Biochar: The "Black Gold"
What is biochar?
Biochar is a high-carbon, fine-grained residue that is mainly used in agriculture to enhance soil fertility and water retention capacity and then improve plant growth and farming productivity.
It can also be used in animal feed, cement, building materials, advanced composites and nano technologies.
Biochar has a high carbon content of up to 90 % and binds carbon material reliably, long-term and without negative side effects.
It is characterized by highly interesting physical and chemical properties and has a positive effect on biochemical processes.
What is Carbon Removal / Carbon Capture?
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) or carbon capture and sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) before it enters the atmosphere, transporting it, and storing it (carbon sequestration) for centuries or millennia. Usually, the CO2 is captured from large point sources, such as a chemical plant or biomass power plant, and then stored in an underground geological formation. The aim is to prevent the release of CO2 from heavy industry with the intent of mitigating the effects of climate change. CO2 has been injected into geological formations for several decades for enhanced oil recovery and after separation from natural gas, but this has been criticised for producing more emissions when the gas or oil is burned.
Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) and CCS are sometimes discussed collectively as carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS). This is because CCS is a relatively expensive process yielding a product which is often too cheap. Hence, carbon capture makes economically more sense where the carbon price is high enough, such as in much of Europe, or when combined with a utilization process where the cheap CO2 can be used to produce high-value chemicals to offset the high costs of capture operations.
CO2 can be captured directly from an industrial source, such as a cement kiln, using a variety of technologies, including : - absorption, - adsorption, - chemical looping, - membrane gas separation or gas hydration.
As of 2022, about one thousandth of global CO2 emissions are captured by CCS, and most projects are for fossil gas processing.
BIOCHAR, A HIGH QUALITY PRODUCT
High quality biochar has a great variety of characteristics and effects; it acts like a sponge, retaining water and nutrients. These qualities enable biochar to be used in many applications, such as:
• Filtration
• Soil improvement
• Feed-additive
The quality and therefore the application areas depend on the input material. Low-quality biochar can be used as filling material in production or as a building material additive in asphalt or concrete.
Either way – waste can be used again in a sustainable way to close the loop, demonstrating a true Circular Economy.
Apart from the above-mentioned, CO2 Sink Certificates can be used either as a yield model or to benefit the CSR goals of one's company.
The key questions are:
Is there enough biomass around to have significant impact on the atmospheric CO2 levels?
Is there enough soil area for biochar dispersal?
Results appear positive. Some studies suggest, up to 50 percent of the biomass carbon can be retained using the biochar sequestration method, and estimates of up to 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions could be offset with biochar production.