title: Biochar: an effective amendment for remediating contaminated soil.
abstract: Biochar is a carbon-rich material derived from incomplete combustion of biomass.Applying biochar as an amendment to treat contaminated soils is receiving increasing attention, and is a promising way to improve soil quality. Heavy metals are persistent and are not environmentally biodegradable. However, they can be stabilized in soil by adding biochar. Moreover, biochar is considered to be a predominant sorptive agent for organic pollutants, having a removal efficiency of about 1 order of magnitude higher than does soil/sediment organic matter or their precursor substances alone.When trying to stabilize organic and inorganic pollutants in soil, several features of biochar' s sorption capacity should be considered, viz., the nature of the pollutants to be remediated, how the biochar is prepared, and the complexity of the soil systemin which biochar may be used. In addition, a significant portion of the biochar or some of its components that are used to remediate soils do change over time through abiotic oxidation and microbial decomposition. This change process is commonly referred to as "aging:" Biochar "aging" in nature is inevitable, and aged biochar exhibits an effect that is totally different than non-aged biochar on stabilizing heavy metals and organic contaminants in soils.Studies that have been performed to date on the use of biochar to remediate contaminated soil are insufficient to allow its use for wide-scale field application.Therefore, considerable new data are necessary to expand both our understanding of how biochar performs in the field, and where it can be best used in the future for soil remediation. For example, how biochar and soil biota (microbial and faunal communities)interact in soils is still poorly understood. Moreover, studies are needed on how to best remove new species of heavy metals, and on how biochar aging affects sorption capacity are also needed.
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lu-Lu
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Wei-Tao
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Qi-Xing
authors.initials: QX
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D018533:Biomass; D002606:Charcoal / Q000737:chemistry*; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D012989:Soil Pollutants; C540010:biochar; D002606:Charcoal