Biochar potentially mitigates greenhouse gas emissions from cultivation of oilseed rape for biodiesel

Thers, Henrik; Djomo, Sylvestre Njakou; Elsgaard, Lars; Knudsen, Marie Trydeman

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.257

Cited by 44 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…However, these two studies suffer from incomplete modeling of the effect of pyrolysis temperature on biochar stability. Their results must be contrasted by results from Thers and colleagues [249], who found a higher climate mitigation potential for high temperature biochar in their more thorough modeling of the effect of pyrolysis temperature (decrease in biochar yield but increase in biochar's carbon content and its stability and increase in bio-oil yield).…”

Section: Life-cycle Assessment Of Biochar Systemsmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…This may be due to a lack of compiled carbon stability data at the time of the LCA studies as the meta-analysis of biochar stability are from 2016 and 2018 [18,20] or to a choice of keeping conservative assumptions. Thers and colleagues [249] showed that carbon sequestration is increased at higher pyrolysis temperature by 10% from 400 • C to 800 • C.…”

Section: Life-cycle Assessment Of Biochar Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some studies do not provide the required disaggregation of the data accross the different life-cycle stages, and in this case, only the total score is included in Figure 3 [236][237][238][239][240][241][242][243][244][245][246][247][248]. Some LCA studies define their functional unit as "per tonne of crop" or "per hectare cultivated" and did not provide conversion factors to transform their results into "per tonne of feedstock" as presented in Figure 3 [249][250][251][252][253][254][255][256][257][258][259][260]. As such, results from these studies are qualitatively discussed but not included in Figure 3.…”

Section: Life-cycle Assessment Of Biochar Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Potentials, Limitations, Co-Benefits, and Trade-Offs of Biochar Applications to Soils for Climate Change Mitigation

Tisserant

Cherubini

2019

Land

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Biochar is one of the most affordable negative emission technologies (NET) at hand for future large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide removal (CDR), which is typically found essential to stabilizing global temperature rise at relatively low levels. Biochar has also attracted attention as a soil amendment capable of improving yield and soil quality and of reducing soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this work, we review the literature on biochar production potential and its effects on climate, food security, ecosystems, and toxicity. We identify three key factors that are largely affecting the environmental performance of biochar application to agricultural soils: (1) production condition during pyrolysis, (2) soil conditions and background climate, and (3) field management of biochar. Biochar production using only forest or crop residues can achieve up to 10% of the required CDR for 1.5 ∘ C pathways and about 25% for 2 ∘ C pathways; the consideration of dedicated crops as biochar feedstocks increases the CDR potential up to 15–35% and 35–50%, respectively. A quantitative review of life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies of biochar systems shows that the total climate change assessment of biochar ranges between a net emission of 0.04 tCO 2 eq and a net reduction of 1.67 tCO 2 eq per tonnes feedstock. The wide range of values is due to different assumptions in the LCA studies, such as type of feedstock, biochar stability in soils, soil emissions, substitution effects, and methodological issues. Potential trade-offs between climate mitigation and other environmental impact categories include particulate matter, acidification, and eutrophication and mostly depend on the background energy system considered and on whether residues or dedicated feedstocks are used for biochar production. Overall, our review finds that biochar in soils presents relatively low risks in terms of negative environmental impacts and can improve soil quality and that decisions regarding feedstock mix and pyrolysis conditions can be optimized to maximize climate benefits and to reduce trade-offs under different soil conditions. However, more knowledge on the fate of biochar in freshwater systems and as black carbon emissions is required, as they represent potential negative consequences for climate and toxicity. Biochar systems also interact with the climate through many complex mechanisms (i.e., surface albedo, black carbon emissions from soils, etc.) or with water bodies through leaching of nutrients. These effects are complex and the lack of simplified metrics and approaches prevents their routine inclusion in environmental assessment studies. Specific emission factors produced from more sophisticated climate and ecosystem models are instrumental to increasing the resolution and accuracy of environmental sustainability analysis of biochar systems and can ultimately improve the characterization of the heterogeneities of varying local conditions and combinations of type feedstock, conversion process, soil conditions, and application practice.

