Biochar application for greenhouse gas mitigation, contaminants immobilization and soil fertility enhancement: A state-of-the-art review

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 853; p. 158562
• Main Authors: Abhishek, Kumar, Shrivastava, Anamika, Vimal, Vineet, Gupta, Ajay Kumar, Bhujbal, Sachin Krushna, Biswas, Jayanta Kumar, Singh, Lal, Ghosh, Pooja, Pandey, Ashok, Sharma, Prabhakar, Kumar, Manish
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 20.12.2022
• Subjects: adsorption; Biochar; carbon sequestration; cation exchange capacity; climate change; construction materials; cost effectiveness; energy; environment; Greenhouse gas mitigation; greenhouses; Heavy metals (HMs) immobilization; oils; petroleum; pollution load; pyrolysis; remediation; Soil amendment; soil conditioners; Soil fertility; sorbents; surface area; temperature; waste management; O/C; Eh; Soil fertility; EBC; POPs; Soil amendment; Heavy metals (HMs) immobilization; GHGs; HMs; IBI; Greenhouse gas mitigation; WHC; DOC; OM; AEC; CEC; SSA; IPCC; TOC; ANZBI; Biochar; TC; SOM; OCFG; HTC; VM; H/C
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158562

Rising global temperature, pollution load, and energy crises are serious problems, recently facing the world. Scientists around the world are ambitious to find eco-friendly and cost-effective routes for resolving these problems. Biochar has emerged as an agent for environmental remediation and has proven to be the effective sorbent to inorganic and organic pollutants in water and soil. Endowed with unique attributes such as porous structure, larger specific surface area (SSA), abundant surface functional groups, better cation exchange capacity (CEC), strong adsorption capacity, high environmental stability, embedded minerals, and micronutrients, biochar is presented as a promising material for environmental management, reduction in greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions, soil management, and soil fertility enhancement. Therefore, the current review covers the influence of key factors (pyrolysis temperature, retention time, gas flow rate, and reactor design) on the production yield and property of biochar. Furthermore, this review emphasizes the diverse application of biochar such as waste management, construction material, adsorptive removal of petroleum and oil from aqueous media, immobilization of contaminants, carbon sequestration, and their role in climate change mitigation, soil conditioner, along with opportunities and challenges. Finally, this review discusses the evaluation of biochar standardization by different international agencies and their economic perspective. [Display omitted] •Biochar characteristics are correlated with feedstock and pyrolysis conditions.•Biochar-mediated mitigation of gaseous pollutants from the soil is reviewed.•Biochar addition to contaminated soil immobilizes heavy metals.•Biochar acts as soil conditioner and improves soil productivity.•The environmental management with biochar is economical and viable.