Biochar – the win-win-win-win solution!
©Oregon Department of Forestry
14/05/2020
Biochar is charcoal produced from biomass via pyrolysis. It can offer many benefits as a soil amendment, such as improved soil health and carbon sequestration, while also contributing to climate change adaptation and mitigation. The Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) dedicated a webinar series to this promising technology, the first of which took place last 7 May 2020.
Entitled ‘Biochar systems for sustainable agriculture’, the webinar was presented by Prof. David Chiaramonti of Polytechnic University of Turin, and provided a detailed overview of biochar production technologies as well as different biochar characteristics depending on the feedstock and the process parameters.
The many benefits of biochar
Biochar has an important carbon sequestration potential due to it is high stability in the soil. Prof. Chiaramonti cited the recent IPCC report: Climate Change and Land, published in 2019, that specifically addresses the GHG mitigation potential of biochar. It is a compelling option given that it can be deployed on a large scale at low cost, and that it can promote more sustainable agriculture and climate change adaptation making it a win-win-win-win solution! It led, to the addition of GHG savings from biochar into carbon accounting by the IPCC in 2019.
The webinar also focused on the interesting synergies between biochar systems and biogas produced from the anaerobic digestion of organic matter. Biochar can be used to improve a biogas system, for example, co-composting biochar with digestate (the by-product of biogas production) can significantly improve the fertilizer it produces.
Entitled ‘Biochar systems for sustainable agriculture’, the webinar was presented by Prof. David Chiaramonti of Polytechnic University of Turin, and provided a detailed overview of biochar production technologies as well as different biochar characteristics depending on the feedstock and the process parameters.
The many benefits of biochar
Biochar has an important carbon sequestration potential due to it is high stability in the soil. Prof. Chiaramonti cited the recent IPCC report: Climate Change and Land, published in 2019, that specifically addresses the GHG mitigation potential of biochar. It is a compelling option given that it can be deployed on a large scale at low cost, and that it can promote more sustainable agriculture and climate change adaptation making it a win-win-win-win solution! It led, to the addition of GHG savings from biochar into carbon accounting by the IPCC in 2019.
The webinar also focused on the interesting synergies between biochar systems and biogas produced from the anaerobic digestion of organic matter. Biochar can be used to improve a biogas system, for example, co-composting biochar with digestate (the by-product of biogas production) can significantly improve the fertilizer it produces.