Hydrochar-Amended Substrates for Production of Containerized Pine Tree Seedlings under Different Fertilization Regimes

Eskandari, Samieh; Mohammadi, Ali; Sandberg, Maria; Eckstein, R. Lutz; Hedberg, Kjell; Granström, Karin

doi:10.3390/agronomy9070350

Cited by 17 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The hydrothermal carbonization (Appendix C) is usually applied to retrieve biochars (which in this case are referred to as hydrochars) having very good fertilizing characteristics [69,70]. This is mainly due to the presence of residual polysaccharide and polypeptide units that are not thermally decomposed by the mild temperature conditions used during the process [71].…”

Section: Making Biochar: a Brief Summary Of The Main Production Methodologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Developments in Understanding Biochar’s Physical–Chemistry

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biochar is a porous material obtained by biomass thermal degradation in oxygen-starved conditions. It is nowadays applied in many fields. For instance, it is used to synthesize new materials for environmental remediation, catalysis, animal feeding, adsorbent for smells, etc. In the last decades, biochar has been applied also to soils due to its beneficial effects on soil structure, pH, soil organic carbon content, and stability, and, therefore, soil fertility. In addition, this carbonaceous material shows high chemical stability. Once applied to soil it maintains its nature for centuries. Consequently, it can be considered a sink to store atmospheric carbon dioxide in soils, thereby mitigating the effects of global climatic changes. The literature contains plenty of papers dealing with biochar’s environmental effects. However, a discrepancy exists between studies dealing with biochar applications and those dealing with the physical-chemistry behind biochar behavior. On the one hand, the impression is that most of the papers where biochar is tested in soils are based on trial-and-error procedures. Sometimes these give positive results, sometimes not. Consequently, it appears that the scientific world is divided into two factions: either supporters or detractors. On the other hand, studies dealing with biochar’s physical-chemistry do not appear helpful in settling the factions’ problem. This review paper aims at collecting all the information on physical-chemistry of biochar and to use it to explain biochar’s role in different fields of application.

show abstract

Section: Making Biochar: a Brief Summary Of The Main Production Methodologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Developments in Understanding Biochar’s Physical–Chemistry

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These properties particularly support any desired applications of the biochar pellets. A more detailed list of the various applications of biochar can be found in [32][33][34]. As an alternative to biomass pellets, the use of biochar pellets is considered more environmentally friendly because pollutant emissions are less prevalent in comparison to the use of raw biomass pellets [35,36].…”

Section: Overview Of the Benefits Of Biochar Pelletsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of the Benefits and Challenges Associated with Pelletizing Biochar

Mohammadi

2021

Processes

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biochar can be derived from a wide variety of organic materials including agricultural wastes and residues, animal wastes, municipal solid wastes, pulp and paper mill wastes, and sewage sludge. Its productivity relies on feedstock type and thermochemical conditions of production. Biochar has many application advantages in several fields and has been widely studied in recent years. However, most of these studies are mainly on the powder form of biochar, while its pelleted form is sparsely reported. Even with the reported studies on biochar pellets, there is still lack of knowledge and awareness of the effects of different feedstock on the densification behavior of biochar. The mechanisms of biochar densification, which appear to be sensitive to the conditions predominating during its thermochemical production, are affected by the material from which the biochar is derived. This partly accounts for why biochar pellets have not been widely adopted in various application fields. Therefore, this paper presents an overview of the benefits associated with the use of biochar pellets and discusses the challenges encountered when pelleting biochars that are derived from different feedstock under various carbonization conditions. Research priority areas needed to overcome the challenges are also identified and discussed. The purpose is to contribute to better understanding on biochar pelletization behavior, and to offer insights useful to comprehend some basic principles that may occur in the pelleting process and to ease further and more thorough investigations.

show abstract

“…In addition to energy-related applications, hydrochar production from pulp and paper mill sludge and its use as a soil amendment can be a good option for waste-stream management strategies. Hydrochar pellets have been shown as a possible partial substitute for peat in forestry nursery substrates [44]. The environmental response of the addition of sludge hydrochar in forest ecosystems can lead to a great reduction in GWP, TE, acidification, and eutrophication impacts compared to incineration and landfilling of sludge [20].…”

Section: Implementation Of Hydrochar Pellet Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comprehensive Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of the Use of Hydrochar Pellets in Combined Heat and Power Plants

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) has been seen as a potentially beneficial process for converting wet biomass into value-added products. It is, however, necessary to overcome the challenges associated with handling the powdered form of hydrochar—a solid product of the HTC process—by controlling the formation of dust and facilitating smoother transportation and distribution in a potentially wide marketplace. In this paper, the authors investigate the environmental consequences of different alternatives for using hydrochar pellets produced from mixed sludges from pulp and paper mills in Sweden, using the environmental life cycle assessment (E-LCA). Two scenarios for possible end-uses of hydrochar in combined heat and power (CHP) plants as a source of energy (heat and electricity) were assessed. In these scenarios, hydrochar pellets were assumed to be combusted in CHP plants, thereby avoiding the use of combustible solid wastes (Scenario A) and coal (Scenario B), respectively, to recover energy in the form of electricity and heat. The environmental damages to Human Health, Ecosystem Quality, Climate Change, and Resources are evaluated based on 1 tonne of dry sludge as the functional unit. The results from this analysis illustrate that Scenario B, in which hydrochar replaces coal, offers the greatest reduction in all the environmental damage characterizations, except the Resources category. The displacement of energy-based coal due to hydrochar combustion contributed most significantly to the environmental damages wrought by the system—ranging from 52% in Resources to 93% in Ecosystem Quality. Overall, the results highlight that the application of hydrochar pellets for energy recovery to offset waste- and coal-based energy sources has great environmental benefits. The favorability of sludge hydrochar over solid wastes as fuel for CHP plants may be counter-intuitive at first, since HTC is an energy-intensive process, but when accounting for the necessity of dependence on imports of wastes for instance, the hydrochar pellet may well emerge as a good option for CHPs in Sweden.

show abstract

Hydrochar-Amended Substrates for Production of Containerized Pine Tree Seedlings under Different Fertilization Regimes

Cited by 17 publications

References 50 publications

Recent Developments in Understanding Biochar’s Physical–Chemistry

Recent Developments in Understanding Biochar’s Physical–Chemistry

Overview of the Benefits and Challenges Associated with Pelletizing Biochar

A Comprehensive Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of the Use of Hydrochar Pellets in Combined Heat and Power Plants

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About