Effects of Biochar Application and Ageing on the Adsorption of Antibiotics in Purple Soil

Abstract

Effects of biochar application (at rates of 0%, 1%, and 5%) and field ageing (for 1 a) on the sorption of three antibiotics (sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine, and florfenicol) were studied by batch equilibrium tests for a calcareous purple soil of sloping cropland, which is widely distributed in hilly areas of the upper Yangtze River. A soil-water ratio of 1 g:1 mL, which was close to the actual field soil water content condition, was adopted in the experiment, and comparisons were made to the commonly used ratio of 1 g:10 mL. The results showed that adsorption isotherm data of the studied antibiotics were fitted well by the linear and Freundlich model, and the free energy (ΔGθ) ranged from -0.39 to 11.53 kJ·mol-1, thus indicating that the adsorption of the three antibiotics on the control soils and biochar amended soils was mainly physical adsorption. Application of fresh biochar was found to markedly enhance the adsorption of antibiotics, especially for sulfamethazine and florfenicol of low Kow values, while such an effect was strongly weakened after ageing. The fluorescence peak response intensity of the adsorption equilibrium solution of the aged biochar amended soil was lower than that of the fresh biochar amended soil, so the difference in adsorption performance between fresh and aged biochar amended soils may have been due to the decrease of unstable and soluble organic matter in the latter's biochar after aging.