Suitability of Different Agricultural and Urban Organic Wastes as Feedstocks for the Production of Biochar—Part 1: Physicochemical Characterisation

Inés López-Cano, María L. Cayuela, Claudio Mondini, Chibi A. Takaya, Andrew B. Ross and Miguel A. Sánchez-Monedero
Additional contact information
Inés López-Cano: Department of Soil and Water Conservation and Organic Waste Management, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura, CSIC, P.O. Box 4195, 30080 Murcia, Spain
María L. Cayuela: Department of Soil and Water Conservation and Organic Waste Management, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura, CSIC, P.O. Box 4195, 30080 Murcia, Spain
Claudio Mondini: CREA Research Centre for Viticulture and Enology Branch of Gorizia, 34170 Gorizia, Italy
Chibi A. Takaya: School of Chemical and Process Engineering, The University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Andrew B. Ross: School of Chemical and Process Engineering, The University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Miguel A. Sánchez-Monedero: Department of Soil and Water Conservation and Organic Waste Management, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura, CSIC, P.O. Box 4195, 30080 Murcia, Spain

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-18

Abstract: Biochar is traditionally made from clean lignocellulosic or waste materials that create no competition for land use. In this paper, the suitability of alternative feedstocks of agricultural and urban origins are explored. A range of biochars was produced from holm oak and a selection of organic wastes, such as greenhouse wastes, greenwastes, a cellulosic urban waste, municipal press cake and pig manure. They were characterized and assessed for their potential agricultural use. The physicochemical properties of biochars were mainly driven by the characteristics of feedstocks and the pyrolysis temperature. The use of pre-treated lignocellulosic residues led to biochars with a high concentration of ash, macro and micronutrients, whereas raw lignocellulosic residues produced biochars with characteristics similar to traditional wood biochars. All biochars were found to be suitable for agricultural use according to the international standards for the use of biochars as soil amendments, with the exception of a biochar from urban origin, which presented high levels of Cr and Pb. The use of these biochars as soil amendments requires a thorough agronomical evaluation to assess their impact on soil biogeochemical cycles and plant growth.

Keywords: charcoal; agriculture; proximate analysis; ultimate analysis; heavy metals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/7/2265/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/7/2265/ (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:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:7:p:2265-:d:155582

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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