Characterization of castor plant-derived biochars and their effects as soil amendments on seedlings

Hilioti, Zoe; Michailof, Chrysoula M.; Valasiadis, Dimitrios; Iliopoulou, Eleni F.; Koidou, Venetia; Lappas, Angelos A.

doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2017.06.022

Cited by 39 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Therefore, in addition to the common use as soil amendment material, biochar is being explored in terms of use for soil remediation [4][5][6][7], water filtration [8] and soilless substrates [9,10]. Recently there has been great interest in the use of biochar as a bioresource and growing media material [11][12][13][14]. Biochar and hydrothermal carbonization might play more important roles as constituents of growing media [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant Nutrient Availability and pH of Biochars and Their Fractions, with the Possible Use as a Component in a Growing Media

et al. 2019

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Biochar has the potential to be used as a growing media component, and therefore plays a role in reducing peat usage. It has unique properties apart from the ability to sequester carbon. Here we investigated the nutrient contents of four commercial biochars and their fractions. The biochars’ feedstock was wood waste, except for one with paper fibres and husk. The fine or finer fractions in wood waste biochars contained higher levels of nutrients that were available to plants. The coarse fraction of the biochar derived from husk and paper fibre feedstock had a higher level of total N, P and K in contrast to the other three biochars. The pH of the finer fraction (pH of 9.08) was also higher compared with coarse fraction (pH of 8.71). It is important that when biochar a is used as a component of a peat based growing media, particle size information should be provided, as fractions from the same biochar can have different levels of total extractable nutrients and pH levels. If biochar is used to replace or reduce lime application rates of a peat-biochar mixtures, one must take into account the levels of total and extractable Ca and Mg levels, as these can vary. The variation of these elements was not only between biochars’ feedstocks, even at similar pH-values, but within different fractions in the same biochar. We concluded that biochars should be characterized from the feedstock as well as from the particle size aspect, as it could have a profound effect on nutrient availability of Ca and Mg. This could lead to nutrient imbalances in cultivating plants on substrate mixtures. In addition to nutrient ratios, the suitable pH-level for a given grown species should be adjusted.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant Nutrient Availability and pH of Biochars and Their Fractions, with the Possible Use as a Component in a Growing Media

et al. 2019

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“…Biochar is the stable, carbon-rich substance obtained from the pyrolysis of biomass materials such as wood, manure, or leaves [1]. The application of this pyrogenic black carbon can have substantial advantages from a social, economic, and environmental point of view, such as (1) job creation (social), (2) soil improvement for higher biomass yields and possible cost savings (economic), and (3) climate change mitigation and water or air pollutant absorption due to its porous form (environmental) [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Since sustainable biochar systems are essential to the future of biochar, these systems need to address a wide range of potential environmental, social, and economic impacts [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Valuation of Biochar Production: Two Case Studies in Belgium

et al. 2019

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It is unclear whether the production of biochar is economically feasible. As a consequence, firms do not often invest in biochar production plants. However, biochar production and application might be desirable from a societal perspective as it might entail net environmental benefits. Hence, the aim of this work has been to assess and monetize the environmental impacts of biochar production systems so that the environmental aspects can be integrated with the economic and social ones later on to quantify the total return for society. Therefore, a life cycle analysis (LCA) has been performed for two potential biochar production systems in Belgium based on two different feedstocks: (i) willow and (ii) pig manure. First, the environmental impacts of the two biochar production systems are assessed from a life cycle perspective, assuming one ton of biochar as the functional unit. Therefore, LCA using SimaPro software has been performed both on the midpoint and endpoint level. Biochar production from willow achieves better results compared to biochar from pig manure for all environmental impact categories considered. In a second step, monetary valuation has been applied to the LCA results in order to weigh environmental benefits against environmental costs using the Ecotax, Ecovalue, and Stepwise approach. Consequently, sensitivity analysis investigates the impact of variation in NPK savings and byproducts of the biochar production process on monetized life cycle assessment results. As a result, it is suggested that biochar production from willow is preferred to biochar production from pig manure from an environmental point of view. In future research, those monetized environmental impacts will be integrated within existing techno-economic models that calculate the financial viability from an investor’s point of view, so that the total return for society can be quantified and the preferred biochar production system from a societal point of view can be identified.

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“…Biochars may stimulate or inhibit root and/or shoot elongation during a plant growth test depending on the biochar and plant type, on soil properties and the biochar application rate Solaiman et al, 2012;Oleszczuk et al, 2013;Bouqbis et al, 2017;Hilioti et al, 2017). In the Sinapis alba root elongation test we observed considerable elongation (~25-100%) upon all of the biochar amendments after 2 months, but this tendency dropped by the 6 th month.…”

Section: Environmental Implications: Impact Of Treatments On Soil Ecomentioning

confidence: 86%

Microcosm incubation study for monitoring the mid-term effects of different biochars on acidic sandy soil applying a multiparameter approach

Farkas

Feigl

Gruiz

et al. 2018

Process Safety and Environmental Protection

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Biochar is produced from organic materials by pyrolysis specifically for soil improvement. Interactions with beneficial outcomes between biochar and soil can arise within a short time but it is uncertain whether the effects are similar in all soil types and at different time-scale. The objective of this study was to evaluate the short-term and mid-term effects of biochars from different feedstocks (grain husks and paper fibre sludge, post-treated grain husks and paper fibre sludge, woodscreenings) on the soil physico-chemical, biological and ecotoxicological properties. As part of a complete scale-up technology, aiming improvement of an acidic sandy soil, a 12-month microcosm experiment was conducted with combined application of biochars, compost and fertilizer. The applied multiparameter approach made possible the selection of the most optimal treatment. All the three biochars had favourable influence on the soil, but the effects were different in terms of extent and time. Although the biochar from woodscreenings had not the most promising short-term effects, but combined with fertilizer at 0.5 w /w% biochar rate it was the most favourable treatment after 12 months. The grain husk and the paper fibre sludge biochar at 1 w /w% rate could also efficiently improve soil parameters and functions.

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Characterization of castor plant-derived biochars and their effects as soil amendments on seedlings

Cited by 39 publications

References 61 publications

Plant Nutrient Availability and pH of Biochars and Their Fractions, with the Possible Use as a Component in a Growing Media

Plant Nutrient Availability and pH of Biochars and Their Fractions, with the Possible Use as a Component in a Growing Media

Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Valuation of Biochar Production: Two Case Studies in Belgium

Microcosm incubation study for monitoring the mid-term effects of different biochars on acidic sandy soil applying a multiparameter approach

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