Migration of phosphorus in pig manure during pyrolysis process and slow-release mechanism of biochar in hydroponic application.

Pyrolysis is an effective method for treating of livestock and poultry manure developed in recent years. It can completely decompose pathogens and antibiotics, stabilize heavy metals, and enrich phosphorus (P) in biochar. To elucidate the P migration mechanism under different pig manure pyrolysis temperatures, sequential fractionation, solution 31P nuclear magnetic resonance, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure techniques were used to analyze the P species in pig manure biochar (PMB). The results indicated that most of the organic P in the pig manure was converted to inorganic P during pyrolysis. Moreover, the transformation to different P groups pathways was clarified. The phase transition from amorphous to crystalline calcium phosphate was promoted when the temperature was above 600 °C. The content of P extracted by hydrochloric acid, which was the long-term available P for plant uptake, increased significantly. PMB pyrolyzed at 600 °C can be used as a highly effective substitute for P source. It provides the necessary P species (e.g. water-soluble P.) and metal elements for the growth of water spinach plants, and which are slow-release comparing with the Hogland nutrient solution.

Multi-functional biochar preparation and heavy metal immobilization by co-pyrolysis of livestock feces and biomass waste.

Biomass waste is a desirable additive in livestock feces biochar preparation due to its easy access, better moisture adjustment, and abundant organic content. In the present study, co-pyrolysis of livestock feces (PM: pig manure, CM: chicken manure) and biomass wastes (WC: wood chips, BS: bamboo sawdust, RH: rice husk, and CH: chaff) with different blending ratios was conducted at 600 °C to investigate the biochar characteristic and Cu/Zn immobilization performances. The results showed that WC and BS have more significant effect on the increase in fixed carbon content and heating value and the decrease in ash content of biochar. The biochar with lower pH and electrical conductivity is obtained from co-pyrolysis of manure with RH and CH. Compared with CM-based biochar, PM-based biochar presented better potential as fuel and soil remediation considering the higher heating value and lower aromatic H/C ratio. Specially, the residual fractions of Cu and Zn in PM biochar increased from 73.09% and 65.54% to 90.68% and 72.31% after 10 wt% BS addition and those in CM biochar increased from 81.07% and 73.57% to 88.87% and 84.11% after 10 wt% WC addition, which induced the lowest environmental risk of biochar. This work provided a strategy and direction for targeted enhancement in biochar characteristics with selective biomass addition during manure pyrolysis, which is beneficial to the local treatment and utilization of farm wastes.

Effective adsorption of Direct Red 23 by sludge biochar-based adsorbent: adsorption kinetics, thermodynamics and mechanisms study.

Using solid adsorbents, such as biochar, has been a potential practice to remove the pollutants from water bodies to render the water safer for potential usage. A potential application of sludge biochar-based adsorbent (SBA), obtained by pyrolysis with hydrothermal treatment, was developed to adsorb Direct Red 23 (DR23) from wastewater. The results showed that for the synthesized SBA (0.5 g/L) in the adsorption of DR23 at low concentration (<20 mg/L), the DR23 was totally removed from the aqueous solution. pH had a limited effect on the adsorption, while an increase in temperature was shown to have a large enhancing effect. The adsorption kinetics were best fitted by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, while the equilibrium data were best fitted by the Langmuir isotherm. A maximum saturation adsorption capacity of SBA of 111.98 mg/g was achieved. SBA could then be regenerated by pyrolysis, and after three cycles, SBA still retained good adsorption ability for DR23, a removal rate exceeding 97% was achieved. Functional groups, pores, π-π bond, and electrostatic interactions are the key to the adsorption mechanisms. The results proved that SBA would be a promising material in the application of removing dyes in printing and dyeing wastewater.