Evaluating role of biosolids derived biochar in addressing nutrients and diffuse pollution from arable land

生物固体已被充分记录为以有机矿物肥料（OMF）的形式用作肥料的可再生来源。OMF涉及将有机废物与肥料的矿物来源结合起来。还开发了决策支持工具，如磷酸盐接受图，以确定土地是否适合接受生物固体。虽然由于保护更广泛环境的更严格政策对土地储备可用性造成持续压力，因此正在努力为生物固体定价，但还必须开发和采用新方法来解决这个问题。因此，该研究项目是及时的，因为它寻求评估将生物固体转化为生物炭的新方法，更容易作为固体碳质材料储存，同时还潜在地处理环境中的营养物和出现的污染物流动性。生物炭已被证明可以在土壤中固碳并增加持水能力，这是一个与潜在的洪水缓解非常相关的特征。生物炭具有高pH值，这进一步降低了重金属的流动性。虽然这些都是使用生物炭的令人鼓舞的影响，但如果我们要充分利用它作为利用生物固体作为原料的潜在途径，则需要进行强有力的评估。该项目的目的是评估生物固体衍生的生物炭作为土地应用的合适材料的作用，以减轻营养物质和重金属向水道的迁移。具体目标包括：1.使用生物固体作为原料优化生物炭反应器操作条件2.使用生物固体衍生的生物炭配制合适的OMF 3.表征生物固体衍生的生物炭和有机膜，以优化其在农业应用中的作用4.有机微生物肥料对土壤中养分和重金属的吸收途径及植物吸收机理的研究

Biosolids have been well documented to be used as renewable sources of fertilisers in the form of organo-mineral fertiliser (OMF). OMF involves combining organic waste with mineral sources of fertilisers. There has also been decision support tool developed such as the Phosphate Acceptance Map to determine landbank suitability to receive biosolids. Whilst efforts are made to valorise biosolids due to ongoing pressure on landbank availability due to more stringent policies to protect the wider environment, new approaches must also be developed and adopted to address it. This research project is therefore timely as it seeks to evaluate new approaches to convert biosolids into biochar, being far easier to store as a solid carbonaceous material whilst also potentially tackling nutrients and emerging contaminant mobility in the environment. Biochar has been demonstrated to sequester carbon in soil and increase water holding capacity, a feature very pertinent for potential flood mitigation. Biochar has high pH which further reduces heavy metal mobility. Whilst these are encouraging impacts of using biochar, a robust evaluation is needed if we were to fully exploit it as a potential avenue to utilise biosolids as a feedstock. The aim of this project is to evaluate role of biosolids-derived biochar as suitable material for land applications to mitigate nutrients and heavy metal transport to watercourses. The specific objectives include:1. Optimising biochar reactor operating conditions using biosolids as feedstock 2. Formulating suitable OMFs using biosolids-derived biochar 3. Characterising biosolids-derived biochar and OMFs to optimise its role for agricultural applications 4. Elucidating mechanisms on nutrients and heavy metal pathways in soil and plant uptake when OMFs are applied to soil