Chemical production of acidified activated carbon and its influences on soil fertility comparative to thermo-pyrolyzed biochar

Abstract

Biochar (BC) is gaining attention day by day due to its potential benefits for the improvement in degraded soil health. During its production by pyrolysis, carbon sequestration is an important aspect that makes it environment-friendly amendment. However, 100% anaerobic combustion of waste at such a high temperature decreases its adaptability to produce Bc at commercial scale. on the other hand, the alkaline nature of BC also causes adverse effects on soil health when used in alkaline soils. Keeping in mind the problem of Bc production and its high pH, current experiment was conducted to introduce chemical production of acidified activated carbon (AAC) and its effects on soil nutrients status comparative to high temperature pyrolyzed Bc. As compared to thermal pyrolysis, sulphuric acid produce acidified activated carbon in minimum time and large in quantity. Sulphuric acid produces acidified activated carbon, fix higher carbon as compared to thermal pyrolyzed BC. Results also showed that application of 2% AAC was far better for decreasing alkaline soil pHs (3.52 and 4.71%) and ECe (45.2 and 71.4%) as compared to control in clay and sandy clay loam. A significant maximum increase in available P (117.5 and 25.9%), extractable Zn (42.0 and 52.2%), B (111.4 and 46.2%) and Fe (59.5 and 34.4%) in clay and sandy clay texture soils also validated the efficacious functioning of AAC over BC and control. it is concluded that sulphuric acid use is an easier and adaptable method to produce activated carbon at commercial scale. As compared to thermal pyrolyzed Bc, application of AAc could be more effective in the improvement of soil health and fertility status. Role of agriculture in food production is immense 1 to fulfil the hunger of human's 2. Today modern agriculture is feeding more than 6000 millions of people, compared to old age hunter-gatherer lifestyle (that provide food to 4 million people) 3. Owing to modern production technologies e.g. use of inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, organic amendments, biofertilizers and genetically modified high yield varieties, the production of crops has become double in the last 40 years 1,4,5. This change in food demand and supply 6 has shifted the conventional agriculture towards the intensive cultivation of crops 7. However, intensive cultivation of crops not only depleted the concentration of the nutrients but also has degraded the soil health. Owing to high soil pH, low organic matter and poor microbial population, now crops are suffering from hidden hunger of macro and micronutrients 5,7,8. To describe such a low concentration of macro and micronutrients bioavailability, poor soil fertility is a general term which is commonly used 9. Since the early years of the 21 st century, the demand and application of inorganic fertilizers were increased tremendously to solve the problem of poor soil fertility 10. It is documented fact that the application of inorganic fertilizers is the necessity of time to get the maximum yield of crops. However, these fertilizers are also costing a lot i...

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