Catena 114 (2014) 3744

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Catena
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Effect of rice husk biochar and coal y ash on some physical properties
of expansive clayey soil (Vertisol)
Sheng-Gao Lu , Fang-Fang Sun, Yu-Tong Zong
Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Subtropical Soil and Plant Nutrition, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, College of Environmental and
Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 2 February 2013
Accepted 29 October 2013
Keywords:
Expansible clayey soil
Rice husk biochar
Coal y ash
Soil aggregate
Pore size distribution
Tensile strength

a b s t r a c t
The objective of this work is to evaluate the effect of rice husk biochar (RHB) and coal y ash (CAF) on the formation and stability of aggregates, pore size distribution, water retention, swellshrinkage, consistency limit,
and tensile strength of an expansive clayey soil (Vertisol). For this purpose, RHB and CAF are added to the clayey
soil at four levels of 0, 2, 4, and 6% by weight, and incubated for 180 days in a glasshouse. Results indicate that the
RHB signicantly increases macroaggregates with a diameter larger than 0.25 mm and reduces microaggregates
with a diameter of b 0.25 mm. Whereas CFA does not signicantly affect the formation of macroaggregates. The
RHB- and CFA-amended soils have signicantly higher mean weight diameter (MWD) and geometric mean diameter (GWD) as compared with the control soil. The enhanced aggregate stability is attributed to a decrease in
the aggregate breakdown by differential swelling and an increase in the aggregate resistance to mechanical
breakdown. The RHB-amended soil has a greater water-holding capacity and higher available water content.
Pore size distribution (PSD) of RHB- and CFA-amended soils, determined by the mercury intrusion porosimetry
(MIP), indicates that the amendment enhances the formation of mesopores having a pore size range between 6
and 45 m. In the measured pore range (0.003360 m), the amended soils are found to have considerably
higher porosity than the control soil. The RHB and CAF affect the PSD of clayey soil by binding microaggregates
together to form macroaggregate and combining carbon and y ash particles with clay mineral phases to form a
larger complex. Meanwhile, the RHB and CFA signicantly decrease the tensile strength and coefcient of linear
extensibility (COLE) of clayey soil. For example, adding a 6% RHB can reduce the tensile strength from 936.8 to
353.6 kPa and COLE from 0.63 to 0.56, respectively. The RHB and CFA also decrease the plasticity index of clayey
soil. The above results indicate that the RHB and CFA are able to improve the physical quality and swelling
shrinkage status of expansive clayey soils, being a potential soil amendment for improving poor physical characteristics of the clayey soil.
2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Vertisol is a soil containing a large amount of expansive clay minerals. Because expansive clay causes swellingshrinkage and stickiness,
the Vertisol has high swelling pressure, exceptionally low hydraulic
conductivity, poor soil structure, and deep crack cutting when it is dry
and sticky when it is wet (Brierley et al., 2011; Murthy, 1988; Wilding
and Puentes, 1988). These characteristics prevent Vertisol from agricultural and engineering use and make management difcult (Basma et al.,
1996; Brierley et al., 2011; Cook et al., 1992; Dasog et al., 1988; Dink
et al., 2013; Kishne et al., 2009, 2012; Millan et al., 2012). In spite of
these disadvantages, the Vertisol is still used in agriculture due to its
high natural nutrient fertility.
Vertisol is an important soil in many countries such as Australia,
China, Canada, Egypt, India, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sudan,
and the United States (Brierley et al., 2011; Liu, 1991; Murthy, 1988;
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 571 88982061.
E-mail address: lusg@zju.edu.cn (S.-G. Lu).
0341-8162/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2013.10.014

Pal et al., 2001, 2012; Wilding and Puentes, 1988). In China, the Vertisol
is estimated to cover approximately 4 106 ha, which are mainly distributed in semi-arid areas of Northern China (Li et al., 2011; Liu,
1991). Due to the poor physical properties, most Vertisol belongs to
the middle and low-yield soils. In order to improve the physical conditions of Vertisol, several techniques have been developed, such as soil
amendment using organic manures, industrial wastes, and synthetic
polymer, and soil management by drying/wetting cycle and cropping
system (Akbulut et al., 2007; Aksakal et al., 2012; Attom and Al-Sharif,
1998; Bandyopadhyay et al., 2003; Cai et al., 2006; Kalkan, 2011;
Wallace and Terry, 1998; Yazdandoust and Yasrobi, 2010). Organic
amendment is a traditional option to improve the structure of Vertisol.
Typical organic materials used include animal manure, sewage sludge,
city refuse, compost, and crop residues (Bravo-Garza et al., 2009; Husein
Malkawi et al., 1999; Pillai and McGarry, 1999). Other materials suitable
for soil amendment are the by-products of industrial processes. Previous studies indicated that adding industrial waste, such as y ash,
lime, gypsum, zeolites, and silica fume, into the Vertisol improved soil's
structure and reduced the swelling of expansive clayey soils (Blissett

