Anthropogenic, Carbon-Reinforced Soil as a Living Engineered Material

Abstract

In recent years, the simple synthesis of artificial humic substances (A-HS) by alkaline hydrothermal processing of waste biomass was described. This A-HS was shown to support water and mineral binding, to change soil structure, to avoid fertilizer mineralization, and to support plant growth. Many of the observed macroscopic effects could, however, not be directly related to the minute amounts of A-HS which have been added, and an A-HS stimulated microbiome was found to be the key for understanding. In this review, we describe such anthropogenic soil in the language of the modern concept of living engineered materials and identify natural and artificial HS as the enabler to set up the interactive microbial system along the interfaces of the mineral grains. In that, old chemical concepts as surface activity, redox mediation, and pH buffering are the base of the system structure build-up and the complex self-adaptability of biological systems. The resulting chemical/biological hybrid system has the potential to address world problems as soil fertility, nutrition of a growing world population, and climate change. CONTENTS

Solid-Phase Extraction at High pH as a Promising Tool for Targeted Isolation of Biologically Active Fractions of Humic Acids

“…In addition to nonrenewable geochemical sources of humic materials, suggested approach can be implemented for humic acids extracted from recycled biomass (compost, worms-compost, biochar, biorefinery residues, etc.) or artificial HS that can offer a wider range of promising bioactive components. , The potential applications of narrow fractions of HS refer both to biomedical technologies and to novel agricultural technologies, in particular, humics-based bioctimulators and nanofertilizers. , Further research in the field of high-resolution separation of HS materials may bring substantial advances in separation, not only by the chemotypes but by similar chemical scaffolds, which may eventually enable isolation of individual bioactive compounds from the humic supramolecular systems.…”

Artificial Humic Acid Mediated Carbon–Iron Coupling to Promote Carbon Sequestration

“…Artificial humic acid (A-HA), an emerging EOC derived from biological by-products or waste, has a carbon-negative property [ 13 , 14 ]. Our previous research has identified A-HA as a facilitator for the establishment of interactive microbial systems along mineral particle interfaces and plays an important role in maintaining soil ecosystem services [ 15 , 16 ]. A-HS has been proved to change soil structure, support water and mineral binding, avoid fertilizer mineralization, and furthermore support plant growth [ 14 – 17 ].…”

Artificial humic substances as sustainable carriers for manganese: Development of a novel bio-based microfertilizer

“…Artificial Humic Substances (AHS) are emerging as a sustainable and versatile tool to address the challenges of modern agriculture (Yang and Antonietti, 2020;Yang et al, 2023). These substances, synthesized through the hydrothermal conversion of biomass, mimic the properties and functionalities of natural HS.…”