Biochar granulation, particle size, and vegetation effects on leachate water quality from a green roof substrate

Granulation compared to co-application of biochar plus mineral fertilizer and its impacts on crop growth and nutrient leaching

Mechanized biochar field application remains challenging due to biochar's poor flowability and bulk density. Granulation of biochar with fertilizer provides a product ready for application with well-established machinery. However, it's unknown whether granulated biochar-based fertilizers (gBBF) are as effective as co-application of non-granulated biochar with fertilizer. Here, we compared a gBBF with a mineral compound fertilizer (control), and with a non-granulated biochar that was co-applied at a rate of 1.1 t ha-1 with the fertilizer in a white cabbage greenhouse pot trial. Half the pots received heavy rain simulation treatments to investigate nutrient leaching. Crop yields were not significantly increased by biochar without leaching compared to the control. With leaching, cabbage yield increased with gBBF and biochar-co-application by 14% (p > 0.05) and 34% (p < 0.05), respectively. Nitrogen leaching was reduced by 26-35% with both biochar amendments. Biochar significantly reduced potassium, magnesium, and sulfur leaching. Most nitrogen associated with gBBF was released during the trial and the granulated biochar regained its microporosity. Enriching fertilizers with biochar by granulation or co-application can improve crop yields and decrease nutrient leaching. While the gBBF yielded less biomass compared to biochar co-application, improved mechanized field application after granulation could facilitate the implementation of biochar application in agriculture.

Biochar and vegetation effects on discharge water quality from organic-substrate green roofs

Green roofs have been increasingly used to improve stormwater management, but poor vegetation performance on roof systems, varying with vegetation type, can degrade discharge quality. Biochar has been suggested as an effective substrate additive for green roofs to improve plant performance and discharge quality. However, research on the effects of biochar and vegetation on discharge quality in the long term is lacking and the underlying mechanisms involved are unclear. We examined the effects of biochar amendment and vegetation on discharge quality on organic-substrate green roofs with pre-grown sedum mats and direct-seeded native plants for three years and investigated the key factors influencing discharge quality. Sedum mats reduced the leaching of nutrients and particulate matter by 6-64% relative to native plants, largely due to the higher initial vegetation cover of the former. Biochar addition to sedum mat green roofs resulted in the best integrated water quality due to enhanced plant cover and sorption effects. Structural equation modeling revealed that nutrient leaching was primarily influenced by rainfall depth, time, vegetation cover, and substrate pH. Although biochar-amended sedum mats showed better discharge quality from organic-substrate green roofs, additional ecosystem services may be provided by native plants, suggesting future research to optimize plant composition and cover and biochar properties for sustainable green roofs.

Tree-structured parzen estimator optimized-automated machine learning assisted by meta-analysis for predicting biochar-driven N2O mitigation effect in constructed wetlands

Biochar is a carbon-neutral tool for combating climate change. Artificial intelligence applications to estimate the biochar mitigation effect on greenhouse gases (GHGs) can assist scientists in making more informed solutions. However, there is also evidence indicating that biochar promotes, rather than reduces, N2O emissions. Thus, the effect of biochar on N2O remains uncertain in constructed wetlands (CWs), and there is not a characterization metric for this effect, which increases the difficulty and inaccuracy of biochar-driven alleviation effect projections. Here, we provide new insight by utilizing machine learning-based, tree-structured Parzen Estimator (TPE) optimization assisted by a meta-analysis to estimate the potency of biochar-driven N2O mitigation. We first synthesized datasets that contained 80 studies on global biochar-amended CWs. The mitigation effect size was then calculated and further introduced as a new metric. TPE optimization was then applied to automatically tune the hyperparameters of the built extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) and random forest (RF), and the optimum TPE-XGBoost obtained adequately achieved a satisfactory prediction accuracy for N2O flux (R2 = 91.90%, RPD = 3.57) and the effect size (R2 = 92.61%, RPD = 3.59). Results indicated that a high influent chemical oxygen demand/total nitrogen (COD/TN) ratio and the COD removal efficiency interpreted by the Shapley value significantly enhanced the effect size contribution. COD/TN ratio made the most and the second greatest positive contributions among 22 input variables to N2O flux and to the effect size that were up to 18% and 14%, respectively. By combining with a structural equation model analysis, NH4+-N removal rate had significant negative direct effects on the N2O flux. This study implied that the application of granulated biochar derived from C-rich feedstocks would maximize the net climate benefit of N2O mitigation driven by biochar for future biochar-based CWs.

