The influence of biochar on nutrient leaching and hydraulic conductivity in two California soils

The unique chemical and physical properties of biochars typically include low bulk density, high porosity, high surface area, reactive surface functional groups, and variable particle size distribution. These attributes make biochar a promising material for amendment to agricultural soils, as biochar may help improve soil water holding capacity, hydraulic conductivity (K_sat), and nutrient retention through chemical or physical means. Despite increased interest and investigation, there remains uncertainty regarding the ability of biochar to alter soils to deliver these agronomic benefits, due to differences in biochar feedstock, production method, production temperature and soil texture. In this project, a suite of experiments was carried out using biochars of diverse feedstocks and production temperature, in order to determine the biochar parameters which may optimize agricultural benefits. Sorption experiments [SJP1] were performed with seven distinct, commercially available biochars to determine sorption efficiencies for ammonium and nitrate. Only one biochar effectively retained nitrate, while all biochars bound ammonium. The three biochars with the highest nitrate and/or ammonium binding capacity (produced from almond shell at 500 and 800 °C (AS500 and AS800) and softwood at 500 °C (SW500)), were chosen for a series of column experiments. These biochars were amended to a sandy loam and a silt loam at 0 and 2% (w/w) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_sat) was measured. The biochars reduced K_sat in both soils by 64-80%, with the exception of AS800, which increased K_sat by 98% in the silt loam. Breakthrough curves for nitrate and ammonium, as well as concentrations of nutrients in the leachate, were also measured in the sandy loam columns.  Biochars significantly reduced the quantity of ammonium in the leachate, and significantly slowed its movement through the soil profile. Biochars had little to no effect on the timing and quantity of nitrate release. In this presentation, we present results from each experiment, and show images from our current work using x-ray micro-computed tomography on these soils and biochars to quantify porosity, pore size, and pore connectivity. Together, this work sheds new light on the chemical and physical means by which biochar alters soils to impact nutrient leaching and hydraulic conductivity.