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Section: Life-cycle Assessment Of Biochar Systemsmentioning

confidence: 75%

Section: Life-cycle Assessment Of Biochar Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Life-cycle Assessment Of Biochar Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Potentials, Limitations, Co-Benefits, and Trade-Offs of Biochar Applications to Soils for Climate Change Mitigation

Tisserant

Cherubini

2019

Land

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“…A common finding is that biochar is more likely to stimulate ecosystem services in deprived soils than in fertile soils and well-managed cropping systems [6,7]. However, even in fertile soils, biochar application can be pursued to improve greenhouse gas balances, as biochar contributes to long-term carbon (C) storage [8,9] and might reduce soil emissions of nitrous oxide (N 2 O), which often compromise the environmental sustainability of intensive cropping systems [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial Ecotoxicity of Biochars in Agricultural Soil and Interactions with Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonates

2021

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Large-scale application of biochar on agricultural land offers the prospect of soil improvement and carbon sequestration for climate-change mitigation. However, negative side-effects on the soil microbial ecosystem are poorly understood, notably in relation to the functions of native microbiomes under realistic routes of biochar exposure. Due to divergent properties, different biochars might interact with soil in complex ways. This might result in decreased or increased ecotoxicity from biochar contaminants, such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Using five biochars produced from straw and wood under contrasting pyrolysis conditions, we traced their ecotoxicological dose-effect using a bioassay for potential ammonia oxidation (PAO), through microorganisms that are sensitive stress indicators. Assays were made after soil/biochar interaction for up to 3 weeks, where straw biochar with the lowest PAH content (<0.5 mg kg−1) showed the most pronounced dose-effects to PAO, corresponding to a 10% effect concentration (EC10) of 4.6% (dry weight biochar/dry weight soil). In comparison, straw biochar with the highest PAH content was least ecotoxic (EC10, 15.2% after 3 weeks) and wood biochars pyrolysed at high temperature (700–725 °C) showed no ecotoxicity to PAO. Interactions between biochars and anionic surfactants, i.e., linear alkylbenzene sulfonates, which are common soil pollutants, resulted in varying effects on PAO, but the effects were small and of limited ecological importance for soil-amended biochars. In conclusion, the results showed that short-term microbial side-effects of biochar in the soil ecosystem were minor at relevant field application rates (such as <30 Mg ha−1 mixed into a plough layer of 20 cm), and that inherent PAHs in biochar were not a likely source of short-term ecotoxicity. However, there were notable differences in the effects eventually observed at very high biochar rates, stressing that individual biochars need specific ecotoxicological assessment before their safe application at large scale in agricultural soils.

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“…Land application of biochar as a soil amendment has recently drawn increased interest in the scientific community because of its perceived potential to reduce GHG emissions (Harter et al., 2014; Thers, Djomo, Elsgaard, & Knudsen, 2019). However, results among studies evaluating the effects of biochar on GHG emissions are inconsistent (Abbruzzini et al., 2017; Case, McNamara, Reay, & Whitaker, 2012; Case, McNamara, Reay, Stott, Grant, & Whitaker, 2015; Zhang et al., 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biochar impacts on nutrient dynamics in a subtropical grassland soil: 2. Greenhouse gas emissions

Silveira

Cavigelli

et al. 2020

J of Env Quality

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Land application of biochar reportedly provides many benefits, including reduced risk of nutrient transport, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation, and increased soil C storage, but additional field validation is needed. We evaluated the effectiveness of biochar in controlling the lability of nutrients in agricultural land. This study was designed to evaluate the impacts of biochar co-applied with various N and P sources on GHG fluxes from a subtropical grassland. Nutrients (inorganic fertilizer and aerobically digested Class B biosolids) were surface applied at a rate of 160 kg plant available N ha −1 yr −1 with or without biochar (applied at 20 Mg ha −1). Greenhouse gas (CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O) fluxes were assessed using static chambers and varied significantly, both temporally and with treatments. Greenhouse gas fluxes ranged from 1,247 to 23,160, −0.7 to 42, and −1.4 to 376 mg m −2 d −1 for CO 2 , N 2 O, and CH 4 , respectively. Results of the 3-yr field study demonstrated strong seasonal variability associated with GHG emissions. Nutrient source had no effect on soil CO 2 and CH 4 emissions, but annual and cumulative (3-yr) N 2 O emissions increased with biosolids (8 kg N 2 O ha −1 yr −1) compared with inorganic fertilizer (5 kg N 2 O ha −1 yr −1) application. Data suggested that environmental conditions played a more important role on GHG fluxes than nutrient additions. Biochar reduced CO 2 emissions modestly (<9%) but had no effects on N 2 O and CH 4 emissions.

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Biochar potentially mitigates greenhouse gas emissions from cultivation of oilseed rape for biodiesel

Cited by 44 publications

References 40 publications

Potentials, Limitations, Co-Benefits, and Trade-Offs of Biochar Applications to Soils for Climate Change Mitigation

Potentials, Limitations, Co-Benefits, and Trade-Offs of Biochar Applications to Soils for Climate Change Mitigation

Microbial Ecotoxicity of Biochars in Agricultural Soil and Interactions with Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonates

Biochar impacts on nutrient dynamics in a subtropical grassland soil: 2. Greenhouse gas emissions

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