Challenges and opportunities for biochar to promote circular economy and carbon neutrality

Biochar, derived from unused biomass, is widely considered for its potential to deal with climate change problems. Global interest in biochar is attributed to its ability to sequester carbon in soil and to remediate aquatic environment from water pollution. As soil conditioner and/or adsorbent, bioc...

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Main Authors: Kurniawan, Tonni Agustiono, Othman, Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan, Liang, Xue, Goh, Hui Hwang, Gikas, Petros, Chong, Kok-Keong, Chew, Kit Wayne
Other Authors: School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/172446
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1724462023-12-11T02:05:28Z Challenges and opportunities for biochar to promote circular economy and carbon neutrality Kurniawan, Tonni Agustiono Othman, Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan Liang, Xue Goh, Hui Hwang Gikas, Petros Chong, Kok-Keong Chew, Kit Wayne School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology Engineering::Chemical engineering Biochar Carbon Neutrality Biochar, derived from unused biomass, is widely considered for its potential to deal with climate change problems. Global interest in biochar is attributed to its ability to sequester carbon in soil and to remediate aquatic environment from water pollution. As soil conditioner and/or adsorbent, biochar offers opportunity through a circular economy (CE) paradigm. While energy transition continues, progress toward low-emissions materials accelerates their advance towards net-zero emissions. However, none of existing works addresses CE-based biochar management to achieve carbon neutrality. To reflect its novelty, this work provides a critical overview of challenges and opportunities for biochar to promote CE and carbon neutrality. This article also offers seminal perspectives about strengthening biomass management through CE and resource recovery paradigms, while exploring how the unused biomass can promote net zero emissions in its applications. By consolidating scattered knowledge in the body of literature into one place, this work uncovers new research directions to close the loops by implementing the circularity of biomass resources in various fields. It is conclusive from a literature survey of 113 articles (2003-2023) that biomass conversion into biochar can promote net zero emissions and CE in the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Depending on their physico-chemical properties, biochar can become a suitable feedstock for CE. Biochar application as soil enrichment offsets 12% of CO2 emissions by land use annually. Adding biochar to soil can improve its health and agricultural productivity, while minimizing about 1/8 of CO2 emissions. Biochar can also sequester CO2 in the long-term and prevent the release of carbon back into the atmosphere after its decomposition. This practice could sequester 2.5 gigatons (Gt) of CO2 annually. With the global biochar market reaching USD 368.85 million by 2028, this work facilitates biochar with its versatile characteristics to promote carbon neutrality and CE applications. The authors thank Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) for the Research Grants (No. Q.J130000.21A6.00P14 and Q. J130000.3809.22H07) and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) through a Fellowship for Visiting Experts (FR3240322700). 2023-12-11T02:05:28Z 2023-12-11T02:05:28Z 2023 Journal Article Kurniawan, T. A., Othman, M. H. D., Liang, X., Goh, H. H., Gikas, P., Chong, K. & Chew, K. W. (2023). Challenges and opportunities for biochar to promote circular economy and carbon neutrality. Journal of Environmental Management, 332, 117429-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117429 0301-4797 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/172446 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117429 36773474 2-s2.0-85147709360 332 117429 en Journal of Environmental Management © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Engineering::Chemical engineering
Biochar
Carbon Neutrality
spellingShingle Engineering::Chemical engineering
Biochar
Carbon Neutrality
Kurniawan, Tonni Agustiono
Othman, Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan
Liang, Xue
Goh, Hui Hwang
Gikas, Petros
Chong, Kok-Keong
Chew, Kit Wayne
Challenges and opportunities for biochar to promote circular economy and carbon neutrality
description Biochar, derived from unused biomass, is widely considered for its potential to deal with climate change problems. Global interest in biochar is attributed to its ability to sequester carbon in soil and to remediate aquatic environment from water pollution. As soil conditioner and/or adsorbent, biochar offers opportunity through a circular economy (CE) paradigm. While energy transition continues, progress toward low-emissions materials accelerates their advance towards net-zero emissions. However, none of existing works addresses CE-based biochar management to achieve carbon neutrality. To reflect its novelty, this work provides a critical overview of challenges and opportunities for biochar to promote CE and carbon neutrality. This article also offers seminal perspectives about strengthening biomass management through CE and resource recovery paradigms, while exploring how the unused biomass can promote net zero emissions in its applications. By consolidating scattered knowledge in the body of literature into one place, this work uncovers new research directions to close the loops by implementing the circularity of biomass resources in various fields. It is conclusive from a literature survey of 113 articles (2003-2023) that biomass conversion into biochar can promote net zero emissions and CE in the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Depending on their physico-chemical properties, biochar can become a suitable feedstock for CE. Biochar application as soil enrichment offsets 12% of CO2 emissions by land use annually. Adding biochar to soil can improve its health and agricultural productivity, while minimizing about 1/8 of CO2 emissions. Biochar can also sequester CO2 in the long-term and prevent the release of carbon back into the atmosphere after its decomposition. This practice could sequester 2.5 gigatons (Gt) of CO2 annually. With the global biochar market reaching USD 368.85 million by 2028, this work facilitates biochar with its versatile characteristics to promote carbon neutrality and CE applications.
author2 School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
author_facet School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
Kurniawan, Tonni Agustiono
Othman, Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan
Liang, Xue
Goh, Hui Hwang
Gikas, Petros
Chong, Kok-Keong
Chew, Kit Wayne
format Article
author Kurniawan, Tonni Agustiono
Othman, Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan
Liang, Xue
Goh, Hui Hwang
Gikas, Petros
Chong, Kok-Keong
Chew, Kit Wayne
author_sort Kurniawan, Tonni Agustiono
title Challenges and opportunities for biochar to promote circular economy and carbon neutrality
title_short Challenges and opportunities for biochar to promote circular economy and carbon neutrality
title_full Challenges and opportunities for biochar to promote circular economy and carbon neutrality
title_fullStr Challenges and opportunities for biochar to promote circular economy and carbon neutrality
title_full_unstemmed Challenges and opportunities for biochar to promote circular economy and carbon neutrality
title_sort challenges and opportunities for biochar to promote circular economy and carbon neutrality
publishDate 2023
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/172446
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