showing 3 related works from this author
Recent Developments in Understanding Biochar’s Physical–Chemistry
2021
Biochar is a porous material obtained by biomass thermal degradation in oxygen-starved conditions. It is nowadays applied in many fields. For instance, it is used to synthesize new materials for environmental remediation, catalysis, animal feeding, adsorbent for smells, etc. In the last decades, biochar has been applied also to soils due to its beneficial effects on soil structure, pH, soil organic carbon content, and stability, and, therefore, soil fertility. In addition, this carbonaceous material shows high chemical stability. Once applied to soil it maintains its nature for centuries. Consequently, it can be considered a sink to store atmospheric carbon dioxide in soils, thereby mitigat…
Ecological risk assessment of agricultural soils for the definition of soil screening values: A comparison between substance-based and matrix-based a…
2017
The Italian legislation on contaminated soils does not include the Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) and this deficiency has important consequences for the sustainable management of agricultural soils. The present research compares the results of two ERA procedures applied to agriculture (i) one based on the “substance-based” approach and (ii) a second based on the “matrix-based” approach. In the former the soil screening values (SVs) for individual substances were derived according to institutional foreign guidelines. In the latter, the SVs characterizing the whole-matrix were derived originally by the authors by means of experimental activity.\ud \ud \ud The results indicate that the “matr…
Acute toxicity tests using earthworms to estimate ecological quality of compost and digestate
2017
Ecological quality of compost and digestate, used as fertilizers for agricultural use, was assessed through an acute ecotoxicological bioassay testing the earthworm Eisenia fetida (Annelida). The test evaluates the earthworm’s attitude to dig within 15 min into a soil medium constituted by a mixture of a standardized soil and different concentrations of compost/digestate. According to different classes of behavior responses, the sample is classified as good or bad quality (ON/OFF). The validity of this test was confirmed comparing the observations with the results from a standard chronic test developed by OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). Considering samples fro…