Research Progress in Biochar and Microbial Remediation for Heavy Metal Agricultural Soil

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Plant Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 954

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Industrial and Environmental Microbiology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Akademicka 19, 20-033 Lublin, Poland
Interests: metal bioavailability; heavy metal bioremediation; metal-induced stress; rhizosphere microorganisms; plant-growth-promoting microorganisms
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Guest Editor
Department of Plant Physiology and Biophysics, Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Akademicka 19, 20-033 Lublin, Poland
Interests: abiotic and biotic stress factors; metal phytotoxicity; enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants; plant-growth-promoting microorganisms; metal-contaminated soils
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biochar (BC) is a carbon product that is synthesized via the pyrolysis of biological materials in the absence of oxygen. Currently, the production of BC is considered one of the best solutions to systematically reduce the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere as a result of exclusion and sequestration. BC is a porous material with a large sorption surface area containing many functional groups. These features allow BC to be used as a soil conditioner that increases the organic carbon content, regulates the pH, and retains water in the soil. Biochar reduces the mobility of heavy metals in the soil, as well as the uptake and accumulation of these metals in plant biomass.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide insight into methods of improving the structural and physicochemical properties of BC and enhance its potential in the microbial remediation and phytoremediation of metal-contaminated soils. Also of relevance are the effects of BC on plant growth, soil microorganism activity, and diversity, and the stability of heavy metals and their distribution between exchangeable, reducible, oxidisable and residual fractions, as well as the possible hazards associated with BC application in agricultural soils.

Dr. Małgorzata Majewska
Dr. Agnieszka Hanaka
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • biochar production
  • soil carbon sequestration
  • metal bioavailability in biochar-treated soils
  • bioremediation efficacy
  • heavy metal bioremediation mechanisms
  • phytoremediation
  • soil bioremediation
  • microorganism–biochar interactions
  • nano-biochar
  • risks of biochar use

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 5716 KiB  
Article
The Application of MgO-Modified Biochars for the Immobilization of Ni, Cu, Pb, and Cr in Stone Crushing and Mining-Polluted Soil
by Irfan Saleem, Altaf Hussain Lahori, Monika Mierzwa-Hersztek, Ambreen Afzal, Maria Taj Muhammad, Muhammad Shoaib Ahmed, Viola Vambol and Sergij Vambol
Agronomy 2024, 14(7), 1423; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14071423 - 30 Jun 2024
Viewed by 561
Abstract
The objective of the present study was to investigate the impact of MgO 0.5 g/kg loaded in different organic waste materials on the properties of the modified biochars obtained. The waste materials included tea waste, wood waste, water chestnut peel, and pomegranate peel, [...] Read more.
The objective of the present study was to investigate the impact of MgO 0.5 g/kg loaded in different organic waste materials on the properties of the modified biochars obtained. The waste materials included tea waste, wood waste, water chestnut peel, and pomegranate peel, which were used to create tea waste MgO-modified biochar (TWMgO-MBC), wood waste MgO-modified biochar (WSMgO-MBC), water chestnut peel MgO-modified biochar (WCMgO-MBC), and pomegranate peel MgO-modified biochar (PPMgO-MBC). All the MgO-modified biochars were prepared at 600 °C for 2 h and applied at 0.5 and 1% doses for the immobilization of Ni, Cu, Pb, and Cr in stone crushing and mining-polluted soil and the reduction in their uptake by pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) plant. The greatest fresh and dry biomasses were observed at 45.04% and 31.29%, respectively, with the application of TWMgO-MBC 1% in stone-crushing-polluted soil. The highest degree of immobilization of Ni (76.67%) was observed for the WSMgO-MBC 1% treatment, Cu (73.45%) for WCMgO-MBC 1%, Pb (76.78%) for WSMgO-MBC 1%, and Cr (70.55%) for WCMgO-MBC 1%, in comparison with the control. The maximum uptake of Ni, Cu, Pb, and Cr in the shoot of pearl millet was reduced by 78.43% with WSMgO-MBC 1%, 75.06% with WSMgO-MBC 1%, 90.81% with WCMgO-MBC 1%, and 85.71% with WSMgO-MBC 1% as compared with the control. The greatest reduction in Ni, Cu, Pb, and Cr in the root of pearl millet was observed at 77.81% with WSMgO-MBC 1%, 68.09% with WCMgO-MBC 1%, 84.03% with WCMgO-MBC 1%, and 88.73% with WCMgO-MBC 1%, in comparison with the control. The present study demonstrated that the TWMgO-MBC 1% treatment was highly effective for improving plant growth, while the WSMgO-MBC 1%, and WCMgO-MBC 1% treatments were found to be highly effective for immobilizing heavy metals in polluted soils, thus facilitating safe crop cultivation. Future studies should concentrate on the long-term application of MgO-modified biochars for the remediation of multimetal-polluted soils. Full article
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