Advances in pyrolytic technologies with improved carbon capture and storage to combat climate change

Book Chapter

2020

Published in: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-49732-3_21

Rafique, Mohammad I Al-Wabel, Munir Ahmad, Adel RA Usman, Mutair Akanji, Muhammad Imran . 2020

Emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) including carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane (CH4) due to anthropogenic activities has changed the world climate, consequently resulting in global warming. Biochar can potentially deplete atmospheric carbon (C) levels and enhance C sequestration to combat climate change. Lower mineralization and higher recalcitrance of biochar enhance the C sequestration and reduce the release of CO2. Biochar application to the soil reduces N2O and CH4 emissions and increase microbial growth and activities. The recalcitrance and C sequestration potential of different biochars were investigated by using recalcitrance index (R50), H/C and O/C molar ratios, and proximate analyses in this chapter. Biochar+silica composite pyrolyzed at 600 °C (BC+S600), ball-milled biochar+silica composite pyrolyzed at 600 °C (MBC+S600), and eggshell+biochar composite pyrolyzed at 600 °C (EP-BC600) were highly recalcitrant, exhibiting R50 values above 0.7. Interestingly, BC+S600 and MBC+S600 exhibited the highest values of C sequestration potentials as well (95.59% and 21.17%, respectively). However, pyrolysis temperature, feedstock type, soil characteristics, and biochar application rates affect the efficiency of biochar for GHG mitigation, its recalcitrance, and C sequestration potential. Thus, the efficiency of biochar for C sequestration can be enhanced with advanced smokeless biomass pyrolytic techniques for safe energy production and climate change mitigation.