Land Application of Biosolids-Derived Biochar in Australia: A Review

Payel Sinha, Serhiy Marchuk, Peter Harris, Diogenes L. Antille and Bernadette K. McCabe ()
Additional contact information
Payel Sinha: Centre for Agricultural Engineering, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia
Serhiy Marchuk: Centre for Agricultural Engineering, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia
Peter Harris: Centre for Agricultural Engineering, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia
Diogenes L. Antille: Centre for Agricultural Engineering, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia
Bernadette K. McCabe: Centre for Agricultural Engineering, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 14, 1-29

Abstract: Thermal treatment in Australia is gaining interest due to legislative changes, waste reduction goals, and the need to address contaminants’ risks in biosolids used for agriculture. The resulting biochar product has the potential to be beneficially recycled as a soil amendment. On-farm management practices were reviewed to identify barriers that need to be overcome to increase recycling and examine the role of pyrolysis and gasification in effectively improving the quality and safety of biochar intended for land application. Key findings revealed the following: (1) thermal treatment can effectively eliminate persistent organic pollutants, microplastics, and pathogens, and (2) more than 90% of the total heavy metals content in biosolids may become immobilized when these are converted to biochar, thus reducing their bioavailability following land application. While the reported research on the short-term effects of biosolids-derived biochar suggests promising agronomic results, there is a dearth of information on long-term effects. Other knowledge gaps include the optimization of land application rates, understanding of the rate of breakdown, and the fate of contaminants in soil and water, including heavy metal mobility and redistribution in the environment by processes such as erosion and runoff following land application. An improved understanding of nutrients and contaminants dynamics in soils receiving biosolids-derived biochar is a pre-requisite for their safe use in Australian agriculture, and therefore, it is highlighted as a priority area for future research.

Keywords: heavy metals; microplastics; organic pollutants; pyrolysis and gasification; sewage sludge; soil amendment; Australian agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/14/10909/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/14/10909/ (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:15:y:2023:i:14:p:10909-:d:1192025

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 ().