Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Florence, South Carolina » Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #294022
Title: Greenhouse gas emission and groundwater pollution potentials of soils amended with different swine biochars

Author
item Ro, Kyoung
item Novak, Jeffrey
item Spokas, Kurt
item JOHNSON, M - Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
item BERGE, N - University Of South Carolina

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/9/2013
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The objective of this research was to study the greenhouse gas emission and groundwater pollution potentials of the soils amended with various biochars using different biomass feedstocks and thermal processing conditions. Triplicate sets of small pots were designed; control soil consisting of Histisol, Entisol, and a 50/50 mixture of Norfolk Ap and E horizon. The amendments (5 to 20 gram per kilogram) consisted of raw swine solids, thermally carbonized swine solids at 620 degrees Celsius (biochar), hydrothermally carbonized swine solids at 250 degrees Celsius (hydrochar), and the mixtures of hydrochars made from sugar beet, bark, and swine solids. After the amendments were mixed into the soil, its moisture content was maintained gravimetrically at 10% by replenishing with deionized water. Eighteen to 30 days after incubation, the pots were leached with 1.2 to 1.3 pore volumes of deionized water to simulate flushing. The leachates were collected and analyzed for the oxygen-demanding water quality parameter (COD), nutrients, and heavy metals. Soil samples from the initial set up along with samples at incubation termination were analyzed for fertility. Some of the hydrochars after incubation will be analyaed with a X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to determine the elemental composition on the incubated hydrochar surface. During the incubation period, greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide and nitrus oxide) emissions from each pot of soil were measured. Data on carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions, water quality of leachates, and surface elemental composition changes from the incubation study will be presented at the meeting.