About Biochar​

Biochar is a pyrogenic carbon-rich material generated from carbon neutral sources, such as biomass (Lee et al. 2017). It’s considered an excellent carbon sink as it cannot be easily decomposed by microbial activity. The International Biochar Initiative defines biochar as “a solid material obtained from the thermochemical conversion of biomass in an oxygen-limited environment”. As part of the circular economy, various feedstocks can be used to produce biochar, including wood, grass, crop residues, animal waste, sewage sludge, anaerobic digestate, bone, etc. (Alkurdi et al. 2019; Wang et al. 2020). ​

Biochar production​

Biochar is produced in solid form by dry carbonization, pyrolysis or gasification of biomass, and in slurry form by hydrothermal carbonization of biomass under pressure (Ahmad et al. 2014). The most common method to produce biochar is pyrolysis, specifically slow pyrolysis, which produces biochar by heating biomass at low heating rate for several days (Qian et al. 2015).

This process produces a stable form of carbon, which can be used as a soil amendment to improve soil health, as well as a carbon sequestration method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Biochar can also be used to generate carbon credits, which are tradable certificates that represent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Advantages of Biochar​

Soil Health
Improvement​

Reduces soil acidity and removes unwanted contaminants.​

Water
Conservation​

Retains water and nutrients, helping to combat drought and increasing food security.​

Soil
Remediation​

Helps clean up contaminated soils by binding heavy metals and toxins.​

Reduction of Greenhouse
Gas Emission​

Balances some of the carbon emissions from cars, power plants and homes.​

Carbon
Sequestration​

Locks carbon into the soil, preventing it from being released as CO₂ into the atmosphere. It is an excellent carbon sink. ​

Waste
Management​

Biochar can be produced from a wide range of organic waste, leading to a circular economy.​

Sol Biochar Applications​

Biochar used for carbon sequestration and removal​

When biochar is applied to soil in agricultural settings, it provides long-lasting carbon storage, while also improving soil fertility and water retention. The carbon in biochar is very stable and can remain in the soil for hundreds or thousands of years, effectively storing CO₂ over the long term.

In the construction industry, biochar can be used as an additive for durable building materials, providing structural benefits and long-term carbon storage. Adding just 1% by mass of biochar to concrete mixes could sequester 0.5 Gt of CO₂ per year and decrease the carbon footprint of cement-based industries by 20%.

Biochar has the potential to remove 0.5 to 2 gigatonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere each year.​

Source: Berta Moya, PhD Lead, CDR Innovation & Catalyst Program at Carbonfuture for the World Economic Forum ​

In 2023, 94% of carbon removal projects were based on the development of biochar-based projects.​

Source: Berta Moya, PhD Lead, CDR Innovation & Catalyst Program at Carbonfuture for the World Economic Forum ​

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