Application of Biochar in Degradation and Purification

Dear Colleagues,

Along with the development and progress of social economy, energy and environment have become the focus of global attention. The rational development of nature-based, green, and environmentally friendly biomass technology is conducive to the virtuous cycle of global environment and ecological resources. Biochar, rich in porous structure and oxygen-containing groups, is one kind of stable and inexpensive soil amendment. It can not only effectively adsorb pollutants (such as organic pollutants or heavy metals) and provide favorable attachment interface with some specific functional groups for the stable attachment of microbes but also act as a soil conditioner to preserve soil moisture and improve soil properties, making it a highly promising agricultural soil remediation agent and environmentally friendly carrier.

Therefore, it is my pleasure to invite you to contribute your research article, communication, or review to this Special Issue dedicated to novel biochar preparation, modification, and combination technology for the enhanced remediation and purification of multiple pollutants in various kinds of environmental systems.

Dr. Bo Zhang
Guest Editor

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• novel bioremediation techniques about both organic pollutants and heavy metals in soils
• biochar-mediated bacterial biofilms
• evolution of soil microbes under different stress in soils
• interactions between the virus and bacteria in soils
• enhancement of soil fertility

Title: Insights into the environmental behaviors of tylosin in soil: Physiological biochemical properties, composition and diversity of microbial community
Authors: Bo Zhang, Zhen Guo
Affiliation: Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China
Abstract: The excretion and residue of veterinary antibiotics in soil would introduces antibiotic resistance genes to soil (ARGs) with the possibility for the further movement in drainage water, which may bring potential harm to the soil ecology environment. In this paper, we studied the behavior of soil treated with tylosin and the effect on microbial ecological. Our result showed that the action of soil adsorption of TYL can be better described by Freundlich models and the single-point sorption distribution coefficient (Kd) of TYL decreased as the solution pH increased, higher temperature with lower pH is benefit for sorbent on tylosin. The contents of TYLA, TYLB, TYLD were detected by LC/MS, and the half-life (t 1/2) of TYLA degradation in soil was 10.5 days. In 40 days the concentrations of TYLB and TYLD were about 0.0317±0.0026mg/kg and 41.602±0.9277mg/kg respectively under the condition of TYL exerted with 100mg/g. TYLA was not detected in the end of the experiments. The activities of phosphatase, urease and catalase were inhibited firstly and then gradually recovered, whereas TYL had no significant effect on the soil respiration. Our finding also showed that the application of TYL could change the diversity of microbial community in soil which did reduce the abundance of species and form resistance groups gradually. Therefore, the reasonable development of antibiotic discharge standards could reduce potential harm to soil ecosystem.