Environmental Remediation of Soil Ecosystems

Biochar is increasingly receiving attention as a cost-effective, carbon neutral/negative amendment for environmental remediation. I am currently involved in a project examining the use of biochar (engineered charcoal) as a potential heavy metal sorbent for remediating contaminated soils. We are investigating how changing production conditions alter the physical and chemical properties of biochar, and how these changes affect the mechanism(s) of heavy metal biosorption. In this research we are using µXRF, XANES, EXAFS, and µXRD to understand the metal bonding mechanism and characteristics (e.g., oxidation state, coordination environment, interatomic distances) and µXRF tomography to understand the spatial configuration (i.e., 3-dimensional) of metal sorption on and within biochar.