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Biochar

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Carbon Sequestration in Agricultural Ecosystems

Abstract

Biochar is a carbon (C) enriched by-product of bioenergy production obtained during pyrolysis (heating under limited supply of oxygen) of plant-derived feedstock including organic matter (OM). Biochar is defined as ‘charcoal for application to soils.’ It may be enriched in polycondensed aromatic C forms which enhance soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration after soil application. For SOC sequestration to occur, all of the SOC sequestered must originate from the atmospheric CO2 pool and be transferred into the soil humus through land unit plants, plant residues, and other organic solids. Biochar can also be described as an anthropogenically produced black carbon (BC) material. BC also known as pyrogenic organic carbon (PyOC), fire -derived organic matter or wildfire charcoal , constitutes certain ranges in the combustion continuum ranging from slightly charred plant material to highly condensed soot. Application of biochar to soil has recently received increased attention as a means to sequester C and to produce secondary agronomic benefits. In particular, it is thought that application of charcoal together with organic wastes, dung, and bones is the cause of high SOC concentrations and sustained soil fertility by ancient agricultural management practices that created terra preta de Índio, deep black soils in the Brazilian Amazon. However, natural charcoal and biochar are not well suited as proxies for each other. Also, whether new terra preta can be generated by biochar application (together with organic wastes) to soils under other land uses, for different soil types and climates, is not known. In particular, the properties of organic materials (e.g., wood, manure , leaves) used as feedstock for biochar production and charring conditions (e.g., temperature, charring time) vary widely. Thus, the biological, chemical, and physical properties among biochars also vary widely. Biochar may be the most stable soil amendment with estimated mean residence times (MRTs) of several hundreds to thousands of years, and may increase nutrient availability beyond the fertilizer effect. Thus, applying biochar to the soil potentially improves soil productivity, SOC storage, and infiltration of percolating soil water in the long term through its porous structure and stability. However, interactions between soils and biochar are diverse and difficult to predict. For example, yield-stimulating effects of biochar are not universal, and may be restricted to the tropics as biochar increases yield through liming and fertilization, consistent with the low soil pH, low fertility, and low fertilizer inputs typical of arable tropical soils. Relatively few studies provide a quantitative assessment of biochar soil management scenarios. Needed are, in particular, large-scale long-term field studies on different crops at diverse locations designed to test effects of application of different biochar types on SOC sequestration and secondary agronomic benefits. Similarly, a routine standard method to quantify soil biochar C is essential but not yet available. This chapter begins with a comparison of biological, chemical, and physical properties of charred OM relevant to agricultural application. This is followed by a discussion about effects of application of charred OM on SOC sequestration. The chapter concludes with an overview of research gaps that need to be addressed to realize the full potential of biochar for SOC sequestration in agricultural soils. In this chapter, BC, char, charcoal , and PyOC are used interchangeably, whereas the term biochar will be used when anthropogenically charred biomass is purposefully applied to soil for agricultural and environmental benefits.

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    Klaus Lorenz & Rattan Lal

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Lorenz, K., Lal, R. (2018). Biochar. In: Carbon Sequestration in Agricultural Ecosystems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92318-5_8

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