Does water repellency of pyrochars and hydrochars counter their positive effects on soil hydraulic properties?

Adding carbon-rich solids from pyrolysis (pyrochars) and hydrothermal carbonization (hydrochars) to soils can improve their hydraulic properties and increase the plant available soil water capacity (AWC). However, the effects of the specific char characteristics on soil hydraulic properties are stil...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geoderma 2015-05, Vol.245-246, p.31-39
Main Authors: Eibisch, Nina, Durner, Wolfgang, Bechtold, Michel, Fuß, Roland, Mikutta, Robert, Woche, Susanne K., Helfrich, Mirjam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biochar
Contact angle
Hydraulic conductivity
Hydrophobicity
Hydrothermal carbonization
Pyrolysis
Water retention
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Summary:Adding carbon-rich solids from pyrolysis (pyrochars) and hydrothermal carbonization (hydrochars) to soils can improve their hydraulic properties and increase the plant available soil water capacity (AWC). However, the effects of the specific char characteristics on soil hydraulic properties are still little understood and thus, difficult to optimize for soil amendment. It is often assumed that the water repellency of chars is an important factor influencing the water retention of soils. In using the evaporation method and saturated conductivity measurements, we investigated how changes of hydraulic properties of a loamy sand with 2% (w/w) char addition depend on (i) production processes, (ii) feedstocks, (iii) particle size, and (iv) wetting properties of added chars. Applied chars comprised pyrochars carbonized at 750°C and hydrochars carbonized at 200°C and 250°C from two different feedstocks (digestate and woodchips) and two particle sizes (
ISSN:0016-7061
1872-6259
DOI:10.1016/j.geoderma.2015.01.009