Past, present, and future of biochar

Abstract

After entering the twenty-first century, biochar has become a focal point of multidisciplinary research because of its special characteristics, broad application, and promising development prospects. Basic and applied research on the application of biochar in the areas of agriculture, environment, and energy have increased dramatically in the face of food security, environmental pollution, and energy shortage. Although there are some disputes about biochar research, many studies have demonstrated the importance of biochar research from the perspective of scientific advancement and practical application. This paper briefly recalls the history of biochar application; introduces research progress on the basic characteristics of biochar and its associated production technologies; summarizes the research status and existing problems of biochar application in the areas of agriculture, environment, and energy; and analyzes the potential problems and development trends of biochar research in the future.

Application of biochar-based materials in environmental remediation: from multi-level structures to specific devices

“…Currently, several reviews regarding the physicochemical properties of BC and its agronomic and environmental benefits have discussed, including climate change mitigation (Wang et al 2019b;Woolf et al 2010), structure development during pyrolysis (Keiluweit et al 2010;Lian and Xing 2017;Xiao et al 2018), biochar-microbe interactions and its potential benefits in agricultural soil (Ding et al 2017b;Lehmann et al 2011;Zhu et al 2017b), contaminant removal or stabilization in water or/and soil (Mohan et al 2014;Tan et al 2016;Xie et al 2015). Despite increasing research efforts, a strategic review of studies regarding biochars for eco-friendly environmental applications is necessary to cover the theoretical investigation and potential engineering practices (Chen et al 2019c;. For the safe and high-efficiency application of biochars in environmental remediation, this critical review summarizes the structural features, reactivity of biochar, and further highlights the concept of functionalization and device of biochar and their applications in environmental remediation (Fig.…”

Impact of sole and combined application of biochar, organic and chemical fertilizers on wheat crop yield and water productivity in a dry tropical agro-ecosystem

“…However, increased GHGs emission remains a major concern for the sole organic manure amended systems (Searchinger et al 2018;Singh et al 2018). Thus, to address the multifaceted challenges of soil quality deterioration, GHGs emission, water supply and demand balance, waste management, and improving crop WP, application of biochar has been considered as a promising instrument (Lehmann and Joseph 2009;Singh et al 2015;Chen et al 2019;Fischer et al 2019). The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) defined biochar as "a solid material obtained from the thermochemical conversion of biomass in an oxygen-limited environment" (IBI 2012).…”

“…In addition to its role in soil C sequestration, improving soil quality and crop yields, researchers reported improvement in soil hydro-physical properties such as water holding capacity (WHC) (Van Zwieten et al 2010;Agegnehu et al 2016;Faloye et al 2019;Fischer et al 2019), due to modification of some of the soil physical properties such as porosity, texture, structure, and aggregate stability under biochar applied soils (Atkinson et al 2010;Ajayi et al 2016;Ramzani et al 2017). Results of a meta-analysis revealed an increase in crop productivity by 10% after biochar application (Jeffery et al 2011); however, the crop response varies from negative to positive depending on the biochar characteristics, way of application, and the background soil conditions (Agbna et al 2017;Chen et al 2019). For example, biochar improves crop yield for nutrient poor or degraded soils whereas effects were marginalized under healthy soils (Van Zwieten et al 2010;El-Naggar et al 2019).…”

Development of the straw biochar returning concept in China

“…In China, biochar has taken a pivotal role in circular agriculture, as it provides an avenue for straw utilization. In agriculture, it is an essential organic matter input raw material produced from straw and other crop-derived agro-wastes created by pyrolysis at 400-700 °C under no or limited oxygen supply (Chen et al 2019). Crop straw is often preferred since it is abundant in agricultural production (Zhang et al 2019) and is easier to decompose (Song X et al 2019).…”