Biochar systems analysis
- Thematic Strategy:
- Systems & Social
- Key Staff:
- Jim Hammond, Jason Cook, Rodrigo Ibarrola
Is it really worth producing and deploying biochar?
By studying various production and use chains in the ‘real world’ context, we address this question. Whether it is ‘worth’ it can be defined in more than one way:
- economic value,
- carbon abatement,
- agricultural benefit,
- waste disposal,
- alternative uses of the feedstock,
- land use change,
- ecosystem services (including biodiversity, hydrology, etc.),
- socio-cultural effects
Through real world trials, modelling, and engagement with business people and regulators we are addressing these questions.
Relevant Projects:
- Advanced Carbon Materials from Biowaste - GreenCarbon-ETN
- An assessment of the benefits and issues associated with the application of biochar to soil
- BIOMAC project (EU Horizon 2020)
- Biochar Risk Assessment Framework (BRAF)
- Biochar in Forestry
- Biochar: Socio-economic and biophysical “fit”
- C-Sink project (EU Horizon Europe)
- DAC and other GGR technologies (Phase 2) - Biochar Platform
- EU COST Action
- Interreg IVB North Sea Region: Climate Saving Soils
- MSc / BSc Module: Novel Strategies for Soil Carbon Storage
- NEWS India-UK network
- Scottish Biofuel Programme
- Soils research to deliver greenhouse gas removals and abatement technologies (Soils-R-GGREAT)
- Sustainable urban carbon capture - engineering soils for climate change (SUCCESS)
- Taking commercial apple production to Net Zero
- The analysis of integrating a pyrolysis biochar system within a working arable farm
- The biochar-soil-plant interface: unlocking the potential for a sustainable phosphorus fertiliser
Publications:
Brownsort PA 2009. Biomass Pyrolysis Processes: Performance Parameters and their Influence on Biochar System Benefits. MSc diss. Univ. of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Verheijen, F.G.A., Graber, E.R., Ameloot, N., Bastos, A.C., Sohi, S.P., Knicker, H. (2014) Biochars in soils: new insights and emerging research needs. European Journal of Soil Science 65:22–27
Shackley, S., Sohi, S.P., Ibarrola, R.E., Hammond, J., Masek, O., Brownsort, P., Cross, A., Prendergast-Miller, M., Haszeldine, S. 2012, Biochar, Tool for Climate Change Mitigation and Soil Management. In: R Meyers (ed.), Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, Springer Verlag, New York, pp. 913-961 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5770-1_6
Sohi SP, McDonagh J, Novak J, Wu W and Miu L. Biochar systems and system fit. 2015. In: J Lehmann, S Joseph (Eds) Biochar for Environmental Management, 2nd Edition. Routledge, Abingdon, UK, pp 737-761
Crombie, K., Mašek, O., Cross, A., Sohi, S.P.. 2014. Biochar–synergies and trade‐offs between soil enhancing properties and C sequestration potential. GCB Bioenergy 7:1161–1175
Crombie, K., Mašek, O. 2014. Pyrolysis biochar systems, balance between bioenergy and carbon sequestration. Global Change Biology Bioenergy.
Crombie, K., Mašek, O. 2014. Investigating the potential for a self-sustaining slow pyrolysis system under varying operating conditions. Bioresource technology 162: 148-156
Shepherd JG, Sohi SP and Heal KV. 2016. Optimising the recovery and re-use of phosphorus from wastewater effluent for sustainable fertiliser development. Water Research 94:155–165
Sohi SP and Kuppens T. 2016. Systems integration for biochar in European forestry: drivers and strategies. In: VJ Bruckman, EA Varol, BB Uzun, J Liu (Eds) Biochar: A regional Supply Chain Approach in View of Climate Change Mitigation. Cambridge University Press, pp 70-95
Novel Strategies for Carbon Storage in Soil, 2016/7 Course Book for PGGE11212/14, University of Edinburgh, School of GeoSciences, Edinburgh
Latawiec AE, Peake L, Baxter H, Cornelissen G, Grotkiewicz K, Hale S, Królczyk JB, Kubon M, Łopatka A, Medynska-Juraszek A, Reid BJ, Siebielec G, Sohi SP, Spiak Z and Strassburg BBN. 2017. A reconnaissance-scale GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis to support sustainable biochar use: Poland as a case study. Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management 25: 208-222.
Cabeza I, Waterhouse T, Sohi SP and Rooke JA. 2018. Effect of biochar produced from different biomass sources and at different process temperatures on methane production and ammonia concentrations in vitro. Animal Feed Science and Technology 237: 1–7
Melia PM, Busquets R, Hooda P, Cundy AB and Sohi SP. 2019. Driving forces and barriers in the removal of phosphorus from water using crop residue, wood and sewage sludge derived biochars. Science of the Total Environment 675: 623–631.
