An Index-Based Approach to Assessing Recalcitrance and Soil Carbon Sequestration Potential of Engineered Black Carbons (Biochars)
- 24 January 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Environmental Science & Technology
- Vol. 46 (3), 1415-1421
- https://doi.org/10.1021/es2040398
Abstract
The ability of engineered black carbons (or biochars) to resist abiotic and, or biotic degradation (herein referred to as recalcitrance) is crucial to their successful deployment as a soil carbon sequestration strategy. A new recalcitrance index, the R-50, for assessing biochar quality for carbon sequestration is proposed. The R-50 is based on the relative thermal stability of a given biochar to that of graphite and was developed and evaluated with a variety of biochars (n = 59), and soot-like black carbons. Comparison of R-50, with biochar physicochemical properties and biochar-C mineralization revealed the existence of a quantifiable relationship between R-50 and biochar recalcitrance. As presented here, the R-50 is immediately applicable to pre-land application screening of biochars into Class A (R-50 >= 0.70), Class B (0.50 <= R-50 < 0.70) or Class C (R-50 < 0.50) recalcitrance/carbon sequestration classes. Class A and Class C biochars would have carbon sequestration potential comparable to soot/graphite and uncharred plant biomass, respectively, whereas Class B biochars would have intermediate carbon sequestration potential. We believe that the coupling of the R-50, to an index-based degradation, and an economic model could provide a suitable framework in which to comprehensively assess soil carbon sequestration in biochars.This publication has 44 references indexed in Scilit:
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