Mahmoud Nadeem

Pyrolysis temperature induced changes in characteristics and chemical composition of biochar produced from conocarpus wastes

Conocarpus wastes were pyrolyzed at different temperatures (200–800 °C) to investigate their impact on characteristics and chemical composition of biochars. As pyrolysis temperature increased, ash content, pH, electrical conductivity, basic functional groups, carbon stability, and total content of C, N, P, K, Ca, and Mg increased while biochar yield, total content of O, H and S, unstable form of organic C and acidic functional groups decreased. The ratios of O/C, H/C, (O + N)/C, and (O + N + S)/C tended to decrease with temperature. The data of Fourier transformation infrared indicate an increase in aromaticity and a decrease in polarity of biochar produced at a high temperature. With pyrolysis temperature, cellulose loss and crystalline mineral components increased, as indicated by X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscope images. Results suggest that biochar pyrolized at high temperature may possess a higher carbon sequestration potential when applied to the soil compared to that obtained at low temperature.

Chemically Modified Biochar Produced from Conocarpus Wastes: An Efficient Sorbent for Fe(II) Removal from Acidic Aqueous Solutions

Fe(II) removal from acidic aqueous solutions using Conocarpus sp. biochar or chemically modified biochar prepared by synthesizing Mg(OH)2 on biochar surface as well as their comparison with zeolite sorbent (natural clinoptilolite) was investigated. Batch experiments were conducted as a function of initial pH of 2–5, contact time of 5–180 minutes and initial concentration of 10–200 mg l−1 (0.18–3.58 mmol l−1). The sorption data indicated that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model was the best model to simulate adsorption of Fe(II) onto the all sorbents and could generally be described by the Freundlich model. The higher sorption capacities for Fe(II) ions were generally pronounced for chemically modified biochar (84.6–99.8%) followed by biochar (38.3–97.6%) than those that were achieved by zeolite (12.3–95.5%). Thus, remediating acidic wastewater contaminated with Fe(II) might be possible using Conocarpus biochar, especially the chemically modified biochar.

Effects of conocarpus biochar on hydraulic properties of calcareous sandy soil: influence of particle size and application depth

ABSTRACT A laboratory column experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of 400°C biochar at application rate of 15 g kg−1 (21.9 t ha−1) with different particle sizes (<0.5 mm (S1), 0.5–1 mm (S2) and 1–2 mm (S3)) and application depths (0–2 cm depth (D0), 4–6 cm depth (D5) and 8–10 cm depth (D10)) on hydro-physical properties of sandy loam soil. The results indicated that applying biochar decreased the waterfront and saturated hydraulic conductivity of sandy loam soil. The cumulative evaporation was the highest and amounted to 40.9 mm in the non-treated soil, but it recorded the lowest amount of 32.2–35.5 mm in the biochar-treated soil. Applying biochar caused significant increases in the amount of conserved and retained water with the highest amount of water conserved in soil treated with S2 biochar at D5. Moreover, the cumulative water infiltration through the soil was significantly reduced by S1 and S2 biochars at D0. The values of saturated hydraulic conductivity for biochar treatments were significantly lower than those for the control, with the lowest values for S1 at D0 and D5. These results suggest positive improvement for the hydro-properties of coarse-textured soils following biochar addition, especially with finer particles of biochar.