Adsorption capacity of wildfire-produced charcoal from Pacific Northwest forests

Fire-Induced Changes in Soil and Implications on Soil Sorption Capacity and Remediation Methods

“…Inyang et al [127], for example, reported Pb, Ni, Cd and Cr absorption capacities by biochar to be 2.4-147, 19.2-33.4, 0.3-39.1, and 3.0-123 mg/g, respectively, highlighting the contribution of this material to soil sorption when present. According to Pingree et al [128], as the temperature at which charcoal in soil is formed increases, the absorption capacity of the produced charcoal increases. Fires of high intensity, especially under poorly aerated conditions, could therefore increase soil sorption capacity due to the formation of biochar.…”

Charcoal in Organic Horizon and Surface Mineral Soil in a Boreal Forest Fire Chronosequence of Western Quebec: Stocks, Depth Distribution, Chemical Properties and a Synthesis of Related Studies

“…Three biochar preparations (primarily from softwood; Robertson et al, 2012;Sackett et al, 2015;Criscuoli et al, 2017) had Ca, Mg, P, and S concentrations comparable to our median values, but our K concentrations were much higher (Table 3B). Additional expectation of the composition of wildfire chars may be found by comparison of fresh biomass, and of element recoveries (2015) plus pers comm., Hatton et al (2016), and Pingree et al (2016). Our data for charcoal total C (whole sample and ash-free basis) are overlaid to give a general indication of how they might correspond to those of char samples produced under laboratory conditions.…”

Function of Wildfire-Deposited Pyrogenic Carbon in Terrestrial Ecosystems

“…This mechanism has wide ranging implications for how PyC influences myriad soil processes (Cornelissen and Gustafsson, 2004;Keech et al, 2005;Bornemann et al, 2007;Pingree et al, 2016). First, and perhaps the most obvious, is that most all soluble and mobile organic compounds in soil represent an energy source for microbes.…”

“…As formation temperature increases and pyrolysis or combustion takes place, adsorption capacity typically increases exponentially (Zhu et al, 2005;Brimmer, 2006;Bornemann et al, 2007;Pingree et al, 2016), while pore sizes become dominated by micropores (<2 nm) (Braida et al, 2003;Bornemann et al, 2007). Wood-based PyC contains extensive porosity partly due to the partial pyrolysis of tracheid cells associated with xylem, which contributes further to the natural porosity of PyC made from wood (Keech et al, 2005).…”

“…Sorption behavior as a function of formation temperature is well-documented in the laboratory (Bornemann et al, 2007), but is likely altered by exposure to environmental influences. Direct measurements of adsorption capacity in soils show a more complicated and less predictable relationship between PyC as an adsorbent and naturally-occurring adsorbate compounds (Cornelissen and Gustafsson, 2004;Pingree et al, 2016). Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems provide complex matrices for sorption interactions that merit a better understanding of sorption interactions in relation to surface properties of PyC.…”