Investigation of cattle manure, poultry manure and sewage sludge as raw materials for biochar synthesis via pyrolysis: A case study for Küçük Menderes Basin-Türkiye.

Decomposition products from direct disposal of manure and sewage sludge have negative impacts on water resources, soil and atmosphere. Here, biochar synthesized from cattle and poultry manure and sewage sludge generated in the Küçük Menderes Basin (>6 million tons dw/year) by pyrolysis and the properties of the biochars were examined. TGA-DTA results showed that, the maximum weight losses realized in the range of 200-500 °C. The loss of O-H stretching of hydroxyl groups and C-H stretching of aliphatic CHx observed in the analysis of FT-IR results indicated the successful pyrolysis. Biochars synthesized from cattle and poultry manure at 700oC resulted in the largest BET surface areas (47.59 m²/g and 11.31 m²/g, respectively). The largest BET surface area for sewage sludge biochar was obtained at 500 °C (41.76 m²/g). This different result was found to be related to the melting of the high inert content of sewage sludge containing treatment chemicals at >500 °C. SEM results supported the BET results and it was evaluated that the melted inert structure of the sludge partially trapped the biochar formed. It was concluded that, not only the volatile content of the wastes, but also the ratio and structure of their inert content are effective in biochar quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]