Acquisition of a hydropyrolysis unit for pre-treatment of soils for isotopic analysis and black carbon quantification

我们将量化的黑碳含量在六个站点的长期生态研究（LTER）网络，努力了解黑碳在不同的环境中达到从阿拉斯加到佛罗里达的水平分布。此外，我们还将测量美国地质调查局在40公里网格内收集的大量样本中的黑碳含量，并生成美国几个地区的黑碳分布图。这些信息将输入国家土壤碳网络的数据库（http：//www.fluxdata.org/nscn/SitePages/Home.aspx），以开发用于评估土壤碳变化的学习工具。加氢热解得到的数据将与那些通过核磁共振光谱和紫外氧化程序得到的比较。我们将开发一个转换工具，使用中红外（MIR）光谱计算黑碳含量，这是量化土壤中碳形态的最快速工具。在森林和稀树草原火灾中，可能会产生大量的焦炭，这种所谓的黑碳被发现无处不在。这种物质是在土壤中积累，还是通过侵蚀、沥滤或分解而输出，在很大程度上是未知的。黑碳本身是非常难分解的，也可能构成大气二氧化碳的汇。更好地了解黑碳的全球分布将有助于回答关于全球碳循环的几个重要问题，关于黑碳在土壤生产力中的相关性，以及土壤有机质将如何随着气候变化导致的变暖或土地利用变化导致的耕作而变化。有几种方法可用于测量土壤黑碳含量，但大多数方法只能测量组成黑碳的化学物质的一部分。加氢热解提供了一种廉价和快速的分析方法，具有与目前最好的方法相同的准确性，因此可以进行大量的分析。通过加氢热解中的分离程序定量同位素的能力提供了定量周转时间的机会。这种分析工具的多功能性将有助于完善量化和分离，以适应不同的研究目标，认识到黑碳是一个连续的碳形式。

We will quantify the black carbon contents at six sites of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network in an effort to understand the landscape-level distribution of black carbon in different environments reaching from Alaska to Florida. In addition, we will measure black carbon contents in a large number of samples collected by the United States Geological Survey in a 40-kilometer grid and generate a map of its distribution for several regions in the United States. This information will be fed into a data base for the National Soil Carbon Network (http://www.fluxdata.org/nscn/SitePages/Home.aspx) to develop a learning tool for assessing soil carbon changes. The data obtained by hydropyrolysis will be compared with those obtained by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and UV-oxidation procedures. We will develop a conversion tool to calculate black carbon contents using mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy that is the most rapid tool to quantify carbon forms in soil. During forest and savanna fires, large quantities of char may be produced and this so-called black carbon is found to be ubiquitous. Whether this material accumulates in soil or is exported by erosion, leaching or decomposition, is largely unknown. Black carbon itself is very recalcitrant and may also constitute a sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. A better knowledge of the global distribution of black carbon will help answer several important questions about the global carbon cycles, about the relevance of black carbon in soil productivity and in which way soil organic matter will change with warming as a result of climate change or with cultivation as a result of land use changes. Several methods are available for measurement of soil black carbon content, but most of them only measure part of the continuum of chemical substances that make up black carbon. Hydropyrolysis offers the potential for an inexpensive and rapid analysis method with the same accuracy as the best currently available methodology, and would therefore make a large number of analyses possible. The ability to quantify isotopes through the separation procedure in hydropyrolysis affords the opportunity to quantify turnover times. The versatility of this analytical tool will aid in refining quantification and separation to accommodate different research objectives by recognizing that black carbon is a continuum of carbon forms.