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Effect of biochar on transformation of dissolved organic matter and DTPA-extractable Cu and Cd during sediment composting

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Abstract

This study investigated the influence of biochar on temperature, pH, organic matter (OM), seed germination index (GI), the fluorescent components of dissolved organic matter (DOM), and bioavailability of DTPA-extractable Cu and Cd during composting and analyzed the relation between DTPA-extractable metals with pH, OM, and the fluorescent components of DOM. Results showed that the addition of biochar shortened the thermophilic phase, reduced the pH at maturation period, accelerated the decomposition of OM, and raised GI. Besides, it promoted the formation of components with benzene ring in FA and HyI and the degradation of protein-like organic-matters in FA and HA, which was mainly related with the decrease of DTPA-extractable Cd and the increase of DTPA-extractable Cu. After composting, DTPA-extractable Cd in pile A and pile B were decreased by 37.15% and 27.54%, respectively, while the bioavailability of Cu in pile A and pile B was increased by 65.71% and 68.70%, respectively. All these findings demonstrate positive and negative impact produced by biochar into various heavy metals and the necessary of optimization measures with biochar in sediment composting.

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Data availability

All datasets used and/or analyzed in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51609042, 21477027), the National & Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Municipal Sewage Resource Utilization Technology, Suzhou University of Science and Technology (2018KF03) and the Basic Innovation Project for Graduate Students of Guangzhou University (2018GDJC-M44).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Meihua Zhao, Caiyuan Cai, Hongwei Rong & Chaosheng Zhang

  2. National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Municipal Sewage Resource Utilization Technology, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China

    Meihua Zhao

  3. National-Regional Joint Engineering Research Center for Soil Pollution Control and Remediation in South China, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Integrated Agro-environmental Pollution Control and Management, Institute of Eco-environmental and Soil Sciences, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China

    Zhen Yu & Shungui Zhou

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  1. Meihua Zhao
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  2. Caiyuan Cai
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  3. Zhen Yu
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  4. Hongwei Rong
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  5. Chaosheng Zhang
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Contributions

Meihua Zhao: investigation, writing-original draft, funding acquisition. Caiyuan Cai: investigation, formal analysis, funding acquisition. Zhen Yu: supervision, writing-review & editing. Hongwei Rong: data curation, software, methodology. Chaosheng Zhang: writing-review & editing, funding acquisition. Shungui Zhou: writing-review & editing, visualization. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhen Yu.

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Zhao, M., Cai, C., Yu, Z. et al. Effect of biochar on transformation of dissolved organic matter and DTPA-extractable Cu and Cd during sediment composting. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 27977–27987 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14255-0

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