Effect of leaching time on phytotoxicity of dissolved organic matter derived from black carbon based on spectroscopy

Black carbon (BC) exports huge amounts of its derived DOM from terrestrial ecosystems annually through a variety of ways (i.e., erosion or runoff migration). The pyrolytic feedstock type and temperature resulted in DOM derived from highly condensed aromatic and non-aromatic BC. However, the behaviors of low aromatic BC-derived DOM at diverse leaching time are poorly understood. In this work, low aromatic BCs were prepared by pyrolysis corn straws at 250 °C, 350 °C and 450 °C. Extraction experiments for four leaching time (6 h, 10 h, 15 h and 21 h) were set up to simulate BC-derived DOM generative process in nature. The phytotoxicity of BC-derived DOM was evaluated via germination index (GI). Spectral characteristics were discussed to analyze the phytotoxicity variations of fluorescence components composition at different time, including the excitation-emission matrix-parallel factor, two-dimensional correlation spectra and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results suggested that low aromatic BC-derived DOM might contain aromatic phenolic compounds. A longer time contributed to accumulate the complex, hard-to-use organic matters, leading to lower GI. These results would supplement the dynamic spectral characteristics of low aromatic BC-derived DOM and its environmental risks during the leaching process.