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S.-G. Lu et al. / Catena 114 (2014) 3744

and Rowson, 2012; Kalkan, 2009, 2011; Punthutaecha et al., 2006;

Razmi and Sepaskhah, 2012). For example, y ash has been reported
to improve the texture, structure, water holding capacity, hydraulic
properties, and aeration of the soils (Adriano and Weber, 2001; Chang
et al., 1977; Lu and Zhu, 2004). Although many successful ameliorative
practices have been reported, the mechanism on the improvement by
various soil amendments still remains unclear.
Rice husk is an agro-industrial waste product of the rice production.
Very large quantities of rice husks are produced every year in China,
which have become a waste problem and have to be burnt in an open
environment. Now, the rice husks have been used as a bio-fuel for electricity generation (Shackley et al., 2012). Rice husk biochar (RHB), a byproduct of the thermochemical conversion from the rice husk to biofuel,
has been proposed to be a new soil amendment. RHB can be recycled
easily in the ricewheat system without adverse effect on the soil's
health (Oguntunde et al., 2008; Shackley et al., 2012). As a new member
of the soil amendments, the effect of the RHB on the soil's physical properties has not been studied yet (Atkinson et al., 2010; Van Zwieten et al.,
2010).
Coal y ash (CFA), a combustion product of the coal in energy production, has been used as the soil amendment for many years, and the
relative works have been reviewed by several authors (Blissett and
Rowson, 2012; Jala and Goyal, 2006). It has been reported that adding
CFA into soils increases the water-holding capacity of soil and reduces
the swelling potential of soil. Other benets of adding CFA into the
soils include the following: improving the texture of the soil, reducing
the bulk density of the soil, improving the soil's aeration, and minimizing the crust's formation, runoff and soil erosion (Adriano and Weber,
2001; Chang et al., 1977; Lu and Zhu, 2004). The effect of CFA on soil
physical properties has been long studied, however, its effect on the
pore structure and mechanical strength of soils is little known in spite
of the fact that the pore structure and stiffness property of the clayey
soils greatly affect the production of crops.
Sustainable crop production requires good physical properties of
Vertisol. Large quantities of rice husk biochar (RHB) and coal y ash
(CFA) are available in China. Use of these large quantities of RHA and
CFA in agricultural land not only improves the physical and chemical
fertility of soils but also resolves waste disposal problem. Therefore, in
this work we determine the effect of RHB and CFA on the formation
and stability of aggregates, pore structure, swelling and mechanical
properties of the Vertisol, and evaluate the possible benets of amendment on this problematic soil.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Clayey soil, rice husk biochar and coal y ash
The soil, locally known as Shajiang black soil, was collected from the
topsoil (020 cm) of a typical Vertisol in northern China, and was classied as the Typical Calci-Aquic Vertisol according to the Chinese Soil Taxonomy (Li et al., 2011). The soil, characterized by the stiffness and rigidity
structure, was poor in organic matter and has deep shrinkage cracks upon
desiccation. Typical clay minerals are montmorillonite and hydromica.
Before use, the soil was air-dried, sieved to pass a 2-mm sieve and homogenized. Basic properties of soil were determined using the routine
methods (Zhang and Gong, 2012). RHB was produced by pyrolysis of
rice husk in low oxygen condition and CFA was collected from a coalburning power plant. Their basic properties were given in Table 1.
2.2. Incubation of RHB- and CAF-amended soils
The mixtures of clayey soil and amendments (RHB and CFA) were
prepared by weighing the calculated amounts of clayey soil and amendments, and mixing them in dry state with the content of amendments
equaling to 2%, 4%, and 6%, respectively. The clayey soil without any
amendments was used as the control. Each treatment was repeated

Table 1
Selected physicochemical properties of clayey soil, rice husk biochar and coal y ash.
Parameter

Clayey soil

Rice husk biochar

Coal y ash

pH
Sand (20.02 mm, %)
Silt (0.020.002 mm, %)
Clay (b0.002 mm, %)
Total carbon (g kg1)
CEC (cmol kg1)
Porosity (%)

7.6
26.0
30.7
43.3
7.60
31.80
38.5

7.8

609.8

80.8

11.1
44.9
44.6
2.3

51.7

The pH was determined in the ratio of solid to water of 1:2.5; particle size distribution
was determined by sieving and the pipette method; cation exchangeable capacity was
determined using the ammonium saturation and distillation methods; total carbon was
estimated by potassium dichromate oxidation and titration with ferrous sulfate; , not
determined.

