The Properties and Functions of Biochars in Forest Ecosystems

Electronic SupplementaryMaterial

Frontiers in Soils and Sediments • review article

The properties and functions of biochars in forest ecosystems

YuLuo1 • Zhuyun Yu 1 • Kaile Zhang 1 • Jianming Xu 1 • Philip C. Brookes1

Received: 7 April 2016 / Accepted: 12 June 2016

Responsible editor: Zhihong Xu

1Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science,College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, ZhejiangUniversity, Hangzhou 310058, China

 Jianming Xu

TableS1 Methods for measuring biochar concentrations in forest post-fire soils

Method / Detection / Objective / Advantage / Limitation / Reference
Microscopic techniques / Hyperspectral imagery with enhanced dark-fieldmicroscopy / Spatial and spectral information of biochar / Graphics
suitabilityand convenience / Limited information, only providing morphological description without quantitative and qualitative data. / (Brodowski et al. 2005)
(Nocentini et al. 2010)
(Hockaday et al. 2006)
(Czimczik and Masiello 2007)
(Lehmann et al. 2005)
SEM(Scanning electron microscopy) coupled to an EDX(energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer)/HRTEM (high-resolution transmissionelectron microscopy)/NEXAFS (Near-edge X-ray absorptionfine structure spectroscopy) / Morphological andchemicalproperties of biochar
Spectroscopic methods / MIRMS\CF-IRMS\FIRMS / Determination of chemical composition(functional groups) / Providing valid chemical composition information and relative content of each component. / Cannot provide precise quantitative information. / (Rumpel et al. 2007)
(Hockaday et al. 2006)
(Nocentini et al. 2010)
(Alexis et al. 2010)
(Francioso et al. 2011)
(Wolf et al. 2013)
(FilimonovaHilscher and Kögel-Knabner 2014)
13C CPMAS nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy/129Xe NMR / Qualitative and quantification information on chemicalcomposition(functional groups) / Provides relatively precise quantitative information on chemical structure, but time-consuming. Accuracy and application highly dependent on pre-treatment.
Wet chemical oxidation / CuO(Cupric oxide oxidation) / Determination of the C (including biochar content of soils. / Quantification analysis of charcoal content in soil or sediments / The degree ofoxidation varies between different methods and depends on charcoal content in soil or sediments.Too high or too low contents are measuredand results may not be accurate. / (Gélinas et al. 2001, Hockaday et al. 2006)
(Lim and Cachier 1996)
Sodium hypochlorite oxidation
Acid Dichromate Oxidation (Covers WB)
Thermal oxidation / TG-DSC(ThermogravimetryandDifferentialScanning Calorimetry Analysis) / Determination of the biochar content of soils.
CTO-375(Chemo-Thermal Oxidation at 375℃)
Photooxidation / UV Photooxidation (UV) / Determination of the charcoal content of soils.
BPCA / Digestion derivation and detection(GC-FID/MS or HPLC) / Determination on the degree of aromaticityof biochar / A recommended method because of its relative accuracy of detection(up to 80%) compared with other methods / (Wolf et al. 2014)
(Brodowski et al. 2005)
(Wolf et al. 2013)