Insight into the humification and carbon balance of biogas residual biochar amended co-composting of hog slurry and wheat straw.

Abstract

The impact of biogas residual biochar (BRB) on the humification and carbon balance process of co-composting of hog slurry (HGS) and wheat straw (WTS) was examined. The 50-day humification process was significantly enhanced by the addition of BRB, particular of 5% BRB, as indicated by the relatively higher humic acid content (67.28 g/kg) and humification ratio (2.31) than other treatments. The carbon balance calculation indicated that although BRB addition increased 22.16-46.77% of C lost in form of CO2-C, but the 5% BRB treatment showed relatively higher C fixation and lower C loss than other treatments. In addition, the BRB addition reshaped the bacterial community structure during composting, resulting in increased abundances of Proteobacteria (25.50%) during the thermophilic phase and Bacteroidetes (33.55%) during the maturation phase. Combined these results with biological mechanism analysis, 5% of BRB was likely an optimal addition for promoting compost humification and carbon fixation in practice.