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Soil application of biochar produced from biomass grown on trace element contaminated land.
Journal article

Soil application of biochar produced from biomass grown on trace element contaminated land.

  • Evangelou MWH Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 16, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland. Electronic address: michael.evangelou@env.ethz.ch.
  • Brem A Soil Science and Biogeochemistry, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zürich 8057, Switzerland.
  • Ugolini F Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 16, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
  • Abiven S Soil Science and Biogeochemistry, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zürich 8057, Switzerland.
  • Schulin R Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 16, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
  • 2014-08-29
Published in:
  • Journal of environmental management. - 2014
Birch
Microbial community
Soil amendment
Soil contamination
Trace elements
Betula
Biodegradation, Environmental
Biomass
Charcoal
Humans
Lolium
Soil
Soil Pollutants
Trace Elements
English Trace element (TE) contamination of soils is a worldwide problem. However, although not considered safe anymore for food production without clean-up, many of these soils may still be used to produce biomass for non-food purposes such as biochar. Exploring the suitability of such biochar for the amendment of low-fertility soil, we investigated growth and metal accumulation of ryegrass (Lolium perenne, var. Calibra) as well as soil microbial abundance on a non-contaminated soil after amendment with biochar from birch (Betula pendula) wood produced on TE contaminated soil in comparison to a treatment with birch wood biochar originating from non-contaminated soil. Biochars were produced from both feedstocks by pyrolysis at two temperatures: 450 and 700 °C. During the pyrolysis, in contrast to Cu, Fe, Mg, K, Mn and P, the elements Cd, Pb, S and Na volatilized. The root biomass of the biochar treated plants was lower than that of the non-amended plants, while that of the shoot was higher. Plant shoot K and Zn concentrations were increased significantly by up to 7- and 3.3-fold respectively. For P, Mg, Mn, Fe and Cu no significant increase in shoot concentration could be detected. Neither the TE-contaminated biochar, nor the non-contaminated biochar had adverse effect on the bacterial community of the soil.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/52110
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