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The effect of organic solvent washing on the structure of hydrochar-based dissolved organic matters and its potential environmental toxicity

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Abstract

With the increased interest in the practical use of hydrochar, concerns about the possible environmental biotoxicity of hydrochar and its released dissolved organic matters (DOM) have grown. As a common method for removing bio-oil on the surface of hydrochar, the effect of organic solvent washing on the properties of hydrochar released DOM remains unclear. In this study, we made a comprehensive comparison of hydrochar properties and molecule structure as well as biotoxicity of DOM released from HC (raw hydrochar) and THC (hydrochar washed by tetrahydrofuran). The results indicated that the mass loss of hydrochar was obvious after tetrahydrofuran (THF) washing, and a decline of H/C atomic ratio and increase of N/C and O/C atomic ratios was observed based on Van Krevelen (VK) diagram. This result was further confirmed by FTIR, 13C NMR, and XPS results. Meanwhile, the molecule structure of DOM was shifted to lower molecule weight with higher O-contain compounds after THF extraction due to the demethanation process. However, the biotoxicity experiments indicated that both extracted DOM had no significant impact on germination rate of wheat, and HC-treated sample even exhibited growth superiority. Nevertheless, potential toxicity was observed with the increase of the activity of antioxidant enzymes, and THF washing aggravated the potential oxidative damage through increasing the aromaticity of DOM. Such understanding highlights the importance of evaluating hydrochar and its released DOM before applications, so as to reduce the potential environment biotoxicity.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Xiangdong Zhu for providing hydrochar and technical assistance in DOM structure analysis.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41907114, 41807140), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018 M632252), Open Fund of Key Laboratory of Original Agro-Environmental Pollution Prevention and Control, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Tianjin Key Laboratory of Agro-Environment and Agro-Product Safety, Agro-Environment Protection Institution, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (18nybcdhj-3), Open Fund of Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Palygorskite Sciences and Applied Technology (HPK201705), Agricultural Independent Innovation Fund of Jiangsu Province (CX(18)3002) and Research Fund of Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (027126111637).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 50 Zhongling Street, Nanjing, 210014, China

    Guangping Fan, Fei Tong, Weiguo Zhang, Gaoling Shi, Wei Chen, Lizhu Liu, Jiangye Li, Zhenhua Zhang & Yan Gao

  2. Key Laboratory of Agro-Environment in downstream of Yangze Plain, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Nanjing, 210014, China

    Guangping Fan, Fei Tong, Weiguo Zhang, Gaoling Shi, Wei Chen, Lizhu Liu, Jiangye Li, Zhenhua Zhang & Yan Gao

Authors
  1. Guangping Fan
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  2. Fei Tong
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  3. Weiguo Zhang
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  4. Gaoling Shi
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  5. Wei Chen
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  6. Lizhu Liu
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  7. Jiangye Li
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  8. Zhenhua Zhang
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  9. Yan Gao
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Contributions

Guangping Fan performed the experiment, drafted the manuscript; Fei Tong and Weiguo Zhang contributed to the interpretation of the results; Jiangye Li and Lizhu Liu analyzed the data; Yan Gao, Wei Chen, and Gaoling Shi reviewed and edited the manuscript; Zhenhua Zhang and Yan Gao designed the experiment. All authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the research, analysis and manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhenhua Zhang or Yan Gao.

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Responsible Editor: Zhihong Xu

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Fan, G., Tong, F., Zhang, W. et al. The effect of organic solvent washing on the structure of hydrochar-based dissolved organic matters and its potential environmental toxicity. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 26584–26594 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12517-5

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