Amppiah, G.A.2024-02-202024-02-202021-09http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh:8080/handle/123456789/41351PhD. Environmental ScienceBiochar, the carbonaceous residue from biomass pyrolysis, and compost have been proposed as agricultural soil amendments to improve soil fertility and retain a broad range of environmental contaminants. However, it is not clear how effective and how long this sorption capacity will be maintained after the biochar is applied to the soil. The study, therefore, focused on assessing the potential of differently aged biochars and compost to effectively attenuate the transport of atrazine by using laboratory batch sorption studies. Batch sorption experiments were conducted to study the adsorption of atrazine on unamended soil, soils amended with one-year-old biochar, soils amended with two-year-old biochar, and soils amended with compost. These experiments were conducted to determine the influence of soil amendments, atrazine concentration and pH on the adsorption of atrazine in soils. The study showed that when soil is amended with biochar of different ages and compost, its physicochemical properties are modified. Results from the adsorption studies also revealed that soils when amended with biochar and compost show a high capacity to adsorb atrazine as compared to the unamended soil. Amending the soil with biochar proved to be a much more efficient adsorbent than compost due to different physicochemical properties and adsorption sites. The soil amended with the two-year-old biochar showed the highest sorption capacity owing to a change in properties after going through biogeochemical changes with ageing leading to an increase in sorption sites. Isotherm studies also revealed that the Langmuir model which assumes monolayer adsorption to homogenous surface best describes the interactions between the atrazine and the various adsorbents.enSoilSorption Of AtrazineBiocharCompostThesis