four times. The clayey soils with and without amendment were moisturized using deionized water and incubated in a glasshouse for 180 days.
During incubation, water content was constantly maintained at 70% of
water-holding capacity by weekly adjustments based on the weight of
samples. After incubation, physical properties of the RHB- and CFAamended soils were analyzed.
2.3. Size distribution and stability of soil aggregate
Size distribution of soil aggregates was determined using the dryand wet-sieving methods developed by Kemper and Rosenau (1986).
Air-dried aggregates were separated by placing 100 g of air-dried soils
on the top of a stack of ve sieves (5, 2, 1, 0.5 and 0.25 mm in diameter).
The soils were sieved for 10 min on a ro-tap sieve. Dry aggregates
remaining on each sieve were collected and weighed. Water-stable aggregates were estimated following the standard wet-sieving method.
Briey, 50 g composite soil samples representing each dry aggregate
size class were placed on the topmost of a nest of sieves with diameters equaling to 2, 1, 0.5, and 0.25 mm, respectively. The sieves were
placed in a sieve holder of the Yoder type aggregate analysis machine
(DM200-II) and sieved in water for 30 min at a rate of 30 cycle/min.
The resultant aggregates on each sieve were dried at 105 C for 24 h
and weighed. According to the size range of 52, 21, 10.5, and 0.5
0.25 mm, respectively, the percentage of water-stable aggregate was
determined. The mass of b0.25 mm aggregate was calculated by difference between the initial sample weight and the sum of sample
weights collected on the 2, 1, 0.5, and 0.25 mm sieve nest. The water
stable indices, i.e., the mean weight diameter (MWD) and geometric
mean diameter (GMD), were calculated according to the method of
Kemper and Rosenau (1986). Percentage of aggregate disruption
(PAD) was calculated by the formula below:
PAD 100  AB=A
where A is the weight of dry-sieved aggregates larger than 0.25 mm
and B is the weight of wet-sieved aggregates larger than 0.25 mm.
The 52 and 21 mm dry aggregates were selected to evaluate the aggregate stability according to the method used by Le Bissonnais (1996).
This method used three disruptive tests according to the wetting conditions and energies: fast wetting (FW), slow wetting (SW), and mechanical breakdown by shaking after pre-wetting (wet-stirring, WS). The
aggregates were dried at 40 C for 24 h prior to test. In the fast wetting
test, 5 g of aggregates was immersed into 50 ml deionized water for
10 min. In the slow wetting test, the same amount of aggregates was
wetted on a tension plate at a potential of 0.3 kPa for 30 min. To perform wet-stirring, the aggregates were rst wetted using ethanol, then
added into 250 ml of deionized water and agitated by a rapid end over
end movement. After each test, the fragmented aggregates were collected
and transferred into a 0.05 mm sieve that was previously immersed in
ethanol. The sieve was gently moved ve times. The aggregates remaining on the sieve were collected, dried at 105 C and gently dry-sieved

S.-G. Lu et al. / Catena 114 (2014) 3744

by hand through a nest of six sieves (2, 1, 0.5, 0.25, 0.125 and 0.05 mm).
The mass of aggregates in each size was determined. The MWDFW,
MWDSW and MWDSW were calculated from the mass fraction of soils remaining on each sieve, as described by Le Bissonnais (1996).
2.4. Water retention of soil
The soil cores (100 cm3 in volume) were saturated by capillarity for
24 h and equilibrated on a sand box. A full range of the soil water retentions were measured using a combination of the tension table and pressure plate apparatus (Soil Moisture Equipment Corp., Santa Barbara, CA,
USA). At each pressure level, the sample was weighed before each increment in pressure was applied. At the end, the gravimetric water content
of the soils was determined by drying at 105 C for 48 h. The plant available water (PAW) was calculated from the difference between volumetric water content at eld capacity (the matric potential of 33 kPa) and
wilting point (the matric potential of 1500 kPa).
2.5. Pore size distribution of soil
Pore size distribution (PSD) of soil was determined on the vacuum
dried samples using a Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) (Autopore
IV 9500, Micromeritics Inc., USA). In the MIP method, the mercury pressure was increased step by step and the intruded volume of mercury
was monitored for each pressure increment in a range from 0.0036 to
310 MPa. The applied pressure allowed to determine the pore diameter
ranges from 0.003 m to 360 m.
2.6. Soil's consistency limit
The consistency limits (liquid limit and plastic limit) of soils were
determined according to the ASTM D4318 procedure (American Society
for Testing and Materials, 1995). The plasticity index (PI) was dened to
be the difference between the liquid limit and the plastic limit.
2.7. Coefcient of linear extensibility (COLE)
The coefcient of linear extensibility (COLE) of soil, a measure of the
potential volume change of soil upon wetting or drying, was determined on ground remolded soils according to Schafer and Singer
(1976). About 100 g of b2 mm air-dried soils was mixed with deionized
water to form a paste slightly drier than saturation, and then equilibrated by leaving the paste for 24 h. The resulting paste was loaded into a
syringe and extruded into ten rods with varying lengths from 5 to
10 cm on a at and smooth surface. The rods were trimmed into two
ends perpendicular to the drying surface and their lengths were measured using a digital micrometer (accuracy 0.01 mm). After air drying, the length of the rods was re-measured and the COLE was
calculated by the formula below:

