Phosphorus change point indicating the threshold related to P leaching, largely depends on soil properties. Increasing data have shown that biochar addition can improve soil retention capacity of ions. However, we have known little about weather biochar amendment influence the change point of P leaching. In this study, two soils added with 0, 5, 10, 20, and 50 g biochar kg-1 were incubated at 25℃ for 14 d following adjusting the soil moisture to 50% water-holding capacity （WHC）. The soils with different available P values were then obtained by adding a series of KH2PO4 solution （ranging from 0 to 600 mg P kg-1 soil）, and subjecting to three cycles of drying and rewetting. The results showed that biochar addition significantly lifted the P change points in the tested soils, together with changes in soil pH, organic C, Olen-P and CaC12-P but little on exchangeable Ca and Mg, oxalate-extractable Fe and Al. The Olsen-P at the change points ranged from 48.65 to 185.07 mg kg-1 in the alluvial soil and 71.25 to 98.65 mg kg^-1 in the red soil, corresponding to CaCl2-P of 0.31-6.49 and 0.18-0.45 mg L~, respectively. The change points of the alluvial soil were readily changed by adding biochar compared with that of the red soil. The enhancement of change points was likely to be explained as the improvement of phosphate retention ability in the biochar-added soils.
Innovative measure is a urgent requirement for managing the huge volume of municipal sewage sludge. The hydrothermal carbonation （HTC） shows some potential advantages for using hydrochar as a soil conditioner. The aim of this work was to investigate the properties of hydrochars, by means of the HTC of municipal sewage sludge under different temperatures （190 and 260~C） and reaction hours （1, 6, 12, 18 and 24 h）. The HTC led to the decreases of N, O and H contents by more than 54.6, 37.9 and 10.0%, respectively, and slight changes of C content. The Py-GC-MS analysis showed that a large proportion of fatty acids, in particular hexadecanoic acid, transferred into alkenes, olefins and aromatic compounds. The 13C-NMR and fourier transform infrared spectra （FTIR） confirmed the transformation and changes in chemical structure in which hydrochar contained lower oxygen-containing organic C of O-alkyl, carboxylic and carbonyl C and aliphaticity, but higher aromatic C and aromaticity. The rich hydrophobic functions induced in high positive charges in the charred sludge. The HTC facilitated the pore structure development, proved by higher specific surface area and specific pore volume, with a maximum of 17.30 and 0.83 cm^3 g^-1, respectively. The availabilities of N, P and K markedly reduced during HTC treatment. The activities of most heavy metals were depressed though they accumulated in the hydrochar. Further work is required to investigate the values and risk of the charred sludge amended to soil.
