Black carbon (BC) is a potential material for controlling hydrophobic organic contaminants in sediment because it has a high sorption capacity. In the present study, the sorption of pentachlorophenol (PCP) onto sediments supplemented with rice straw biochar (RC) and fly ash (FC) aged for different times and at temperatures were investigated. The sorption of PCP increased with increasing amounts of BC and decreased with aging time and storage temperature of the BC-supplemented sediments. The sorption of PCP onto RC-supplemented sediments was higher than those supplemented with FC regardless of whether or not BCs were aged in sediments. For aged sediments containing 2% BCs, the sorption capacity was 9.15- and 2.87-fold higher than that of FC when supplemented with RC aged at 25 and 45 degrees C, respectively. Therefore, biochar is better than fly ash for controlling organic pollutants even when the RC was present in sediment for a long time. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.