The Influence of Biochar on Adsorption Behaviour of Triazine Herbicides in Different Soil Types

Biochar is promising material used to enhance organic matter content in soil and to mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration. In addition to that, biochar increases crop yield by means of improving soil capacity for water- and nutrient-holding capacity, and due to its adsorption capacity, it decreases mobility and bioavailability of organic pollutants and heavy metals. Biochar (BC) is a carbon-rich and porous material produced by pyrolysis of biomass under oxygen-limited conditions. The unwanted spread of pesticides to the environment and their leaching into the groundwater is of great concern. The aim of this work is to investigate the potential of BC to improve the adsorption capacity for two triazine herbicides in three different soil types with various organic matter (OC) content. Triazine herbicides (terbuthylazine and atrazine) were chosen as the most widely used pesticides in recent decades. The main difference among between three different soils types used in the study is in their OM content, which was 0.48%, 2.34% and 4.12%, respectively for Soil1, Soil2, and Soil3. The BC used in this work is commercially available compost-activated biochar produced by pyrolysis of beechwood chips at 700 ^oC. A batch adsorption experiments were conducted to investigate herbicide adsorption in soil without BC and with the amendment of BC (0, 1, 5, and 10%). The concentration of herbicides in the aqueous phase at equilibrium (which is achieved after 72 h) was determined by GC-MS. The adsorption isotherms were well described with the Freundlich model (R² values range from 0.714 to 0.998). Values of Freundlich exponent n were less than 1 (from 0.314 to 0.897), which indicates that the isotherms are of L-type. This shows that with the increase of compound concentration relative adsorption decreases because of the saturation of adsorption sites. Single-point distribution coefficients (K_d) were calculated at selected equilibrium concentration (c_e= 100 µg dm^–3). K_d values increased with an increase of BC content, especially for 5% and 10% of BC amendment. K_d values of atrazine in Soil1 were in the range 1.91–14.55, in Soil2 from 4.76–15.65, and in Soil3 from 4.79–20.11, while K_d values of terbuthylazine ranged from 1.14–30.92 in Soil1, from 14.13–50.74 in Soil2, and from 12.65–47.03 in Soil3. In unamended Soil1 the adsorption of both herbicides was lower in comparison to unamended Soil2 and Soil3, which is in accordance with the well-known fact that the OC content of soil primarily affects the adsorption of pesticides. The adsorption capacity of Soil 2 and Soil 3 was not significantly different. It is observed that the adsorption of terbuthylazine is higher in all soil types, which is in accordance with its lower solubility and higher affinity for OM in comparison to atrazine. It is shown that sorption capacity of soil for pesticides could be improved by adding biochar into the soil, thus reducing herbicide mobility into the environment. Further studies will be conducted by column experiments to investigate more realistic environmental scenarios.