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

生物固体已被充分证明可以作为有机无机肥料（OMF）形式的可再生肥料来源。有机肥料将有机废物与矿物肥料结合起来。还开发了决策支持工具，如磷酸盐接受图，以确定土地库是否适合接收生物固体。由于保护更广泛的环境的更严格的政策对土地储备的可用性造成持续的压力，在努力使生物固体增值的同时，还必须开发和采用新的方法来解决这个问题。因此，这个研究项目是及时的，因为它试图评估将生物固体转化为生物炭的新方法，作为固体碳质材料更容易储存，同时也有可能解决营养物质和环境中新出现的污染物的流动性。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。生物炭具有较高的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，还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运输。具体目标包括：1。以生物固体为原料的生物炭反应器操作条件优化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omf，以优化其在农业应用中的作用土壤施用有机肥对土壤养分和重金属途径及植物吸收的影响机制

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