Biochar Fertilizer for Soil Amendment and Carbon Sequestration

Lee, James W.; Hawkins, Bob; Li, Xiaonian; Day, Danny

doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-3348-4_6

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…CEC is an important parameter in retaining inorganic nutrients such as K + and NH 4 + in soil (Lee et al, 2013), and biochar has been associated with the enhancement in CEC of some biochar-amended soils (Glaser et al, 2001;Van Zwieten et al, 2010), thereby increasing the availability and retention of plant nutrients in soil and potentially increasing nutrient use efficiency. Biochar is not only a soil conditioner that increases CEC but may act as a fertilizer itself.…”

Section: Soil Amendment Effects On Soil Nutrient Dynamics and Ghg Emimentioning

confidence: 99%

Biochar and biochar-compost as soil amendments: Effects on peanut yield, soil properties and greenhouse gas emissions in tropical North Queensland, Australia

Agegnehu

Bass

Nelson

et al. 2015

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

288

138

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Section: Soil Amendment Effects On Soil Nutrient Dynamics and Ghg Emimentioning

confidence: 99%

Biochar and biochar-compost as soil amendments: Effects on peanut yield, soil properties and greenhouse gas emissions in tropical North Queensland, Australia

Agegnehu

Bass

Nelson

et al. 2015

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

288

138

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“…We provide conservative estimates because we exclude interventions for which there is less consensus on the impact, such as no-till 40 and we use conservative estimates for pathways with a large range in published numbers, such as biochar 41,42 and optimal grazing 43 . Thus, agricultural pathways in our analysis encompass only the best understood options for incremental change to existing farming practices.…”

Section: Soil Science Knowledge Gapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of soil carbon in natural climate solutions

et al. 2020

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Mitigating climate change requires clean energy and removing atmospheric carbon. Building soil carbon is an appealing way to increase carbon sinks and reduce emissions due to the associated benefits to agriculture. However, practical implementation of soil carbon climate strategies lag behind the potential, partly because we lack clarity around the magnitude of opportunity and how to capitalize on it. Here we quantify the role of soil carbon in natural (landbased) climate solutions (NCS), and review some of the project design mechanisms available to tap into the potential. We show that soil carbon represents 25% of the 23.8 GtCO2eyr-1 NCS potential of which 40% is protection of existing soil carbon and 60% is rebuilding depleted stocks. Soil carbon comprises 9% of the mitigation potential of forests, 72% for wetlands, and 47% for agriculture and grasslands. Soil carbon is important to land-based efforts to prevent carbon emissions, remove atmospheric carbon dioxide and deliver ecosystem services in addition to climate mitigation. Protecting and restoring soil organic matter delivers many benefits to people and nature 1,2. Globally, soils hold three times more carbon than the atmosphere 3 , and the role of soil organic matter as a regulator of climate has been recognized by scientists for decades 4. Recent work has highlighted the historical loss of carbon from this pool 3 , and the threat of future accelerated loss under warming scenarios 4,5. Soil organic carbon as a natural climate solution (NCS) thus has a role both through restoring a carbon sink and protecting against further CO 2 emissions in response to predicted land use change and climate change. This dual role for soil in the global carbon budget suggests climate benefits can be achieved through strategies that both conserve existing soil organic carbon stocks (avoid loss), and restore stocks in carbon-depleted soils 6. There are important additional benefits. Protecting and increasing soil carbon storage can (i) protect or increase soil fertility, (ii) maintain or increase resilience to climate change, (iii) reduce soil erosion, and where implemented through conservation of natural ecosystems iv) reduce habitat conversion, all in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) 7 , the goals of the United Nationals Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification (UNCCD). As such, soil carbon is promoted as a common denominator amongst a variety of global and national initiatives 7. Although recent academic comment and perspective pieces point the way towards accelerated action on soils 8,9 , there remains much uncertainty around actionable pathways for achieving the global opportunity. Here we examine the scientific and policy context surrounding soil carbon projects, to aid prioritization and decision making.

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“…Afterwards, the energy content (as MJ/kg) contained within biochar identifies the quantity of energy generated per equivalent dry weight and serves as a convenient energy index relative to coal (Table 2). Globally, animal waste pyrolysis is performed to create a thermal energy source, to generate heat for animal confinement stables, for the production of bio-oil, and to produce biochar, a nutrient-enriched end-product to be used as a soil amendment (Laird et al 2009;Lee et al 2013) or fertilizer replacement. Following manure pyrolysis, it has been shown by Gaskin et al (2008) that nutrient availability may be decreased in the biochar, which may make manure-based biochar use attractive in terms of land areas where nutrient management plans are necessary; biochars may be able to supply a more balanced quantity of essential plant nutrients without degradation in environmental quality due to nutrient over-application.…”

Section: Pyrolysis As Alternative Waste Stream Management Techniquementioning

confidence: 99%

Biochar as a Tool to Reduce the Agricultural Greenhouse-Gas Burden – Knowns, Unknowns and Future Research Needs

Kammann

Ippolito

Hagemann

et al. 2017

Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management

153

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Agriculture and land use change has significantly increased atmospheric emissions of the non-CO2 green-house gases (GHG) nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). Since human nutritional and bioenergy needs continue to increase, at a shrinking global land area for production, novel land management strategies are required that reduce the GHG footprint per unit of yield. Here we review the potential of biochar to reduce N2O and CH4 emissions from agricultural practices including potential mechanisms behind observed effects. Furthermore, we investigate alternative uses of biochar in agricultural land management that may significantly reduce the GHG-emissions-per-unit-of-product footprint, such as (i) pyrolysis of manures as hygienic alternative to direct soil application, (ii) using biochar as fertilizer carrier matrix for underfoot fertilization, biochar use (iii) as composting additive or (iv) as feed additive in animal husbandry or for manure treatment. We conclude that the largest future research needs lay in conducting life-cycle GHG assessments when using biochar as an on-farm management tool for nutrient-rich biomass waste streams.

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Biochar Fertilizer for Soil Amendment and Carbon Sequestration

Cited by 17 publications

References 13 publications

Biochar and biochar-compost as soil amendments: Effects on peanut yield, soil properties and greenhouse gas emissions in tropical North Queensland, Australia

Biochar and biochar-compost as soil amendments: Effects on peanut yield, soil properties and greenhouse gas emissions in tropical North Queensland, Australia

The role of soil carbon in natural climate solutions

Biochar as a Tool to Reduce the Agricultural Greenhouse-Gas Burden – Knowns, Unknowns and Future Research Needs

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