Technologies for agro-industrial feedstock utilization such as pyrolysis, gasification and hydrothermal carbonization at industrial scale develop rapidly. The thermochemically converted biomasses of these production technologies have fundamentally different properties controlled by the production technology. This is reflected by general properties such as pH or elemental composition. The C-13 NMR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and black carbon results confirmed these observations showing that hydrochars have lower proportions of aromatic compounds than biochars (less stable) but are rich in functional groups (higher cation exchange capacity) than biochars. Analyses of pollutants indicate that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as well as dioxin contents of most samples were under the threshold values recommended by International Biochar Initiative and European Biochar Certificate. In conclusion, biochars and hydrochars are entirely different from each other and these materials will probably have a complementary reaction in a soil environment. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.