Sohi SP. 2019. Book Review: 'Biochar from Biomass and Waste: Fundamentals and Applications, Edited by Y.S. Ok, D. Tsang, N. Bolan & Novak, J. eds.' European Journal of Soil Science https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.12873
Sykes AJ, Macleod M, Eory V, Rees RM, Payen F, Myrgiotis V, William M, Sohi SP, Hillier J, Moran D, Manning DAC, Goglio P, Seghetta M, Williams A, Harris J, Dondini M, Walton J, House J and Smith P. 2020. Characterising the biophysical, economic and social impacts of soil carbon sequestration as a greenhouse gas removal technology. Global Change Biology 26: 1085-1108.
Borges BMMN, Strauss M, Camelo PA, Sohi SP & Franco HCJ. 2020. Re-use of sugarcane residue as a novel biochar fertiliser - Increased phosphorus use efficiency and plant yield. Journal of Cleaner Production https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121406
Jeffery, S., Bezemer, T.M., Cornellisen, G., Kuyper, T.W. Lehmann, J., Mommer, L., Sohi, S.P., Van De Voorde, T.F.J., Wardle, D.A., Van Groenigen, J.W. (2013) The way forward in biochar research: targeting trade-offs between the potential wins. GCB Bioenergy 7:1161–1175
Ibarrola R., Evar B., Reay D. - Biochar commercialisation in Mexico. 24pp.
Hammond J 2010. Advancing the science and evaluating biochar systems, write up of the 2nd UKBRC Annual Conference, UKBRC Working Paper 6.
Sohi SP, Shackley SJ, Haszeldine RS, Manning D and Mašek O 2009. Biochar, reducing and removing CO2 while improving soils:A significant and sustainable response to climate change. Evidence submitted to the Royal Society Geo-engineering Climate Enquiry, UKBRC Working Paper 2
Ahmed SJ, Hammond J, Rodrigo IE, Shackley SJ, Sohi SP and Haszeldine RS 2010. The potential of biochar deployment in Scotland: A preliminary assessment , UKBRC working paper 7.
Shackley SJ and Sohi SP (eds) 2010. An assessment of the benefits and issues associated with the application of biochar to soil. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, London, UK.
Hammond, J. 2009. The Best use of Biomass? Greenhouse gas life cycle analysis of predicted pyrolysis biochar systems. MSc diss. Univ. of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Hammond J, Shackley SJ, Sohi SP and Brownsort PA 2010. Life Cycle Analysis for Pyrolysis Biochar Systems in the UK. Poster presented in the 3rd Annual conference of International Biochar Initiative (IBI), Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Hammond J, Shackley S, Sohi S P and Brownsort PA 2011. Prospective life cycle carbon abatement for pyrolysis biochar systems in the UK. Energy Policy 39, 2646-2655.
Shackley S, Carter S, Sims K and Sohi S P 2011 Expert perceptions of the role of biochar as a carbon abatement option with ancillary agronomic and soil-related benefits, Energy & Environment 22(3): 167-187
Sarah Carter and Simon Shackley (2011), Biochar Stoves: An Innovation Studies Perspective (AIT & IDRC-CRDI).
Shackley, S., Hammond, J., Gaunt, J. & Ibarrola, R. (2011), The feasibility and costs of biochar deployment in the UK, Carbon Management, 2(3): 335 - 356
Ibarrola, R., et al. Pyrolysis biochar systems for recovering biodegradable materials: A life cycle carbon assessment.
Waste Management (2011), doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2011.10.005Shackley, S., Carter, S., Knowles, T., Middelink, E., Haefele, S., Haszeldine, S. (2012), Sustainable gasification-biochar systems? A case-study of rice-husk gasification in Cambodia, Part II: Field trial results, carbon abatement, economic assessment and conclusions, Energy Policy, 41:618-623
Ahmed, S., Hammond, J., Ibarrola, R.,Shackley, S. and Haszeldine, S.(2011) The potential role of biochar in combating climate change in Scotland:an analysis of feedstocks, life cycle assessment and spatial dimensions, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
Sohi, S.P. (2012) Carbon storage with benefits, Science, 338: 1034-1035
Sohi, S.P. (2013) Pyrolysis bioenergy with biochar production – greater carbon abatement and benefits to soil, GCB Bioenergy, 5:i-iii
Harnessing green tide Ulva biomass for carbon dioxide sequestration. Park, Jihae; Lee, Hojun; De saeger, Jonas et al.
In: Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology, 02.09.2024.