39

Direct shear tests (DST) were conducted using a quadruplex strain

controlled direct shear apparatus (Nanjing Soil Instrument Factory Co.
Ltd.) to measure the shear strength of clayey soils. The apparatus consists of a soil shear box, a loading head, a weight hanger, and weights
to generate normal loads. The soil cores (6.18 cm in diameter and
2 cm in height) were saturated slowly for 24 h and then drained at
300 hPa matric potential for 12 h. Samples were placed in a shear testing device, and normal loads of 50, 100, 200, and 400 kPa were applied
and sheared immediately. A lateral displacement was applied at a speed
of 0.8 mm min1 until failure occurred and the peak shear force was recorded. The cohesion (c) and the angle of internal friction () were obtained by the MohrCoulomb theory.
2.9. Statistical analysis
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed by a SPSS 13.0 Statistical Package. Means were compared by least signicant difference
(LSD) at p b 0.05 level.
3. Results
3.1. Effect of RHB and CAF on the size distribution of aggregates
Results of aggregate size analyses for RHB- and CAF-amended soils
are presented in Fig. 1. It is clearly shown that RHB altered the aggregation characteristics of clayey soil. The aggregates in the control soil are
dominated by the microaggregates with diameters less than 0.25 mm,
which account for 70% of the total mass. The large percentage of
microaggregates may cause problems of surface sealing and soil loss in
the dry-land cropping system of clayey soil (Amezketa, 1999). The
RHB-amended soils had signicantly higher amounts of water-stable
macroaggregates with diameters in 52, 21, 10.5 and 0.50.25 mm
as compared with the control, and accordingly had a lower content of
the b 0.25 mm microaggregates. Fig. 1 shows that at 6% content, the
RHB has the strongest effect on the formation of aggregates, and that
the 52 and 0.50.25 mm aggregates increased by 87 and 99%, respectively, in comparison with the control. Addition of 2, 4, and 6% RHB
reduced the percentage of b0.25 mm microaggregates by 3%, 20%, and
31%, respectively. The CFA signicantly affected the formation of 0.25

COLE Lm Ld =Ld
where Lm and Ld are the length of dry and moist soils, respectively.
2.8. Soil strength
Tensile strength of soil was determined by using the crushing method.
Remolded soil cores were saturated by capillarity for 24 h, equilibrated
on a pressure plate apparatus for 12 h, and dried at 105 C for 2 h. The
dried soil cores were placed horizontally between two parallel plates of
a digital unconned compression apparatus (YYW-2, Nanjing Soil Instrument Factory Co. Ltd.), and the pressure was gradually increased through
the plates by a motor at a constant speed of 2 mm min1 approaching
the soil core. The maximum reading was recorded before the core was
fractured by the load plate.

Fig. 1. Effect of RHB and CFA on the aggregate size distribution of clayey soils, in which
error bars represent a standard deviation and different letters indicate a signicant difference (p b 0.05) between amendment treatments and control.

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S.-G. Lu et al. / Catena 114 (2014) 3744

0.5 mm aggregates (p b 0.05), however, had no signicant effect on the

formation of 52 and 21 mm aggregates.
3.2. Effect of RHB and CAF on aggregate stability
The aggregate stability was evaluated by the MWD and GMD values
of the water-stable aggregates and Le Bissonnais (1996) method. RHB
signicantly increased the values of MWD and GMD as compared with
the control (Fig. 2). There were statistically signicant differences in
the MWD and GMD values between the control and those having a 4%
or 6% RHB treatment. On the contrary, the addition of 2, 4 and 6%
CFA did not cause statistically signicant differences. The signicantly
reduced percentage of aggregate disruption (PAD) indicated that RHB
was able to increase the aggregate stability of clayey soil (Fig. 2).
The MWD values of Le Bissonnais' tests for 52 and 21 mm aggregates are given in Table 2. The MWDFW values were 0.85 and 0.44 mm
for 52 and 21 mm aggregates, respectively, corresponding to the initial
heterogeneity in aggregate stability of clayey soil. The RHB- and CFAamended soils showed signicantly higher MWDFW values (p b 0.05)
than the control, indicating that all treatments increased aggregate resistance to the strong disaggregating energy in the fast wetting test. Similar
to the results of the MWDFW test, a certain extent of heterogeneity in the
initial MWDSW values of 52 and 21 mm aggregates was observed. Results showed that both RHB and CFA signicantly improved the aggregate
breakdown by differential swelling. The most pronounced effect was observed from the 6% RHB and CFA treatments (Table 2). On average, the
MWDSW values for 21 mm aggregates were increased by 8% for 2%, by
25% for 4%, and by 36% for 6% RHB treatment, respectively. The signicant
increases in MWDSW values (p b 0.05) by the RHB- and CFA-treatments
indicated a signicant improvement in the aggregate resistance to mechanical breakdown.
3.3. Effect of RHB and CFA on pore size distribution

