Carbon sequestration potential and physicochemical properties differ between wildfire charcoals and slow-pyrolysis biochars.

ABSTRACT: Pyrogenic carbon (PyC), produced naturally (wildfire charcoal) and anthropogenically (biochar), is extensively studied due to its importance in several disciplines, including global climate dynamics, agronomy and paleosciences. Charcoal and biochar are commonly used as analogues for each other to infer respective carbon sequestration potentials, production conditions, and environmental roles and fates. The direct comparability of corresponding natural and anthropogenic PyC, however, has never been tested. Here we compared key physicochemical properties (elemental composition, δ¹³C and PAHs signatures, chemical recalcitrance, density and porosity) and carbon sequestration potentials of PyC materials formed from two identical feedstocks (pine forest floor and wood) under wildfire

SUBMITTER: Santin C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5594023 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature