Sustainable Use of Biochar in Environmental Management

Abstract

Conversion of agricultural wastes into eco-friendly and low cost biochar is not only a smart recycling strategy but a panacea to environmental pollution management. Agricultural wastes biochar can be an effective alternative technique for controlling contaminants due to its low cost, high-efficiency, simple to use, ecological sustainability and reliability in terms of public safety. Biochars have made substantial breakthroughs in reducing greenhouse gases emissions, reducing soil nutrient leaching, sequester atmospheric carbon into the soil, increasing agricultural productivity, and reducing bioavailability of environmental contaminants. Recent advances in the understanding of biochars warrant a proper scientific evaluation of the relationship between its properties and impact on soil properties, environmental pollutant remediation, plant growth, yield, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. The main factors controlling biochar properties include the nature of feedstock, heat transfer rate, residence time and pyrolysis temperature. Biochar efficacy in pollutants management largely depends on its elemental composition, ion-exchange capacity, pore size distribution and surface area, which vary with the nature of feedstock, preparation conditions and procedures. The chapter explored the possibility of using biochar from agricultural wastes as a suitable alternative for the remediation of environmental pollutants, soil conditioning and the long-term biochar application in the environment.

Biochar Production Technologies from Agricultural Waste, Its Utilization in Agriculture and Current Global Biochar Market: A Comprehensive Review

“…Biochar application can help reduce carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions in the environment by increasing the carbon sink in soil [6]. Biochar has achieved significant advances in lowering greenhouse gas emissions, soil nutrient management, sequestering atmospheric carbon into the soil, enhancing agricultural output, and reducing environmental pollutants [7]. Biochar is becoming increasingly popular for soil fertility improvement because of its ability to enhance soil quality, boost crop production, and sequester carbon from the atmosphere-biosphere pool into the soil [8].…”

A bibliometric analysis of biochar in sustainable agriculture

“…The concept of agricultural sustainability began a long time ago and gained momentum in the last three decades (Bongiovanni and Lowenberg-Deboer, 2004;Çakmakçı et al, 2023;Hansen, 1996;Lampridi et al, 2019;Muhie, 2022;Ruttan, 1999, Thompson, 2007Tilman et al, 2002;Zeweld et al, 2020) [4,5,12,15,18,26,28,29,33] . Traditional agriculture underwent drastic changes when the concept of sustainable agriculture emerged to maintain yield levels and minimize environmental pollution (Abukari et al, 2021;Ayaz et al, 2021;Çakmakçı et al, 2023;Oni et al, 2019;Zeweld et al, 2020) [1,3,5,20,33] . Biochar is considered a valuable ingredient in sustainable agriculture, as its strategic use in soil offers many agronomic, economic, and environmental benefits (Gałwa-Widera, 2021;Osman et al, 2022;Yeboah et al, 2018;Zhou et al, 2022) [10,21,32,34] .…”

Ciprofloxacin Uptake from an Aqueous Solution via Adsorption with K2CO3-Activated Biochar Derived from Brewing Industry Bagasse

“…Biochar is a carbon-rich material obtained by heating biomass at relatively low temperatures (<700 • C) in an oxygen-poor atmosphere. Biochar is known for its ability to act as a remediator of contaminants, playing an important role in climate change mitigation and bioenergy production [14]. Its high specific surface area, porous structure, surface rich in functional groups and its mineral components make biochar a very good adsorbent for the removal of pollutants present in aqueous solutions [15][16][17][18][19].…”