Table 2
Effect of RHB and CFA on the mean weight diameter (MWD) by three aggregate stability
tests.
Treatment

RHB

CFA

T0
T2
T4
T6
T0
T2
T4
T6

52 mm aggregates

21 mm aggregates

FW

SW

WS

FW

SW

WS

0.85c
0.83d
0.97b
1.03a
0.85d
0.86c
1.01b
1.04a

0.92c
0.91d
1.07b
1.14a
0.92c
0.86d
1.06b
1.07a

1.11d
1.22c
1.33b
1.44a
1.11c
1.07d
1.15b
1.17a

0.44c
0.44c
0.54b
0.57a
0.44c
0.41d
0.51b
0.54a

0.60d
0.62c
0.701b
0.80a
0.609c
0.55d
0.65b
0.73a

0.59d
0.64c
0.74b
0.80a
0.56d
0.62b
0.61c
0.68a

FW: fast wetting; SW: slow wetting; WS: wet-stirring. Means in a column followed by a
different letter differ signicantly at 5% level of signicance.

the range of 23 m and a second pore class in the range of 67 m.

PSDs of the RHB-amended soils exhibited three distinct peaks in the
range of investigated pores (Fig. 3b). Three peaks appeared in the
pore size ranges from 1 to 2 m (rst peak), 6 to 9 m (second peak)
and 60 to 90 m (third peak), respectively, which are attributed to
the ultramicropores, micropores, and macropores of soils. The CFAamended soils exhibited multi-modal structure with three PSD peaks
in the pore size range of 0.52 m, 610 m and 6090 m, respectively. The pore volume of the amended soils was characterized by
an increased pore volume in the diameter ranges of 0.152.5 and
645 m for the RHB-amended soil, and in the diameter ranges of
0.22.0 and 625 m for the CFA-amended soils. The small pores having diameters less than 0.2 m for the RHB- and CFA-amended soils
had similar PSD shapes as that of the control, indicating that the CFA
and RHB did not affect the small pores (b0.1 m).
The pore structure parameters of RHB- and CFA-amended soils are
shown in Fig. 4. Total MIP porosity (for pore diameter range of 0.003
360 m) of the 6% CFA amended soil was 46.2%, being higher
(p b 0.01) than that (38.5%) of the control soil. Total intrusion volumes

The pore size distribution (PSD) of the RHB- and CFA-amended soils
is shown in Fig. 3. The differential PSD curves in Fig. 3 clearly showed
that the clayey soils had multi-modal PSDs with representative peaks
at pore diameters of around 0.007 m, 13 m, 610 m and 90 m.
The RHB exhibited a single, sharply dened peak at a pore diameter of
90 m and a small peak in the diameter range of 0.20.4 m (Fig. 3a).
The CFA exhibited a bimodal pore structure with a rst pore class in

Fig. 2. Effect of RHB and CFA on the mean weight diameter (MWD), geometric mean diameter (GWD) of aggregate, and percentage of aggregate disruption (PAD), in which error
bars represent a standard deviation and different letters indicate a signicant difference
(p b 0.05) between amendment treatments and control.

Fig. 3. Effect of RHB and CFA on the pore size distribution (PSD) of clayey soils. a. PSD
curves of RHB and CFA; b. PSD curves of RHB-amended soils; c. PSD curves of CFAamended soils.

