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Use of chars from pyrolysis and hydrothermal carbonization in agriculture
Project
Project code: TI-AK-08-PID1625
Contract period: 01.01.2010
- 31.12.2015
Purpose of research: Applied research
Application of biochar in agricultural soils and assessment of their potential to reduce leaching of nutrients and pesticides as well as greenhouse gas emissions from soils is investigated in a broad-based project at the Thünen-Institute of Climate-smart Agriculture since 2010. The use of heavy machinery and mineral fertilizer with the intensification of agriculture led to significantly increased crop yields. However, wrong fertilizer management, especially if not adapted to the plants needs, leads to negative side effects: on the one hand, the nitrogen (N) surplus may lead to increasing emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), while on the other hand nitrate (NO3) leaching to groundwater and surface water may occur. In order to counteract negative side effects of industrialization and intensivation of agriculture, new methods gain increasing interest. One of these methods is the use of biochar (products from the carbonization of biomass) in agricultural soils. It is assumed that carbonization leads to long-term sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere which in turn offers the possibility to actively counteract climate change. Additionally, application of the char to soil may reduce N2O emissions, enhance the soil water capacity and decrease leaching of nitrate and other nutrients (calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorous) as well as pesticides from agricultural soils because of different physico-chemical properties of the soil-char-composite compared to the bare soil. Biochars can be produced using different carbonization processes, the two most commonly used of which are in the focus of the present project. Pyrolysis is thermal transformation of biomass at high temperatures (450°C) and under the absence of oxygen (pyrochars) while hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) is a carbonisation process of wet biomass at 180-250°C under high pressure (HTC- or hydrochars). These two techniques yield chars with different physico-chemical properties which are investigated concerning their potential as a soil amendment and to reduce greenhouse gases and to sequester carbon after application in agricultural soils is assessed in the framework of this project. This research projects aims to investigate the follwing questions: 1. Are pyrochars and hydrochars capable of reducing leaching of nutrients and pesticides from agricultural soils? 2. How does application of pyrochars and hydrochars to soil influence the water-holding capacity of the soil? 3. How does the sorptive capacity of the chars change over time in the field (aging)? 4. Are pyrochars and hydrochars a means for carbon sequestration in agricultural soils? 5. Can application of pyrochar or hydrochar to soils help to reduce N2O emissions? We investigate phyrochars and hydrochars derived from different feedstock (e.g. Miscanthus, wood chips, digestates) in different soil types (sandy and loamy soils) using lab and field studies.
Section overview
Subjects
- Crop Production
- Plant Nutrition
- Crop Protection
- Agricultural Engineering Plant Production
- Climate Change
