using biochar as a soil amendment for sustainable agriculture biochar symposium illinois sustainable...

Using Biochar as a Soil Amendment for Sustainable Agriculture

Biochar Symposium

Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) June 9, 2011

W. Zheng

B.K. Sharma

K. Rajagopalan

Using Biochar as a Soil Amendment for Sustainable Agriculture

Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC)

Sustainable Agriculture Grant Program by Illinois Department of Agriculture

Grant #: SA 09-37 (2009-2010)

Project Goal

The objective of this project was to examine the potential use of biochar as a soil amendment in a typical corn field in Illinois as part of a larger goal of promoting sustainable agricultural practice. To achieve this goal, three tasks were undertaken in the project:

Biochar production and characterization: Biochar production through a low-temperature slow pyrolysis technique from a variety of waste biomass.

Removal of nutrients by biochar: The sorption kinetics and mechanisms of NH4

+ and PO43- removal by biochar were investigated.

Field trial to demonstrate the efficacy of biochar as a simple soil amendment as measured by crop yields and lowered fertilizer use in Illinois, which attempted to investigate if the use of biochar as a soil amendment could reduce chemical fertilizer use while at the same time maintaining or increasing crop yields.

Feedstock

The feedstocks used for biochar production in this study focused on three kinds of waste biomass:

Agricultural residues corn cobs corn stover;

Yard wastes walnut shells and wood chips;

By-products from bioenergydefatted dried distiller grains (DDGs)

Pyrolysis

SyngasH2, CO, CO2

Waste Biomass Pyrolysis

Bio-oil

Biochar

Pyrolysis is a most common thermochemical conversion process where biomass is heated in the absence of oxygen to yield a series of bioproducts: syngas; bio-oil; and biochar.

Schematic Diagram for Biochar Production in a Slow Pyrolyzer

.

ISTC Sustainable Biochar

Effect of Selected Feedstocks and Pyrolysis Conditions on Yields of Bioproducts

Biochar Feedstock Biochar (%) Bio-oil (%) Syngas (%)

ZW-1 Corn cob 32.2 % 45.6 % 22.2%

ZW-2 Corn stover 39.0 % 42.8 % 18.2 %

ZW-3 Defatted DDG 45.8 % 40.3 % 14.9 %

ZW-4 Pine cone 38.0 % 44.4 % 17.6 %

ZW-5 America chestnut shell

42.2 % 45.6 % 12.2 %

ZW-6-1* Wood chip 35.0 % 42.0 % 23.0 %

ZW-6-2* Wood chip 35.0 % 42.1 % 22.9 %

ZW-6-3* Wood chip 35.1 % 42.1 % 22.8 %

The yields of three bio-products produced from selected feedstocks under oxygen-limited condition for 60 min at 400 oC.*ZW-6-1, 2, and 3 refer to the feedstock pyrolyzed under 0, 2, and 5 L/min nitrogen flow.

250 300 350 400 450 500 55010

20

30

40

50

60

Syngas

Bio-oil

BiocharPr

oduc

t Yie

ld (

%)

Pyrolysis Temperature (oC)

Effect of Pyrolysis Temperature on the Yields of Bioproducts

Biochar Characterization on Physicochemical Properties

Feedstock Pyrolysis

Temperature

SSA

(m2/g)