S.-G. Lu et al. / Catena 114 (2014) 3744

41

Fig. 4. Effect of RHB and CFA on the total pore volume and porosity of clayey soil measured by MIP method.

of the 6% RHB- and CFA-amended soils were 28.28 and 35.47 cm3
100 g1, respectively, being greater than 25.43 cm3 100 g1 of the
control soil. According to the equivalent pore diameter (EPD), the
pores could be classied into the following ve categories: macropores
(75100 m), mesopores (3075 m), micropores (530 m), ultramicropores (0.15 m) and crytopores (0.10.007 m) (Cameron and
Buchan, 2006). The percentage of each pore category for the RHB- and
CFA-amended soils is given in Fig. 5. The porosity of the RHB-amended
soils was composed of 32% macropores, 27% ultramicropores, and 16%
micropores, suggesting that the CFA mainly promoted the formation of
ultramicropores. The pore volumes of macropore, mesopore, micropore,
and ultramicropore were increased with the content of RHB and CFA.
On the other hand, the pore volume of the RHB-amended soils was observed to be contributed nearly equally by the macropores, mesopores,
micropores and crytopores. In a 6% RHB amended soil, the pore volume
of the ultramicropores was signicantly higher than that of the control
soil. The largest difference in the pore-size between the CFA-amended
soil and control soil was often found from the mesopores, micropores,
and ultramicropores. The difference in the pore volume between the
RHB- and CFA-amended soils may be attributed to the occulation/
aggregation processes induced by the amendments.
3.4. Effect of RHB and CAF on water retention
The RHB was shown to increase the soil's water retention in terms of
water holding capacity (WHC), eld capacity (FC), wilting point (WP)
and available water (AW) (Fig. 6). In comparison with the control soil,
the 2, 4, and 6% RHB-amended soils showed a 12, 20, and 31% higher
water-holding capacity, respectively. The observed improvement in
the soil's water retention could be attributed to the increased porosity
by the incorporation of RHB into the clayey soils. On the other hand,
the CFA showed less pronounced improvement on the FC value, and

Fig. 5. Pore volume of RHB- and CFA-amended soils corresponding to equivalent pore
diameter (EPD) classes following the criteria proposed by Cameron and Buchan (2006).

on the contrary reduced the WHC, WP and AW values of the clayey

soils. These results disagreed with those of Adriano and Weber (2001)
and Chang et al. (1977), who reported that the CFA increased the
water-holding capacity and available water content of soils.
3.5. Effect of RHB and CAF on the consistency limit
Fig. 7 shows the effect of RHB and CAF on the plastic and liquid limits,
and plasticity index of the clayey soils. Addition of RHB signicantly increased the plastic and liquid limits, and decreased the plasticity index
of the clayey soils. The liquid limit value of the soils was signicantly decreased with the addition of CFA and the trend inversed for the plastic
limit. The plastic index of the control soil was 17.6%, which was decreased
to 11.5% after adding 6% CFA. The consistency limits of the soil are crucial
in managing soils, especially for the case of irrigation agriculture.
3.6. Effect of RHB and CAF on COLE
The effect of RHB and CFA on the soil's COLE is shown in Fig. 8. The
control soil had a COLE value of 0.06, which cracked in a dry condition
and expanded extensively in a wet condition. Therefore, there were difculties in managing and tilling the Vertisol. According to the classication of Schafer and Singer (1976), the soil falls into the group of severe
shrinkageswelling hazard rating. The introduction of RHB and CFA signicantly decreased the COLE value of the clayey soil (Fig. 8). The COLE
value was decreased from 0.063 of the control to 0.056 and 0.032 of the

Fig. 6. Effect of RHB and CFA on the soil's water retention, in which error bars represent
a standard deviation and different letters indicate a signicant difference (p b 0.05)
between amendment treatment and control.

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S.-G. Lu et al. / Catena 114 (2014) 3744

Fig. 7. Effect of RHB and CFA on the plastic (PL) and liquid limits (LL), and plasticity index (PI) of the clayey soils, in which error bars represent a standard deviation and different letters
indicate a signicant difference (p b 0.05) between amendment treatment and control.

6% RHB- and CFA-amended soils, respectively, which was probably because the RHB and CFA changed the swellingshrinking properties of
the clay minerals. Thus, a decrease in the swellingshrinking properties
of the clayey soil would prevent the clayey soils from cracking.

4. Discussion
4.1. Improvement in the aggregate stability

The shear strength of a soil can be expressed by two parameters of cohesion (c) and internal friction angle (). The effect of RHB and CFA on the
shear strength parameters (c and ) is presented in Fig. 10. Mean c and
of the studied clayey soil were 14.33 0.62 kPa and 20.72 0.77, respectively. As compared with the control soil, the RHB-amended soils
had signicantly smaller c values, and the 2% and 4% CFA amended soils
had signicantly higher c values. However, both RHB and CFA increased
the value of the soils as indicated in Fig. 10.