Biochar Benefits Green Infrastructure: Global Meta-Analysis and Synthesis

Urbanization has degraded ecosystem services on a global scale, and cities are vulnerable to long-term stresses and risks exacerbated by climate change. Green infrastructure (GI) has been increasingly implemented in cities to improve ecosystem functions and enhance city resilience, yet GI degradation or failure is common. Biochar has been recently suggested as an ideal substrate additive for a range of GI types due to its favorable properties; however, the generality of biochar benefits the GI ecosystem function, and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we present a global meta-analysis and synthesis and demonstrate that biochar additions pervasively benefit a wide range of ecosystem functions on GI. Biochar applications were found to improve substrate water retention capacity by 23% and enhance substrate nutrients by 12-31%, contributing to a 33% increase in plant total biomass. Improved substrate physicochemical properties and plant growth together reduce discharge water volume and improve discharge water quality from GI. In addition, biochar increases microbial biomass on GI by ∼150% due to the presence of biochar pores and enhanced microbial growth conditions, while also reducing CO2 and N2O emissions. Overall results suggest that biochar has great potential to enhance GI ecosystem functions as well as urban sustainability and resilience.

Green engineered mulch for phosphorus and metal removal from stormwater runoff in bioretention systems

Phosphorus and metals in stormwater runoff are major causes of water quality degradation. Bioretention systems are increasingly implemented to improve stormwater quality and to better manage stormwater quantity. Many studies have focused on modifying the composition of the soil bed to improve pollutant removal. However, the pollutant removal performance of bioretention systems can diminish over time, such as when clogging of the media occurs. Sediment accumulation on the soil surface may inhibit infiltration into the soil bed, thus limiting pollutant removal. Soil replacement may be eventually required as pollutants accumulate in the soil. In this study, a green retrofit material, called green engineered mulch (GEM), was generated by coating regular wood mulch with aluminum-based water treatment residuals (WTR) via a simple and low-energy process (patent pending). The GEM was developed to serve as a green retrofit for bioretention systems to enhance the removal of phosphorus and metals from stormwater runoff. The GEM was placed in a rain garden in Secaucus, NJ, USA for 15 months, during which 12 storm events (ranging from 6.0 mm to 89.6 mm) were monitored. Runoff and infiltrate samples were analyzed for dissolved and total concentrations of phosphorus and metals, along with other key water quality parameters. The GEM significantly reduced (p < 0.05) the total concentrations of phosphorus and metals in stormwater infiltrate compared to the inlet, unlike the regular mulch. Minimal or no contact with the GEM resulted in no significant pollutant removal from surface runoff. No significant pollutant export from the GEM was observed. The spent GEM can be disposed of as non-hazardous waste in municipal landfills. This study demonstrates that the GEM is a safe and effective retrofit. Moreover, the GEM is a simple and economical retrofit solution that can be used in place of regular mulch in bioretention systems.

Biochar granulation reduces substrate erosion on green roofs

Green roofs are exposed to high winds and harsh environmental conditions that can degrade vegetation and erode substrate material, with negative consequences to ecosystem services. Biochar has been promoted as an effective substrate additive to enhance plant performance, but unprocessed biochars are susceptible to wind and water erosion. Applications of granulated biochars or chemical dust suppressants are suggested as a means to mitigate biochar and substrate erosion; however, research on biochar type and chemical dust suppressant use on biochar and substrate erosion is lacking. Vegetation is a crucial factor that influences substrate erosion, yet plant responses may vary with biochar type and chemical dust suppressant; thus, the effects of possible mitigation measures on biochar and substrate erosion are unclear. We investigated the effects of surface-applied granulated and unprocessed biochars and an organic dust suppressant (Entac™) on biochar and substrate erosion on green roofs with Sedum album L. and a native plant mix. Our results show that 94% of unprocessed biochars were lost from green roofs after 2 years regardless of the Entac™ amendment, likely due to the lightweight nature and fragmentation of biochar particles. In contrast, granulation of biochars reduced the biochar erosion and total substrate erosion by 74% and 39%, respectively, possibly due to enhanced biochar bulk density and particle size and improved moisture retention of biochar-amended substrates. Additionally, Sedum album better reduced biochar and substrate erosion than the native plant mix, likely due to rapid development of high vegetation cover that reduced wind exposure and enhanced substrate moisture retention. We conclude that applications of granulated biochars can substantially reduce biochar and substrate erosion on green roofs, improving green roof sustainability.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42773-022-00186-7.