US EPA

5059600 

Book/Book Chapter 

THE BIOCHAR APPROACH: A COMPLEMENTARY USE OF WASTE BIOMASS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY PRODUCTION, CARBON SEQUESTRATION AND SOIL FERTILITY ENHANCEMENT 

Steiner, C 

2010 

Agriculture Issues and Policies 

329-340 

WOS:000278514700009 

Extraordinary demands are being placed on agricultural systems to produce food, fiber and energy. Biomass burning and the removal of crop residues reduce carbon in soil and vegetation, which has implications for soil fertility and the global carbon cycle. Pyrolysis of waste biomass generates fuels and biochar (charcoal) recalcitrant against decomposition. The process of pyrolysis or carbonization is known globally. It can be implemented on a small scale (e.g., cooking stove) as well as a large scale (e.g., biorefinery) and in most agricultural systems. Biochar offers unique options to address issues emerging from the conflicts and complementarities between cultivating crops for different purposes, such as for energy or for CO2 sequestration or for food and the impacts on food security, soil degradation, water, and biodiversity. Biochar is proposed as a: soil amendment in environments with low carbon sequestration capacity and previously carbon-depleted soils (especially in the Tropics). From recent studies it is known, that biochar amendments to soil increase and maintain fertility and the human-made Terra Preta soils in the Amazon prove that infertile soils can be transformed into fertile soils and long-term SOC enrichment is feasible even in environments with low carbon sequestration capacity. The prospects are to increase the sustainability of land use, establish a large carbon sink, reducing the rate of deforestation and competition between different land use purposes through waste biomass utilization. This chapter reviews the potential of waste biomass utilizations, the importance of the soil organic carbon pool for climate and explains our options to manage this carbon pool by biochar carbon sequestration.