Gabriela Chilom

Molecular characterization of biochars and their influence on microbiological properties of soil.

The tentative connection between the biochar surface chemical properties and their influence on microbially mediated mineralization of C, N, and S with the help of enzymes is not well established. This study was designed to investigate the effect of different biomass conversion processes (microwave pyrolysis, carbon optimized gasification, and fast pyrolysis using electricity) on the composition and surface chemistry of biochar materials produced from corn stover (Zea mays L.), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), and Ponderosa pine wood residue (Pinus ponderosa Lawson and C. Lawson) and determine the effect of biochars on mineralization of C, N, and S and associated soil enzymatic activities including esterase (fluorescein diacetate hydrolase, FDA), dehydrogenase (DHA), β-glucosidase (GLU), protease (PROT), and aryl sulfatase (ARSUL) in two different soils collected from footslope (Brookings) and crest (Maddock) positions of a landscape. Chemical properties of biochar materials produced from different batches of gasification process were fairly consistent. Biochar materials were found to be highly hydrophobic (low H/C values) with high aromaticity, irrespective of biomass feedstock and pyrolytic process. The short term incubation study showed that biochar had negative effects on microbial activity (FDA and DHA) and some enzymes including β-glucosidase and protease.

Rapid fractionation of natural organic matter in water using a novel solid-phase extraction technique.

This paper introduces a novel natural organic matter (NOM) fractionation technique using solid-phase extraction cartridges. The new technique requires only 6 hours of fractionation time, which is much faster than traditional fractionation techniques (24 hours). It uses three Bond Elute ENV cartridges (Varian, Inc., Lake Forest, California), one Strata X-C cartridge (Phenomenex, Torrance, California), and one Strata X-AW cartridge (Phenomenex) in series and was tested by using to fractionate NOM from Suwannee River, Georgia (SRNOM) and Red River, Minnesota (RRNOM). Hydrophobic acid was a major fraction and accounted for 66 to 70% and 36% of SRNOM and RRNOM, respectively. The NOM fractions obtained from the developed method were characterized using Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance. The acid fractions of SRNOM mainly consisted of carboxylic acids. An application of this new technique was demonstrated by using it to investigate the effectiveness of water treatment processes in removing different NOM fractions.

Exploring the high‐mass components of humic acid by laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry

Leonardite and Elliot soil humic acids have been analyzed by laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (LDI MS) in the m/z 4000-200,000 range. Positive ion mass spectra for each humic acid obtained under optimum conditions showed a broad high-mass distribution between m/z 20,000 and 80,000. The dependence of the mass distribution on instrumental parameters and solution conditions was used to investigate the nature of the high-mass peaks from humic acid spectra. Our data suggests that macromolecular ions and humic acid aggregates have the same probability of occurrence while cluster ion formation has a low probability of occurrence.