Biochar systems

Last changed: 09 May 2023
Small houses, industry, cities, agriculture, forests: charcoal is produced from many different sources and stored in many ways too.

Biochar is the carbon rich material produced from biomass which has large potential to provide negative greenhouse gas emissions as a stable carbon stock in soil, alongside other climate and environmental benefits.

Biochar systems are diverse: biochar can be produced from different biomass, in many types of pyrolysis reactors, at different scales, and used in various applications, on all continents. All these possible configurations can lead to very different environmental performances.

Multiple tools are used to analyse biochar systems, such as life cycle assessment (LCA), energy and mass flow analysis, geospatial analysis. We apply these methods to analyse the climate impact, energy and resource efficiency and environmental impacts of different systems where biochar is produced and used.

Our case studies cover biochar production and use in agriculture in Sweden and Kenya, biochar use in onsite wastewater treatment, urban uses of biochar and biochar for treatment of contaminated soils.

Related pages: