Potential release of dissolved organic matter from agricultural residue-derived hydrochar: Insight from excitation emission matrix and parallel factor analysis

Potential release quantity and quality of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from hydrochar (HDOM) in various environmental conditions were investigated. Corn cobs were utilized as model agricultural residue to prepare the hydrochar. Four extracts, ultra-pure water, acid solution, alkali solution and salt solution, and two temperatures, 20 °C and 60 °C, were adopted to imitate various environmental conditions. Excitation-emission spectrophotometry with parallel factor analysis was used to evaluate the chemical properties of HDOM. The results showed that the dissolved organic carbon in the HDOM was high, ranging from 46 to 268 mg g-1. Four components were confirmed in the HDOM: mixed substances of humic-like and protein-like components, marine humic-like substances, terrestrial humic-like substances and tyrosine-like substances. Alkalinity and high temperature conditions could enhance the leaching amount of HDOM, particularly humic-like substances, and change the relative proportion of components and the chemical quality. In addition, values of the fluorescence indexes indicated that the HDOM was high microbial availability. Released HDOM may result in significant impacts in ecosystem functionality. These findings reveal the potential release characteristics of HDOM in the environment, opening new doors to understanding the environmental impacts of hydrochar and guiding its rational application.