Abstract
1. Using biochar as a soil amendment has been proposed as a promising practice for modern agriculture. However, biochar can be made from diverse feedstocks and temperatures. These differences may thus grant divergent properties to biochar. To specific understand its property is important for effective biochar application. 2. We propose to use a modern small/medium scale size pyrolyzer (> 100 kg per burn) to produce biochar from a range of feedstocks at the pyrolytic temperature at 300 and 500 o C.3. The basic physical, chemical and biological properties of biochar will be analyzed. In addition, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance and synchrotron-based spectroscopy will be applied in order to identify the change in nutrient speciation (carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus) under pyrolytic process. Incubation and pot and field experiments will be conducted as well in order to understand the leaching dynamics of nutrients.4. We expect the results can improve our knowledge of using biochar in a proper way and have a positive impact for biohar applications in agroecosystems.