Examination of zinc adsorption capacity of soils treated with different pyrolysis products

Organic matter input into soils is essential regarding agricultural, environmental and soil science aspects as well. However, the application of the pyrolysed forms of biochars and materials with different organic matter content gained more attention in order to decrease the emission of the green house gases (CO₂, N₂O) from the soil. During pyrolysis, the materials containing high organic matter (biomass-originated organic matter) are heated in oxygen-free (or limited amount of oxygen) environment. As a result, the solid phase, which remains after eliminating the gases and liquid phase, is more stable compared to the original product, it cannot be mineralized easily in the soil and its utilization is more beneficial in terms of climatic aspects. Furthermore, it can improve soil structure and it can retain soil moisture and cations in the topsoil for long periods of time, which is very important for plants. In our experiment, the effects of biochar and bone char were examined on soils by zinc adsorption experiments. Based on our experiments, we concluded that the pyrolysis products can have significant Zn adsorption capacity compared to the soil. Bone ash can adsorb more Zn than the charcoal product. The Zn adsorption capacity of soils treated by pyrolysis products can be described by Langmuir adsorption isotherms. However, based on the amount of pyrolysis products, one or two term Langmuir isotherm fits well on the experiment data, which depends on the time the pyrolysis product has spent in the soil.