% C % H % N % O (O+N)/C O/C H/C %

Moisture

%

Ash

Corn cob 250 OC 1.86 61.16 4.96 0.82 27.82 0.353 0.341 0.973 1.32 3.92

Corn cob 300 OC 2.42 70.54 4.19 0.81 19.06 0.213 0.203 0.713 1.3 4.1

Corn cob 350 OC 3.36 72.92 3.79 0.79 16.86 0.183 0.173 0.624 1.29 4.35

Corn cob 400 OC 4.70 75.23 3.37 0.82 14.11 0.150 0.141 0.538 1.35 5.12

Corn cob 450 OC 7.79 77.84 2.95 0.86 11.45 0.120 0.110 0.455 1.35 5.55

Corn cob 500 OC 17.08 80.85 2.5 0.97 8.87 0.093 0.082 0.371 1.25 5.56

Corn cob 550 OC 30.57 82.62 2.25 0.84 7.43 0.076 0.067 0.327 1.28 5.58

Wood pellet 750 OC 105.3 81.99 1.14 0.52 3.04 0.033 0.028 0.167 4.56 8.75

Wood chip 450 OC 12.96 70.44 2.67 1.11 13.86 0.161 0.148 0.455 1.69 10.23

Defatted DDG 400 OC 1.98 64.43 3.76 7.44 10.14 0.217 0.118 0.700 1.45 12.78

Corn stover 400 OC 4.69 55.98 3.4 0.43 18.16 0.250 0.243 0.729 1.28 20.75

Pine cone 400 OC 17.92 73.88 3.21 1.33 15.31 0.171 0.155 0.521 1.32 4.95

Activated carbon 988.4 91.1 0.9 0.28 5.71 0.050 0.047 0.119 1.12 0.89

Project Goal





Field trial to demonstrate the efficacy of biochar as a simple soil amendment as measured by crop yields and lowered fertilizer use in Illinois, which attempted to investigate if the use of biochar as a soil amendment could reduce chemical fertilizer use while at the same time maintaining or increasing crop yields.

Sorption Capacities of NH4+ and PO4

3- on Selected Biochars and a Commercial Activated Carbon

Corn

cob-

400

Corn

stov

er-4

00

DDGs-40

0

Amer

ica c

hest

nut s

hell-4

00

Pine c

one-

400

Woo

d ch

ip-40

0

Woo

d ch

ip-45

0

Woo

d pe

llet-7

50

Activa

ted

cabo

n0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

Ammounium ion Cs (mmol/g)

Corn

cob-

400

Corn

stov

er-4

00

DDGs-40

0

Amer

ica c

hest

nut s

hell-4

00

Pine c

one-

400

Woo

d ch

ip-40

0

Woo

d ch

ip-45

0

Woo

d pe

llet-7

50

Activa

ted

cabo

n0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

Phosphate ion Cs (mmol/g)

NH4+

PO43-

Sorption Kinetics

0 10 20 30 40 50

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Am

mon

ium

Ion

Con

cent

ratio

n (m

mol

/L)

Time (hrs)

Biochar produced from wood chip at 750 oC


0 10 20 30 40 500.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Phos

phat

e Io

n C

once

ntra

tion

(mm

ol/L

)

Time (hrs)



NH4+

PO43-

Sorption Kinetics

To investigate the controlling mechanisms of sorption processes, e.g., mass transfer and chemical reaction, the data obtained from this study were analyzed using two kinetic equations: the pseudo-first order equation and the pseudo-second order equation:

where Qe and Qt are the amounts of nutrients sorbed (mmol/g) at equilibrium and at time t (h), k1 and k2 are sorption rate constants of pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order, respectively. The fit of these two models was checked by the linear plot of log (Qe-Qt) versus t and t/Qt versus t, respectively, and by comparison to the regression coefficients for each expression.

Pseudo-first order Pseudo-second order

k1

(h-1)

Qe (cal)

(mmol/g)

R2 k2

(mmol/g)-1h-1

Qe (cal)

(mmol/g)

R2

NH4+

Biochar-750 0.115 7.87 x 10-30.959 68.6 2.44 x 10-2

0.999

Biochar-450 0.105 1.41 x 10-20.992 28.9 3.14 x 10-2

0.995

PO43-

Biochar-750 0.119 6.05 x 10-20.984 1.23 8.61 x 10-2

0.932

Biochar-450 0.097 5.79 x 10-20.990 0.013 4.81 x 10-1

0.006

Sorption Kinetics

Pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order sorption rate constants of NH4+ and

PO43- on two selected biochars

Sorption Isotherms of NH4+ and PO4

3- on Selected Biochars

0 5 10 15 20 25 300.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20 NH4

+

Cs (

mm

ol/g

)

Ce (mmol/L)

Biochar produced from wood pellet at 750 oC


0 5 10 15 20 25 300.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4PO

4

3-

Cs (

mm

ol/

g)

Ce (mmol/L)

Biochar produced from wood pellet at 750 oC


NH4+

PO43-

Sorption Isotherm

Freundlich isotherm

log Cs = log Kf + 1/n log Ce

Langmuir isotherm

Ce/Qe = 1/(bQ0) + Ce/Q0

Kf

(mmol/g) (mmo/L)-n

1/n R2 Q0

(mmol/g)

b(L/mmol)

R2

NH4+

Biochar-750 2.56 x 10-2 0.650 0.971 0.246 0.108 0.933

Biochar-450 4.12 x 10-2 0.516 0.981 0.234 0.190 0.974

PO43-

Biochar-750 5.74 x 10-2 0.795 0.895 0.576 0.140 0.835

Biochar-450 3.60 x 10-2 0.933 0.873 0.787 0.047 0.270

0

10

20

30

40

50

Biochar with DI H

2O washing

Biochar no washing

Pho

spha

te r

emov

al (

%)

