Soil Biology & Biochemistry 46 (2012) 73e79
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Effects of slow and fast pyrolysis biochar on soil C and N turnover dynamics Esben W. Bruun*, Per Ambus, Helge Egsgaard, Henrik Hauggaard-Nielsen Biosystems Division, Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Technical University of Denmark, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
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Article history: Received 16 December 2010 Received in revised form 22 November 2011 Accepted 23 November 2011 Available online 9 December 2011
This study compared the effect of two principal pyrolysis methods on the chemical characteristics of biochar and the impact on C and N dynamics after soil incorporation. Biochar was produced from wheat straw that was thermally decomposed at 525 C by slow pyrolysis (SP) in a nitrogen flushed oven and by fast pyrolysis (FP) using a Pyrolysis Centrifuge Reactor (PCR). After 65 days of soil incubation, 2.9% and 5.5% of the SP- and FP-biochar C, respectively, was lost as CO2, significantly less than the 53% C-loss observed when un-pyrolyzed feedstock straw was incubated. Whereas the SP-biochar appeared completely pyrolyzed, an un-pyrolyzed carbohydrate fraction (8.8% as determined by acid released C6 and C5 sugars) remained in the FP-biochar. This labile fraction possibly supported the higher CO2 emission and larger microbial biomass (SMB-C) in the FP-biochar soil. Application of fresh FP-biochar to soil immobilized mineral N (43%) during the 65 days of incubation, while application of SP-biochar led to net N mineralization (7%). In addition to the carbohydrate contents, the two pyrolysis methods resulted in different pH (10.1 and 6.8), particle sizes (113 and 23 mm), and BET surface areas (0.6 and 1.6 m2 g 1) of the SP- and FP-biochars, respectively. The study showed that independently of pyrolysis method, soil application of the biochar materials had the potential to sequester C, while the pyrolysis method did have a large influence on the mineralization-immobilization of soil N. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Bio-char Charcoal Soil microbial biomass Carbon sequestration Nitrogen immobilization Pyrolysis centrifuge reactor Triticum aestivum
1. Introduction Thermal decomposition of biomass in an oxygen-depleted atmosphere (pyrolysis) is a way to produce bio-oil, syngas and char. All three products can be used for generating renewable energy (heat, electricity), but an emerging new use of recalcitrant char (biochar) is to apply it to soil in order to enhance soil fertility and at the same time mitigate climate change by longeterm carbon (C) sequestration in soil (Lehmann et al., 2006). The very slow decomposition of biochar in soil makes it different from other soil organic carbon pools, but physicochemically it may provide many of same soil services as soil organic matter, such as soil stabilisation by aggregation, and retention of nutrients and water (Atkinson et al., 2010; Downie et al., 2009). Moreover, depending on the initial feedstock characteristics, the mineral ash content (and the mineralisation) of biochar may have a liming effect when added to soil (Van Zwieten et al., 2010) and supply macro- and micronutrients for the plant community (Chan and Xu, 2009; Gaskin et al., 2008; Major et al., 2010). Increased crop yields in response to biochar applications have been demonstrated in a number of pot and field-scale trials using rather nutrient-poor soils (Asai et al.,
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ45 2366 8812. E-mail address: esbr@risoe.dtu.dk (E.W. Bruun). 0038-0717/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2011.11.019
2009; Chan et al., 2007; Chan et al., 2008; Van Zwieten et al., 2010; Oguntunde et al., 2004). However, effects on crop yields remain rather inconclusive as other studies have revealed only small or even negative crop yield responses with biochar application (Gaskin et al., 2010; Van Zwieten et al., 2010). Currently, the underlying mechanisms controlling the transformation of biochar and its effect on soil properties are poorly understood (Sohi et al., 2010) and moreover difficult to compare, as soil, biochar, feedstock, climate, methodology etc. differs between studies. The feedstock material used for pyrolysis has a strong influence on the initial biochar characteristics (Gaskin et al., 2008), but in terms of biochar short-term (1e2 years) stability in soil, pyrolysis conditions seem to be most important as shown in a two-year incubation study by Zimmerman (2010) using different feedstocks and pyrolysis reactor temperatures. In particular, the pyrolysis peak temperature, particle residence time and heating rate are important for the quality of the biochar produced (Brown, 2009). There are two processes for biomass pyrolysis, slow pyrolysis (SP) and fast pyrolysis (FP), although the terms are somewhat arbitrary as no precise definition on heating rates, residence times, etc. exist (Mohan et al., 2006). Slow pyrolysis is characterized by slow heating (minutes to hours) of the organic material to w400 C in the absence of oxygen and relatively long solids and gas residence times (typically several minutes to hours) (Mohan et al., 2006). Modern SP often takes place in continuous reactors, e.g.,