Adsorption Characteristics and Kinetic Models of Ammonium Nitrogen using Biochar from Rice Hull in Sandy Loam Soil

Objective of this study was to investigate adsorption characteristics and kinetic models of $NH_4-N$ to biochar produced from rice hull in respective to mitigation of greenhouse gases. $NH_4-N$ concentration was analyzed by UV Spectrophotometer. For the experiment, the soil texture used in this study was sandy loam soil, and application rates of chemical fertilizer and pig compost were $420-200-370kgha^{-1}$ (N-P-K) and $5,500kgha^{-1}$ as recommended amount after soil test for corn cultivation. Biochar treatments were 0.2-5% to soil weight. Its adsorption characteristic was investigated with application of Langmuir isotherm, and pseudo-first order kinetic model and pseudo-second order kinetic model were used as kinetic models. Adsorption amount and removal rates of $NH_4-N$ were $39.3mg^{-1}$ and 28.0% in 0.2% biochar treatment, respectively. The sorption of $NH_4-N$ to biochar was fitted well by Langmiur model because it was observed that dimensionless constant ($R_L$) was 0.48. The maximum adsorption amount ($q_m$) and binding strength constant (b) were calculated as $4.1mgg^{-1}$ and $0.01Lmg^{-1}$ in Langmuir isotherm, respectively. The pseudo-second order kinetic model was more appropriate than pseudo-first order kinetic model for high correlation coefficient ($r^2$) of pseudo-second order kinetic model. Therefore, biochar produced from rice hull could reduce $N_2O$ by adsorbing $NH_4-N$ to biochar cooperated in sandy loam soil.