The formation and stability of the soil aggregates play an important

role in the crop production and soil degradation prevention (Amezketa,
1999). An increase in the formation of macroaggregates by the addition
of RHB indicates that the RHB is able to increase the soil aggregation. Addition of a 6% RHB reduced the percentage of microaggregates from 70.9%
to 50.4%, suggesting that the macroaggregates were formed by the coalescence of many microaggregates. The carbon introduced by the RHB
may act like a glue to cement microaggregates into macroaggregates in
which larger pore spaces are present between micro-aggregates.
The aggregate stability not only affects the movement of water and
air in the soil but also inuences the water holding capacity, root penetration, seedling emergence, runoff and erosion. The soil aggregate stability decreases in an order of SWNWSNFW. Table 2 indicates that the
slaking of the aggregates is a major mechanism in the aggregate breakdown of clayey soils. Fast wetting leads to more entrapped air and greater differential movement of particles due to swelling (Le Bissonnais,
1996; Zaher et al., 2005). The high clay content increases the extent of
differential swelling and the volume of entrapped air in pore space,
which further increases the aggregate breakdown. The MWD values of
three aggregate stability tests indicated that the RHB and CFA were
able to improve the cohesion of soil particles. The RHB increases the aggregates' resistance to slaking and to differential swelling of clays by increasing internal cohesion of the mineral particles through the carbon
polymers or the physical enmeshment of the particles. Zaher et al.
(2005) reported that large quantities of soil organic carbon could reduce
the pore pressure and swelling during rewetting and hence improved
the aggregating ability of the soils. Another cause for the increased aggregate stability is that the RHB and CFA increase the soil hydrophobicity, which reduces the extent of the clay swelling and the aggregate

Fig. 8. Effect of RHB and CFA on the COLE of clayey soils, in which error bars represent
a standard deviation and different letters indicate a signicant difference (p b 0.05)
between amendment treatment and control.

Fig. 9. Effect of RHB and CFA on the tensile strength of clayey soils, in which error bars represent a standard deviation and different letters indicate a signicant difference (p b 0.05)
between amendment treatment and control.

3.7. Effect of RHB- and CAF on the tensile strength

The effect of RHB and CFA on the soil tensile strength (TS) is displayed
in Fig. 9. Results showed that the soil tensile strength was signicantly
decreased (p b 0.05) with increasing of the RHB and CFA contents.
With the addition of RHB, the TS value of the 6% RHB-amended soil was
decreased to 353.6 kPa from the initial 936.8 kPa of the clayey soil. In a
similar manner, the TS value of the 6% CFA-amended soil was decreased
to 651.9 kPa. The above results well agreed with our previous result
that the CFA decreased the soil's strength (Lu and Zhu, 2004). The tensile
strength of soil clods mainly resulted from the inter-particle bonds within
soil clods, which were associated with the properties such as the force to
hold water in soil, cohesion, and the internal friction force. The RHB and
CFA might be able to weaken the inter-particle bonding strength through
a lubricating effect, and as a result decreased the soil's tensile strength.

3.8. Effect of RHB and CAF on the shear strength

S.-G. Lu et al. / Catena 114 (2014) 3744

43

Fig. 10. Effect of RHB and CFA on the cohesion (c) and the internal friction angle () of clayey soils, in which error bars represent a standard deviation and different letters indicate a signicant difference (p b 0.05) between amendment treatment and control.

disruption. An increase in the aggregate stability enhances the soil resistance against the wind and water erosion.
4.2. Improvement of the soil pore structure
In Vertisol, the swelling and aggregate slaking cause a reduction in
the size of large pores, which decrease the water and air permeability.
Several authors (Dink et al., 2013; Razmi and Sepaskhah, 2012; Zaher
et al., 2005) explained how the clay dispersion and subsequent plugging
of conducting pores by the dispersed clay particles were responsible for
a drastic reduction in the hydraulic conductivity. The PSD of clayey soils
indicated that clayey soils were featured with larger micropores. These
larger micropores enhance soil strength and decrease the available
water content. A signicant increase (p b 0.05) was detected from the
RHB- and CFA-amended soils in the pores with a size range from 100
to 0.005 m. This increase is likely because the larger pores have a partial function of the RHB and CFA (e.g. a wider pore size distribution).
Many authors have demonstrated that the organic waste-derived biochar contained numerous macropores with diameters larger than
10 m (Brodowski et al., 2005). The CFA exists in a powder form with
a granulometry of 0.5100 m. As a typical porous media, the CFA is
composed of pores having a broad size distribution from nanometers
to micrometers. Our previous SEM images indicated that the CFA
contained many hole cenospheres in a diameter range of 20120 m
(Lu and Zhu, 2004). These spherical shape cenospheres in the CFA
made larger surface area available for holding water. The inner-hole
structure of cenospheres enhanced the porosity of treated soils, and
hence reduced the tensile strength. The macropores were more responsible for the cohesiveness of soil particles. Another possible cause was
the formation of macroaggregates in the RHB- and CFA-amended soils.
The PSD of the amended soil showed that the RHB and CFA did not
change the concentration of the textural pore space of soils, which
roughly corresponded to the pore space between the clay particles or
between intra-aggregate pores. The formation of macroaggregates increased the macropores between microaggregates or between aggregates, which therefore improved the pore structure. The improvement
of pore structure in clayey soils also increased the water retention of
soil. The water retention is mainly affected by the pore size distribution
and porosity. Water holding capacity and eld capacity of soil are more
related to the large pores, suggesting that the large pores (greater than
0.1 m in diameter) in the RHB and CFA particles were responsible for
water storage. This hypothesis is consistent with the pure biochar that
holds water more than ten times its own mass (Kinney et al., 2012).
The maximum pore water storage capacity of biochar was reported to
be 2.4 g g1 with an upper boundary biochar porosity of 80%.
4.3. Improvements in soil swelling and mechanical strength
Improvement of soil mechanical properties is a key goal for sustainable agriculture. Both RHB and CFA have been proven to improve the
soil structure, tensile strength, and swelling characteristics. In the
RHB- and CFA-amended soils, the swelling is reduced through two

