Easily Pyrolyzable Biomass Components Significantly Affect the Physicochemical Properties and Water-Holding Capacity of the Pyrolyzed Biochar

Kaizhao Zhang, Kun Zhang, Yaoming Li (), Qilin Kang, Yaofeng Wang, Jing Wang, Kai Yang and Jiefei Mao
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Kaizhao Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Kun Zhang: College of Ecology and Environment, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830017, China
Yaoming Li: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Qilin Kang: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Yaofeng Wang: College of Resources and Environment, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China
Jing Wang: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Kai Yang: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Jiefei Mao: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: The influences of feedstocks on biochar properties are widely reported. However, the influence of the transformation of biomass components (mainly cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) during feedstock pyrolysis on the obtained biochar has not been clearly stated. Here, biochar was pyrolyzed from four biomass types with different fractions of the three main components, of which surface area, pore structure, functional group, and thermogravimetric analyses were conducted. Further, we investigated the links among the physicochemical properties and water-holding capacity (WHC) of the biochar by measuring the WHC of a biochar–silica-sand (SS) mixture. Cellulose and hemicellulose were considered the easily pyrolyzable components of the feedstock owing to their low thermal stabilities. Additionally, the thermal decomposition of the easily pyrolyzable components caused the disappearance of most functional groups from the biochar that was synthesized at >350 °C. Moreover, the WHC of the biochar–SS mixture correlated significantly with the surface area and pore volumes of the biochar. Notably, the thermal residual mass and the WHC of the biochar–SS mixture exhibited the strongest correlation. Poplar wood sawdust (PT), which accounted for the highest mesopore volume of the biochar sample, contained the highest amount (86.09%) of the easily pyrolyzable components. The PT-derived biochar exhibited superior WHC than other biochar types, indicating that the dehydration, deoxygenation, and condensation of the easily pyrolyzable components of biomasses promoted gradual pore formation, further contributing to the increased WHC of the mixture. Rather than high-temperature-pyrolyzed biochar, PT350 demonstrated the highest WHC (599 mg/g), revealing that attention should be drawn to the contribution of low-temperature-pyrolyzed biochar to soil water retention in future research.

Keywords: cellulose; easily pyrolyzable components; hemicellulose; pore structure; water-holding capacity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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