Persistence in soil of Miscanthus biochar in laboratory and field conditions

PLoS One. 2017 Sep 5;12(9):e0184383. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184383. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Evaluating biochars for their persistence in soil under field conditions is an important step towards their implementation for carbon sequestration. Current evaluations might be biased because the vast majority of studies are short-term laboratory incubations of biochars produced in laboratory-scale pyrolyzers. Here our objective was to investigate the stability of a biochar produced with a medium-scale pyrolyzer, first through laboratory characterization and stability tests and then through field experiment. We also aimed at relating properties of this medium-scale biochar to that of a laboratory-made biochar with the same feedstock. Biochars were made of Miscanthus biomass for isotopic C-tracing purposes and produced at temperatures between 600 and 700°C. The aromaticity and degree of condensation of aromatic rings of the medium-scale biochar was high, as was its resistance to chemical oxidation. In a 90-day laboratory incubation, cumulative mineralization was 0.1% for the medium-scale biochar vs. 45% for the Miscanthus feedstock, pointing to the absence of labile C pool in the biochar. These stability results were very close to those obtained for biochar produced at laboratory-scale, suggesting that upscaling from laboratory to medium-scale pyrolyzers had little effect on biochar stability. In the field, the medium-scale biochar applied at up to 25 t C ha-1 decomposed at an estimated 0.8% per year. In conclusion, our biochar scored high on stability indices in the laboratory and displayed a mean residence time > 100 years in the field, which is the threshold for permanent removal in C sequestration projects.

MeSH terms

  • Aerobiosis
  • Benzene / analysis
  • Biomarkers / analysis
  • Carbon / analysis
  • Carbon Dioxide / analysis
  • Carboxylic Acids / analysis
  • Charcoal / analysis*
  • Laboratories*
  • Organic Chemicals / analysis
  • Poaceae / chemistry*
  • Principal Component Analysis
  • Seasons
  • Soil / chemistry
  • Temperature

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Carboxylic Acids
  • Organic Chemicals
  • Soil
  • biochar
  • Carbon Dioxide
  • Charcoal
  • Carbon
  • Benzene

Grants and funding

Funding for the research was provided by the Research Council of Norway (NFR) through the project “Advanced Techniques to Evaluate the Long-term Stability and Carbon Sequestration Potential of Different Types of Biochar” NFR197531 and ”Creating a scientific basis for an integrated evaluation of soil-borne GHG emissions in Norwegian agriculture” NFR/192856; by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism with Hungary "Green Industry Innovation" project HU09-0029-A1-2013; and by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment through the NIBIO SIS-Jordkarbon project. Alice Budai received a travel grant (EG/3958) from the MOLTER networking programme of the European Science Foundation for part of this work on BPCA at the University of Zurich. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.