Medium-Term Effects and Economic Analysis of Biochar Application in Three Mediterranean Crops

Juan Luis Aguirre (), Sergio González-Egido, María González-Lucas and Francisco Miguel González-Pernas
Additional contact information
Juan Luis Aguirre: Cátedra de Medio Ambiente, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Alcala, 28871 Madrid, Spain
Sergio González-Egido: Cátedra de Medio Ambiente, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Alcala, 28871 Madrid, Spain
María González-Lucas: Cátedra de Medio Ambiente, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Alcala, 28871 Madrid, Spain
Francisco Miguel González-Pernas: Cátedra de Medio Ambiente, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Alcala, 28871 Madrid, Spain

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: This study assessed the effect of soil amendment with biochar on the production of some Mediterranean crops. Pine-derived biochar (B1) and partially pyrolyzed pine-derived biochar (B2) were used with a dose of 8 L/m 2 in a corn crop, reporting a production increase of 38–270% over three years with B1, and no effect of B2 due to its poor quality. Olive stone-derived biochar (B3) was used in lavandin and vineyard crops with doses of 0.04–0.9 L/m 2 and 0.37–2.55 L/m 2 , respectively. An increase of 23–25% in plant volume of lavandin was reported, while the production of grapes per plant was not significantly altered, although it increased by up to 66%. Soil analysis indicated that biochar does not significantly alter soil physicochemical parameters; therefore, biochar may affect plants by altering soil structure and increasing its cation exchange capacity and water management efficiency. Depending on its price, biochar application may be profitable for lavandin and corn crops, with a return-on-investment period ranging from 1 to 4 years. However, the profitability of its use in vineyards is questionable, particularly for the varieties with the lowest market price. Studies examining the economics of biochar application indicate that CO 2 abatement certification may help in covering biochar application costs.

Keywords: biochar; biomass pyrolysis; corn; lavandin; vineyard; CO 2; soil; agronomy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/10/4131/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/10/4131/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:10:p:4131-:d:1148558

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().