Search results for " biochar."
showing 10 items of 18 documents
Poplar Biochar as an Alternative Substrate for Curly Endive Cultivated in a Soilless System
2020
Imminent necessity for eco-friendly and low-cost substitutes to peat is a defiance in the soilless plant cultivation systems. Wood biochar could entirely or partly substitute peat as a plant growing constituent to produce vegetables. Nevertheless, knowledge concerning potential plant performance of leafy green vegetables grown on wood biochar is restricted. The present study assessed the main physicochemical traits of various growing media constituted by decreasing the content of peat and by increasing the percentages of poplar wood biochar. Yield, nutritional and functional properties of curly endive plants cultivated in a protected environment were also tested. Biochar was pyrolyzed from …
Mechanisms of Organic Coating on the Surface of a Poplar Biochar
2017
Background: Recent studies highlighted that biochar efficiency to improve soil fertility is enhanced after it is blended with fresh organic materials. It was suggested that organic coating of inner-porous biochar surfaces acts as a kind of “glue” for plant-nutrients, thereby allowing their slow release towards plant-roots and/or microorganisms. Objective: The aim of the present study is to improve the understanding of the nature of the interactions between fresh organic matter and a poplar biochar. Method: Two fluorinated organic models were used as target molecules in order to apply heteronuclear (i.e. 19F) fast field cycling (FFC) NMR relaxometry. Results: The results suggest that organic…
Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs) Containing Adsorbents for Carbon Capture
2022
This research was funded by the European Regional Development Fund project “Innovation of the waste‐to‐energy concept for the low carbon economy: development of novel carbon capture technology for thermochemical processing of municipal solid waste (carbon capture and storage from waste—CCSW)”, grant number 1.1.1.1/19/A/013.
Microstructural and associated chemical changes during the composting of a high temperature biochar: Mechanisms for nitrate, phosphate and other nutr…
2018
Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of the nutrient status of biochar and soils prior to its inclusion in particular agricultural systems. Pre-treatment of nutrient-reactive biochar, where nutrients are loaded into pores and onto surfaces, gives improved yield outcomes compared to untreated biochar. In this study we have used a wide selection of spectroscopic and microscopic techniques to investigate the mechanisms of nutrient retention in a high temperature wood biochar, which had negative effects on Chenopodium quinoa above ground biomass yield when applied to the system without prior nutrient loading, but positive effects when applied after composting. We have compared non-co…
Effects of Biochar on Irrigation Management and Water Use Efficiency for Three Different Crops in a Desert Sandy Soil
2020
This paper aimed at investigating if the application of biochar (BC) to desert sand (DS) from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), characterized by a very poor soil-water retention (SWR) and by a very low value of the maximum water available for crops (AWmax), could positively affect soil water balance, by reducing the irrigation needs (VIRR) and improving the irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) and the water use efficiency (WUE). The analysis was performed for three crops, i.e., wheat (Triticum aestivum), sorghum (Sorghum vulgare) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). BC was applied to the DS at different fractions, fBC (fBC = 0, 0.091, 0.23 and 0.33). Drip irrigation was adopted as a highly…
Designing biochar properties through the blending of biomass feedstock with metals: Impact on oxyanions adsorption behavior
2018
Metal-blending of biomass prior to pyrolysis is investigated in this work as a tool to modify biochar physico-chemical properties and its behavior as adsorbent. Six different compounds were used for metal-blending: AlCl3, Cu(OH)2, FeSO4, KCl, MgCl2 and Mg(OH)2. Pyrolysis experiments were performed at 400 and 700 °C and the characterization of biochar properties included: elemental composition, thermal stability, surface area and pore size distribution, Zeta potential, redox potential, chemical structure (with nuclear magnetic resonance) and adsorption behavior of arsenate, phosphate and nitrate. Metalblending strongly affected biochars' surface charge and redox potential. Moreover, it incre…
Parte V - Utilizzazione agronomica ed impatto sul sistema suolo-pianta 15. Aspetti biologici
2022
In this chapter authors focused on how and why biochar, compost, sewage sludge and digestate deriving from waste biomasses affect soil biological activities.
Mechanisms of Water Interaction with Pore Systems of Hydrochar and Pyrochar from Poplar Forestry Waste
2014
The aim of this study was to understand the water-surface interactions of two chars obtained by gasification (pyrochar) and hydrothermal carbonization (hydrochar) of a poplar biomass. The two samples revealed different chemical compositions as evidenced by solid state (13)C NMR spectroscopy. In fact, hydrochar resulted in a lignin-like material still containing oxygenated functionalities. Pyrochar was a polyaromatic system in which no heteronuclei were detected. After saturation with water, hydrochar and pyrochar were analyzed by fast field cycling (FFC) NMR relaxometry. Results showed that water movement in hydrochar was mainly confined in very small pores. Conversely, water movement in py…
New concept in bioderived composites: Biochar as toughening agent for improving performances and durability of agave-based epoxy biocomposites
2021
Biocomposites are increasingly used in the industry for the replacement of synthetic materials, thanks to their good mechanical properties, being lightweight, and having low cost. Unfortunately, in several potential fields of structural application their static strength and fatigue life are not high enough. For this reason, several chemical treatments on the fibers have been proposed in literature, although still without fully satisfactory results. To overcome this drawback, in this study we present a procedure based on the addition of a carbonaceous filler to a green epoxy matrix reinforced by Agave sisalana fibers. Among all carbon-based materials, biochar was selected for its environment…
Prime prove di un prototipo di pirolizzatore per la produzione di biochar
2011
La pirolisi è un processo di decomposizione chimica di biomassa, effettuata in assenza o limitata presenza di ossigeno. Durante la pirolisi complesse molecole polimeriche di biomassa sono scisse in molecole semplici di gas (syngas), sostanze liquide e carbone (char). Le quantità relative delle tre frazioni dipendono da parecchi fattori quali, ad esempio, la velocità di riscaldamento, la temperatura finale, il tempo di residenza dei gas nel reattore, il tipo di pirolizzatore, le caratteristiche fisiche e chimiche della biomassa utilizzata. Il biochar ottenuto dai sottoprodotti dell’industria agro-alimentare, dai residui di potatura, dal legno proveniente dalle utilizzazioni di colture specia…