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Biochar is a nanoengineered sorbent proposed to control the contamination derived from the presence of residual concentrations of sulfonamides in soil. In this work, we evaluated the sorption of sulfanilamide (SFA) in commercial biochar (BC) produced at 500 °C from oak hardwood (Quercus ilex) and its analog activated with 2% (w/w) Fe (BC-Fe). Subsequently, the effect on dissipation and transport of SFA in untreated soil and soil treated with BC and BC-Fe was also assessed. Laboratory batch studies revealed that BC-Fe increased the sorption of SFA as compared to the pristine BC with Kd of 278 and 98 L/kg, respectively. The dissipation of SFA in either untreated soil or soil treated with BC or BC-Fe was similar, displaying half-lives ranging between 4 and 6.4 days. Conversely, the concurrent determination of sorption during the incubation experiment showed that lower amounts of SFA in solution at the beginning of the experiments were bioavailable in BC-Fe-treated soil when compared to the rest of the treatments shortly after application. Leaching column studies confirmed the amendment's capability to bind the SFA compound. Therefore, the decrease in bioavailability and movement of SFA in treated soils suggest that biochar soil application can reduce SFA soil and water contamination. According to our results, BC surface modification after Fe activation may be more appropriate for water decontamination than for soil since there were no significant differences between the two types of biochar when added to the soil. Therefore, these outcomes should be considered to optimize the SFA mitigation potential of biochar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Knowledge of long-term pesticide behavior in biochar (BC) amended soil is still contradictory. In this work, we compared the sorption of three highly persistent and ionizable pesticides [two anionic (imazamox and picloram) and one weak base (terbuthylazine)] on both fresh and field-aged BC as well as on a soil amended with these biochars. The aging process was performed by burying the biochar at 10 cm in a silt loam soil [Upper Midwest USA (Wisconsin)] for six months. Field aged BC removed the three pesticides from solution to a higher extent (>85%) than the fresh BC (<16%). This removal was attributed to water-soluble components on the biochar. Laboratory incubation experiments demonstrated that dissipation in soil and biochar mixtures were both a function of pesticide and biochar type. The amounts of soil extractable (i.e, bioavailable) pesticide were inversely related to the extent of sorption. Similar dissipation and sorption of imazamox was observed in unamended and BC-amended soils. Terbuthylazine dissipated similarly in all treatments, but sorption increased with incubation time in the aged BC-amended soil. Conversely, picloram dissipated to a higher extent in aged BC-amended soil when compared to unamended or fresh BC-amended soil. This work demonstrates temporal variability of biochar sorption capacities due to soil exposure, which alters the efficacy and bioavailability of soil applied pesticides. Highlights • Aged biochar removed greater amounts of herbicides from solution than fresh biochar. • Herbicide sorption by aged biochar was attributed to a dissolvable surface coating. • Degradation of picloram in soil was accelerated by the presence of aged biochar. • Slow sorption occurred for terbuthylazine and imazamox in aged biochar amended soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]