A novel biochar surface-oxygenation ozonization chemical process system concept has recently been created (2020 PCT International Patent Application Publication No. WO2020005760 A1). This process system could have at least four beneficial functions that may be transformative in helping to solve the environmental and sustainability grand challenges: a) Dramatically (by a factor of nearly 10 times) improving biochar cation exchange capacity (2019 Sustainable Chem. Eng. 7(19):16410-16418) which is the key property central to better retain soil water and nutrients for better water filtration, cleaner water environment and agroecosystems sustainability; b) Creating “humic acid-like” oxygenated biochar molecular fragments that can be water soluble with the potential capability to serve as a new innovative way to employ biochar materials through irrigation engineering systems to benefit the agroecosystems; c) Detoxifying aromatic toxins, which may have practical implications to inactivate any potential toxic component in biochars and other industries such as waste water treatments for sustainable water purification and resource recovery systems; d) Enabling to unlock phosphorus from insoluble phosphate materials (ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 8(18):7068-7077) in soil mineral phases. We have recently demonstrated that the surface-oxygenation biochar products can unlock/solubilize phosphorus from insoluble phosphate mineral phases, a novel opportunity to overcome another major challenge of sustainability for food-energy-water systems. Note, phosphorus availability has also recently been identified as another major issue for long-term agricultural and environmental sustainability. Therefore, this function in unlocking P for plant uptake may be a revolutionary approach to enhancing the long-term sustainability and to also store carbon in the soil to help mitigate climate change. This presentation will discuss these four functions for environmental and agroecosystems sustainability.

Biochar surface oxygenation through ozonization and unlocking of phosphorus in soil mineral phases for environmental and agroecosystems sustainability

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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