Removal Mechanisms of Phosphate & Ammonium by Biochar

Analyte Units

Biochar after DI H2O washing Biochar no washing

mg/L mg/L

Sodium* < 0.6 < 0.6

Potassium* 7.7 15

Calcium* 2.8 3.8

Beryllium < 0.002 < 0.002

Boron 0.089 0.094

Magnesium 1.5 2.3

Aluminum 0.075 0.084

Silicon 2.0 1.0

Titanium 0.0027 0.0022

Vanadium < 0.001 < 0.001

Chromium 0.0032 0.0033

Manganese 0.0077 0.0055

Iron* < 0.1 0.11

Zeta potential (ζ) -21.9±3.8 -22.3±6.9

Ca2+ + PO43-

+.xH20 → Ca3(PO4)2

.xH20

Precipitation process

Surface sorption

Biochar with negatively charged surface

Sorption Mechanism of Phosphate by Biochar

XAD patterns of before and after PO43- adsorption by biochar

Ca3(PO4)2.xH20

Ca2+ + PO43-

+.xH20 → Ca3(PO4)2

.xH20

Project Goal





Field trial to demonstrate the efficacy of biochar as a simple soil amendment as measured by crop yields and lowered fertilizer use in Illinois, which attempted to investigate if the use of biochar as a soil amendment could reduce the application rates of chemical fertilizer while at the same time maintaining or increasing crop yields.

2010 Biochar Field Experiment Design

90 Feet and 36 rows

60

Feet

No Fertilizer Half Fertilizer Full Fertilizer No Fertilizer Half Fertilizer Full Fertilizer

10 feet x 0.66 feet used for biochar treatments

Biochar Application in a Corn Field

Biochar Application in Corn Field

Standard corn growing practices

http://www.istc.illinois.edu/research/biochar.cfm

ISTC Biochar Website

Biochar Application in Corn Field

0

40

80

120

160

200

240

280

Biochar-BControl

Yei

lds

of C

orn

Cro

p (b

ushe

l/acr

e)

Biochar-A

No Fertilizer 50% Fertilizer 100% Fertilizer

Nitrogen Fertilizer 0 50 % 100 %

No Biochar 139.3 a 174.3 a 173.0 a

Biochar-A 164.6 b 213.7 b 239.8 b

Biochar-B 170.9 b 194.2 b 201.3 a

Treatments SoilOrganic Matter

(%)

PhosphorusNeutral Ammonium Acetate

(exchangeable)

pH

Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC)

meq/100gNitrate-N

mg/kgP1

mg/kgP1

mg/kgK

mg/kgMg

mg/kgCa

mg/kgBefore experiment No fertilizer and no biochar 3.2 15 22 206 345 1953 5.8 16.3 19No fertilizer with biochar-A 3.6 19 23 326 274 1808 5.7 15.4 39No fertilizer with biochar-B 4.1 20 28 218 349 2046 5.7 17.3 35

50% fertilizer and no biochar 4.2 19 32 180 438 2340 5.6 20.7 32

50% fertilizer with biochar-A 4.7 27 42 358 406 2474 5.6 19.0 33

50% fertilizer with biochar-B 4.0 21 31 251 362 1986 5.2 20.8 67


100%fertilizer with biochar-A 4.6 22 43 195 449 2422 5.9 19.7 75

100% fertilizer with biochar-B 3.3 15 24 149 345 1878 5.4 17.6 74After experiment (at harvest)No fertilizer and no biochar 3.9 20 30 198 310 1906 5.4 15.2 21No fertilizer with biochar-A 5.0 33 46 259 318 2105 6.1 16.1 12No fertilizer with biochar-B 4.5 19 31 166 329 1915 5.8 20.1 21


50% fertilizer with biochar-A 5.5 40 74 342 313 2298 6.2 19.0 29



100%fertilizer with biochar-A 5.1 35 60 239 403 2308 6.5 22.6 13


Selected Soil Properties Before and After Experiments

Colleagues

Dr. Rajagopanlan, K. Dr. Kulkarni, M. Dr. Marlin, J. Monte Wilcoxon Joe Pickowitz Ed Zaborski

Dr. Sharma, B.K. John Scott Dr. Li, X. Christie Teausant Nancy Holm Brent Panno

AcknowledgmentsThis study is being supported by Illinois Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable

Agriculture Grant Program

Questions

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