Assessing the diverse environmental effects of biochar systems: An evaluation framework

Azzi, Elias Sebastian; Karltun, Erik; Sundberg, Cecilia

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112154

Cited by 25 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…The most commonly assessed impact category for biochar systems is climate change, but other impact categories are also important to study (Tisserant and Cherubini 2019;Azzi et al 2021;Terlouw et al 2021). Using the ILCD impact categories, we showed that other impact categories could be either better or worse, and that the type of biomass used to produce the biochar plays an important role.…”

Section: At the Product-levelmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…1). The biochar use phase and end-of-life, which are key in assessing biochar carbon sequestration and other side-effects (Azzi et al 2021), are here part of the lifecycle of the biochar product.…”

Section: System Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Biochar is expected to deliver beneficial side-effects during the use phase of some biochar-products (Azzi et al 2021).…”

Section: Biochar Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The modelling did not include biochar losses to the environment during the use phase, e.g. via water drainage and erosion from constructed soils, parks, and roofs, although such losses have been observed in agriculture (Major et al 2010;Kätterer et al 2019) and conceptualised elsewhere (Azzi et al 2021).…”

Section: Materials Flowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Life cycle assessment of urban uses of biochar and case study in Uppsala, Sweden

Azzi

Karltun

Sundberg

2022

Biochar

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Biochar is a material derived from biomass pyrolysis that is used in urban applications. The environmental impacts of new biochar products have however not been assessed. Here, the life cycle assessments of 5 biochar products (tree planting, green roofs, landscaping soil, charcrete, and biofilm carrier) were performed for 7 biochar supply-chains in 2 energy contexts. The biochar products were benchmarked against reference products and oxidative use of biochar for steel production. Biochar demand was then estimated, using dynamic material flow analysis, for a new city district in Uppsala, Sweden. In a decarbonised energy system and with high biochar stability, all biochar products showed better climate performance than the reference products, and most applications outperformed biomass use for decarbonising steel production. The climate benefits of using biochar ranged from − 1.4 to − 0.11 tonne CO2-eq tonne−1 biochar in a decarbonised energy system. In other environmental impact categories, biochar products had either higher or lower impacts than the reference products, depending on biochar supply chain and material substituted, with trade-offs between sectors and impact categories. However, several use-phase effects of biochar were not included in the assessment due to knowledge limitations. In Uppsala’s new district, estimated biochar demand was around 1700 m3 year−1 during the 25 years of construction. By 2100, 23% of this biochar accumulated in landfill, raising questions about end-of-life management of biochar-containing products. Overall, in a post-fossil economy, biochar can be a carbon dioxide removal technology with benefits, but biochar applications must be designed to maximise co-benefits.

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Section: At the Product-levelmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: System Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Biochar is expected to deliver beneficial side-effects during the use phase of some biochar-products (Azzi et al 2021).…”

Section: Biochar Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Materials Flowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Life cycle assessment of urban uses of biochar and case study in Uppsala, Sweden

Azzi

Karltun

Sundberg

2022

Biochar

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“…A summary of biochar effects on crop and arable soil parameters is highlighted in Supplementary Table 1. These benefits elevate the status of biochar from a CDR-only technology to a valuable agricultural amendment with climate benefits, thus increasing its utility (Azzi et al, 2021). However, these agricultural benefits are not assured, and in some cases, biochar application might even have adverse effects on soil and crop properties (Joseph et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A spatial framework for prioritizing biochar application to arable land: a case study for Sweden

Karan¹,

Osslund²,

Azzi³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The biochar-agriculture nexus can potentially generate several benefits ranging from soil carbon sequestration to reduction in nutrient leaching from arable soils. However, leveraging these benefits for a particular objective requires spatially-explicit information on suitable locations for biochar application. This study provides a flexible multi-criteria framework that delivers spatial indications on biochar prioritization through a biochar use indication map (BUIM). The framework was exemplified as a case study for Swedish arable land through three different prioritization narratives. The BUIM for all the narratives revealed that a significant fraction of the Swedish arable land could potentially benefit from biochar application. Furthermore, arable land that scored high for a given narrative did not necessarily score high in the others, thus indicating that biochar application schemes can be adjusted to various objectives and local needs. The framework presented here aims to promote the exploration of different avenues for deploying biochar in the agricultural sector.

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Principles, Concepts, and Recent Trends Applied to the Waste Biorefineries

Corrêa

Campani

Furlong

2022

Handbook of Waste Biorefinery

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Assessing the diverse environmental effects of biochar systems: An evaluation framework

Cited by 25 publications

References 87 publications

Life cycle assessment of urban uses of biochar and case study in Uppsala, Sweden

Life cycle assessment of urban uses of biochar and case study in Uppsala, Sweden

A spatial framework for prioritizing biochar application to arable land: a case study for Sweden

Principles, Concepts, and Recent Trends Applied to the Waste Biorefineries

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