Abstract:
Recent studies on water retention behaviour of biochar amended soil rarely considers the efect
of pyrolysis temperature and also feedstock type into account. It is well known that pyrolysis
temperature and feedstock type infuences the physical and chemical properties of biochar due to
stagewise decomposition of structure and chemical bonds. Further, soil density, which is in a loose
state (in agricultural applications) and dense (in geo-environmental engineering applications) can also
infuence water retention behaviour of biochar amended soils. The major objective of this study is to
investigate the water retention properties of soil amended with three diferent biochars in both loose
and dense state. The biochars, i.e. water hyacinth biochar (WHB), chicken manure biochar (CMB) and
wood biochar (WB) were produced in-house at diferent pyrolysis temperature. After then, biochars at
5% and 10% (w/w%) were amended to the soil. Water retention behaviour (soil suction and gravimetric
water content) was studied under drying and wetting cycle simulated by varying relative humidity
(RH, 50–90%). Results show that 10% WHB produced at 300 °C were found to possess highest water
retention. CMB is found to possess higher water retention than WB for 10% amendment ratio. In
general, the addition of three biochars (at both 300 °C and 600 °C) at 10% (w/w) signifcantly improved
the water retention at all suction ranges in both loose and dense compaction state as compared to
that of the bare soil. The adsorption (wetting) and desorption (drying) capacity of biochar amended
soils is constant at corresponding RH.
