Surface morphology properties of biochar feedstock for soil amendment

Abstract A soil amendment is any material added to a soil to improve soil physical properties, support plant growth, improve soil fertility, organic matter, and water holding capacity, improve soil chemical and biological properties. Biochar is an organic amendment that improve soil fertility, mitigates climate change, and effectively keeps nutrients and available to plants. The chemical and physical properties of the biochar are important to know the suitable applications of biochar. The chemical and physical properties of the biochar are depending on the process and biomass feedstock. The research aimed to find out the kind of biomass feedstock for biochar as a soil amendment. The biochar feedstock was evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis and can predicting possible uses for the biochars. The result showed that the biochar surface morphology properties were influenced by the feedstock types and pyrolysis temperature. The pores development and mineral contents in coconut shell biochar are the most suitable for soil amendment.