Biochar: Impact on Climate Change and Soil Health

Abstract

Carbon sequestration is a geoengineering technique for the long-term storage of carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon, for the mitigation of global warming caused by the green house gases released due to human interference with the nature. Biochar, a product of pyrolysis process, can sequester carbon in the soil for hundreds to thousands of years because of its aromatic structure and long mean residence time in soil. Biochar is of great importance as it is believed to store carbon in the soil for long time potentially leading to a significant reduction in atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) levels. It is reported that by the year 2050 biochar will be able to remove around 1 Gt carbon from atmosphere per year. According to an estimate, the maximum sustainable technical potential of biochar, to mitigate climate change is a maximum of 1.8 Gt of CO 2 equivalent (incorporating methane and nitrous oxide too) per year without endangering food security, habitat or soil conservation. This may annually sequester an amount of C equivalent to 12% of current anthropogenic CO 2 emissions and also improve soil physico-chemical properties, crop yield and decreased dissipation rate of herbicide in soil.