Sustainability assessment of biochar for climate change mitigation

Biochar stability determines the effectiveness of biochar's functions such as carbon sequestration, soil structure improvement, soil fertility enhancement, and soil pollution remediation. However, a fast method for accurately predicting biochar long-term stability in soil remains elusive. Here, firstly, an incubation experiment was conducted on mineralization dynamics of different 13C-labeled biochars over 368 days to explore their actual mineralization in soils and establish their mineralization model. Thereafter, 10 treatments of fast chemical oxidation methods using K₂Cr₂O₇ (0.1 M) with different H+ concentrations and oxidation times were applied to the biochars to reveal which method best matches the mineralization of biochar in soils. Results showed that the percentage of biochar-carbon oxidized by the solution containing 0.1 M K₂Cr₂O₇ and 0.2 M H+ at 100 °C for 2 h was in accordance with the one that potentially would be mineralized in soils at a 100-year scale (R² > 0.99; REMS = 2.53; RD = 15.3). The results provided a chemical oxidation method that was robust, effective, low cost and highly available for measuring the long-term stability of biochar in soils. © 2023 Elsevier Inc.