processes of (i) replacing the swelling clay with non-swelling amendments and (ii) resisting swelling, which depends upon the claycarbon
contact area. An effective contact between the clay and carbon particles
would result in a high resistance to swelling. Decreased tensile strength
offers greater potential for root growth because the roots can bypass the
zones of high mechanical impedance. Soil strength is affected by a number of factors including the properties of the particle surfaces. The reduction of tensile strength in the CFA-amended soils suggested a less
cohesiveness of soil particles, which therefore enhances the potential
of crop root penetration. The decrease in the TS values of the amended
soils is due to the addition of low-plastic materials and the interaction
between the clay and carbon particles.
Soil mechanical properties are also affected by the soil structure because soil strength is a function of the contact properties between the
primary particles and soil compound particles (Amezketa, 1999;
Zhang and Hartge, 1995). The hollow structure of CFA with central
and well pores may reduce the soil particle cohesions. In the RHBamended soils, majority of carbon is present in the form of claycarbon
complexes and small amount of carbon in the form of a discrete material. The claycarbon complexes inuence the behavior of particles at a
colloidal level, which not only causes a fundamental change in the
micro-structural level but also affects the type and strength of bonds.
The organic particles are stiff when being compressed, act as rigid particles when dry, and become soft and sponge-like after absorbing water
(Hemmat et al., 2010; Husein Malkawi et al., 1999; Kinney et al., 2012).
The shear strength of soil is essential in predicting the load support
capacity and has been taken as a measure for the soil erodibility and resistance to seedling emergence and root growth (Hemmat et al., 2010).
The soil c value is partially controlled by the properties of the particle
surfaces which are in contact or approach contact. After adding RHB, a
larger portion of the mineral surfaces are coated by carbon particles,
which may block the mineral particles from contacting with each
other. Another source for the decrease of the c value with biochar is
due to an increase in the soil water repellency. Soil mineral particles
are covered by the adsorbed organic molecules with low surface free energy, resulting in a weak attraction between the solid and liquid phases.
The decline in c value is partially attributed to the lower surface tension
force at the air/water interface between the water lms around the soil
particles at the high degree of water saturation.
5. Conclusions
The RHB is able to signicantly enhance the formation of macroaggregates and reduce the fraction of microaggregates less than 0.25 mm,
whereas the CFA did not affect the formation of macroaggregate signicantly. The RHB and CFA signicantly (p b 0.05) increased the stability
of the soil aggregates. The percentage of aggregate disruption (PAD) signicantly (p b 0.05) decreased with increasing of RHB. The RHB and CFA
signicantly affect the pore size distribution of clayey soils, but do not signicantly affect the soil crytopores (b 0.1 m). The volume of macropores
was found to increase with the content of RHB and CFA because of their
rich macropore distribution. Addition of RHB into clayey soil signicantly

44

S.-G. Lu et al. / Catena 114 (2014) 3744

(p b 0.05) increased the soil moisture content at water-holding capacity,

eld capacity, and available water because the RHB increases the porosities of the mesopores and micropores. On contrary, the CFA has no significant effect on the water content of soil at eld capacity. Application of 6%
CFA reduces the moisture content of soils at water-holding capacity and
available water content. Application of RHB and CFA reduced the swelling
potential and tensile strength of clayey soils, and consequently resulted in
a less energy for breaking soil clod. Therefore, application of the RHB and
CFA can effectively solve the problem of clod formation in clayey soil. The
results of this work demonstrated that the RHB and CFA are able to significantly increase the aggregate stability, reduce the COLE and tensile
strength, and improve several other physical properties. In conclusion,
the RHB and CFA are good soil amendment agents for the improvement
of the expansive clayey soils.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the National Key Basic Research
Support Foundation of China (973) (2011CB100502).
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