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Updated: Dec 9, 2025

Physical, Chemical and Biological Characterization of Six Biochars Produced for the Remediation of Contaminated Sites
Published on: November 28, 2014
The passivation effect of heavy metals during biochar-amended composting: Emphasize on bacterial communities
Hu Cui1, Yang Ou2, Lixia Wang2
1Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China; Jilin Provincial Engineering Center of CWs Design in Cold Region & Beautiful Country Construction, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Abstract:
Available information on passivation effect of biochar on heavy metals (HMs) through regulating bacterial communities remains limited. Thus, this study investigated the correlation between bacterial diversity and HM-fractions (Zn, Cu, Cd, Cr and Pb) during composting with different dose of biochar (5% and 10%, dry weight basis), in order to ascertain the passivation effect on HMs under the influence of bacterial community. The addition of 10% biochar showed better passivation effect with reduction in bioavailability factor (BF) of Zn, Cu, Cd and Pb by 4.10%, 44.12%, 18.75% and 30.06%, respectively. In addition, it brought forward the variation in primary bacterial phylum to the thermophilic phase. The results of redundancy analysis (RDA) and structural equation models (SEMs) indicated that C:N ratio was an important factor in controlling the morphological transformation of HM by affecting the bacterial community structure. Our results maybe provide a novel insight into HM-passivation from an interaction mechanism on C:N ratio and bacterial community.
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