Influence of rice husk addition on phosphorus fractions and heavy metals risk of biochar derived from sewage sludge

This study investigated the effects of rice husk dose and pyrolysis temperature on the phosphorus (P) fractions and environmental risk of heavy metals in biochar co-pyrolyzed from sewage sludge and rice husk. Biochar properties were analyzed, and the transformation of P and heavy metals speciation during co-pyrolysis were also discussed. Co-pyrolysis of raw sludge and rice husk (10–50 wt%) could increase the carbonization degree and stability of biochar at 500 °C. The organic P (OP) in raw sludge (68 wt%) was transformed to inorganic P (IP) during co-pyrolysis, indicating that the addition of rice husk could improve biochar-P bioavailability by promoting the transformation of IP. The IP content increased from 71.5 wt% of sludge biochar to 92 wt% of blended biochar (50 wt% sludge and 50 wt% rice husk) at a pyrolysis temperature of 500 °C. With the mass ratio of sludge to rice husk of 5:5, the OP content decreased from 3 mg g−1 to 0.75 mg g−1 as the pyrolysis temperature increased from 300 °C to 700 °C. The 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results showed that P species in biochar mainly existed as orthophosphate, which can be directly taken up by plants. After co-pyrolysis, the toxicity and mobility of heavy metals gradually decreased with increasing rice husk dose and pyrolysis temperature. The study indicates that co-pyrolysis of sewage sludge and rice husk could be a promising P reuse strategy.