Environmental Management and Byproduct Utilization Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland 20705, USA.
Appl Spectrosc. 2012 Jun;66(6):689-95. doi: 10.1366/11-06478.
Biochar is the solid residue produced by the pyrolysis of any bio-organic material under low, or no, oxygen conditions and has generated considerable interest as a means to sequester carbon in, and improve the quality of, soils. However, the exact properties of biochar depend on its composition, which in turn depends on the composition of the starting material and the temperature and conditions under which the biochar is produced. Mid-infrared spectroscopy offers an excellent and rapid method for characterizing both the starting materials and the resulting biochar. Results using diffuse reflection infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) have shown that spectral changes can be easily correlated with the production temperature and that DRIFTS offers a rapid method for biochar characterization. It was demonstrated that as the temperature increases biochars become increasingly more aromatic and carbonaceous in nature. We also showed that biochars are spectrally very similar to kerogens and coals; therefore, the methods and knowledge developed from decades of studies on these materials should greatly improve our understanding of biochar composition and effects in soil. This work indicates that rapid characterization using DRIFTS can be used to predict the nature of biochar and to determine the production conditions needed to produce a so-called "Designer Biochar" which will have properties of benefit to soil quality as well as sequestering carbon.
生物炭是在低氧或无氧条件下由任何生物有机材料热解产生的固体残留物，作为一种在土壤中固碳和提高土壤质量的手段，已引起了相当大的兴趣。然而，生物炭的确切性质取决于其组成，而组成又取决于起始材料的组成以及生物炭的生产温度和条件。中红外光谱为表征起始材料和所得生物炭提供了一种极好且快速的方法。使用漫反射红外傅里叶变换光谱（DRIFTS）的结果表明，光谱变化可以很容易地与生产温度相关联，并且 DRIFTS 提供了一种快速的生物炭表征方法。结果表明，随着温度的升高，生物炭在性质上变得越来越芳香化和碳化。我们还表明，生物炭在光谱上与干酪根和煤非常相似；因此，从几十年来对这些材料的研究中发展起来的方法和知识应该大大提高我们对生物炭在土壤中的组成和作用的理解。这项工作表明，使用 DRIFTS 进行快速表征可用于预测生物炭的性质，并确定生产所谓“设计生物炭”所需的生产条件，这种生物炭将具有改善土壤质量和固碳的特性。
