portia Dlamini and Patricks Voua Otomo

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(5), 2381; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12052381 - 24 Feb 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1399

Abstract

Despite several known beneficial attributes, biochar is suspected to cause harm to soil organisms when present in relatively high quantities in the soil. To determine the potential detrimental effects of biochar, for 96 h, we exposed the earthworm Eisenia fetida to 0, 2, 4 and 8 mg glyphosate (GLY) per kg in non-amended and biochar-amended soil at rates of 5, 10 and 15%. The results indicated that in non-amended soil, survival was significantly decreased in the highest GLY concentration. Although no median lethal concentration (LC₅₀) could be computed due to the lack of sufficient mortality, in the absence of biochar, a lethal concentration 10% (LC₁₀) of 5.540 mg/kg and a lethal concentration 20% (LC₂₀) of 7.067 mg/kg were calculated. In the biochar-amended soil, no mortality occurred in the control and GLY treatments for all three biochar amendment rates. Biomass results showed significant biomass loss in the highest GLY treatment in the absence of biochar, with an effective concentration of 10% (EC₁₀) of 5.23 mg/kg and an effective concentration of 20% (EC₂₀) of 6.848 mg/kg. In the amended soil, overall, slight non-significant increases in biomass were recorded and no effective concentrations could be calculated due to the lack of significant biomass loss. The assessment of neurotoxicity via the activity of acetylcholine esterase (AChE) showed no change in AchE due to GLY in all the non-amended treatments. However, in the biochar-amended treatments, statistically high levels of AchE occurred (p < 0.05) even in the control (in the absence of GLY). The assessment of oxidative stress through catalase (CAT) activity, showed similar results with no significant effects of GLY alone on CAT activity, but rather dramatic increases in activity in the control and GLY treatments in the biochar-amended soil, with one significant increase in the 10% amended in 8 mg GLY/Kg (p < 0.05). Such significant increases in both AChE and CAT were only observed in soil amended with 10 and 15% biochar. Our findings show that although seemingly beneficial for whole body endpoints, biomarker responses indicate that a biochar amendment higher than 5% adds considerable additional stress to earthworms and should be avoided. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochar: Preparation, Properties and Applications)

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10 pages, 1191 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Novel Bio-Fertilizer Produced by Prickly Ash Seeds with Biochar Addition Induces Soil Suppressiveness against Black Shank Disease on Tobacco

by Xifen Zhang, Yaochen Wang, Xiaobin Han, Jianyu Gou, Wei Li and Chengsheng Zhang

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(16), 7261; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11167261 - 06 Aug 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1821

Abstract

A novel bio-fertilizer, produced from prickly ash seeds (PAS), Bacillus subtilis and biochar, was evaluated for its disease-preventing potential on tobacco black shank caused by Phytophthora nicotianae. The results showed that biochar promoted the growth of Tpb55 in PAS and increased the pH of the organic fertilizer. The final concentration of B. subtilis could reach 1.7 × 10¹⁰ cfu g⁻¹ in the biological organic fertilizer (PBB) under the optimal medium under conditions of solid-state fermentation. PBB exhibited a strong fumigation effect on P. nicotianae, including inhibiting mycelium growth, reducing the disease severity and decreasing the pathogen population in rhizospheric soil. PBB treatment also could significantly increase the pH of acidified soil and improve soil nutrition content such as available K, alkali hydrolysable N and organic carbon. High-throughput pyrosequencing of 16S and 18S rRNA genes revealed that 4% PBB addition in soil had significant effects on the diversity and richness of fungi but not on that of bacteria. The microbial community structure was also shifted after PBB treatment. Some potentially beneficial microbes such as Bacillus, Mucor, Cunninghamella, Chitinophaga and Phenylobacterium were enriched, while potential pathogen Fusarium was significantly decreased. In conclusion, the agricultural waste PAS combined with biochar can replace soybean as a source for the production of biocontrol B. subtilis Tpb55, and the novel bio-fertilizer could effectively control tobacco black shank by pathogen inhibition, soil nutrient improvement and shifting the rhizomicrobial community. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochar: Preparation, Properties and Applications)

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Review

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27 pages, 777 KiB

Open AccessReview

Agricultural Waste-Based Biochar for Agronomic Applications

by Ghizlane Enaime and Manfred Lübken

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(19), 8914; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11198914 - 24 Sep 2021

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 4368

Abstract

Agricultural activities face several challenges due to the intensive increase in population growth and environmental issues. It has been established that biochar can be assigned a useful role in agriculture. Its agronomic application has therefore received increasing attention recently. The literature shows different applications, e.g., biochar serves as a soil ameliorant to optimize soil structure and composition, and it increases the availability of nutrients and the water retention capacity in the soil. If the biochar is buried in the soil, it decomposes very slowly and thus serves as a long-term store of carbon. Limiting the availability of pesticides and heavy metals increases soil health. Biochar addition also affects soil microbiology and enzyme activity and contributes to the improvement of plant growth and crop production. Biochar can be used as a compost additive and animal feed and simultaneously provides a contribution to minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. Several parameters, including biochar origin, pyrolysis temperature, soil type when biochar is used as soil amendment, and application rate, control biochar’s efficiency in different agricultural applications. Thus, special care should be given when using a specific biochar for a specific application to prevent any negative effects on the agricultural environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochar: Preparation, Properties and Applications)

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