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Study on the nitrogen-releasing characteristics and mechanism of biochar-based urea infiltration fertilizer

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Abstract

In this study, the nitrogen-releasing characteristics and mechanism of the biochar-based urea infiltration fertilizer (BUF) were investigated. The crushing resistance of BUF increased with the increased proportion of urea-biochar, which at maximum reached 502.93 ± 6.47 N. BUF had the excellent slow-release performance. Urea was completely released after third leaching, while the urea in BUF1-2 was not completely released after tenth leaching. The release process of BUF1-2 is divided into three stages, which corresponded to the release of P-urea (dispersed on the biochar surface without physic force and chemical bonds), F-urea (connected with biochar through intermolecular forces, hydrogen bonds, etc.), and C-urea (connected with biochar through chemical bonds) in BUF1-2. The release rate of P-urea, F-urea, and C-urea decreased gradually. Moreover, the physicochemical performances of biochar and Re biochar were similar, although their apparent morphologies were different. The pores of biochar filled with urea collapsed in the nitrogen-release process, reducing the number of pores on Re-biochar surface. As a new type of biochar-based fertilizer, its effects on soil improvement, crop yield increase, and fertilization methods still need to be further studied.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 51706074) and the Bureau of Guangdong Forestry (grant number 2020KJCX008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Biobased Materials and Energy of Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, 483 Wushan Road, Guangzhou, 510642, China

    Mingfeng Wang, Aihua **ang, Zhennan Gao, Yongzhi Ren & Zhifeng Hu

  2. Franklinton, USA

    Ke Zhang

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  1. Mingfeng Wang
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  2. Aihua **ang
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  4. Ke Zhang
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Contributions

Mingfeng Wang: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, project administration, and formal analysis. Aihua **ang: methodology, writing—original draft preparation, formal analysis. Zhennan Gao: methodology. Enchen Jiang: supervision. Yongzhi Ren: resources. Zhifeng Hu: data curation.

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Correspondence to Mingfeng Wang or Zhifeng Hu.

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Mingfeng Wang and Aihua **ang are contributed equally to this work and should be considered as joint first authors

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Wang, M., **ang, A., Gao, Z. et al. Study on the nitrogen-releasing characteristics and mechanism of biochar-based urea infiltration fertilizer. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 13, 9795–9805 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-021-01848-5

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