A product made from urban, agriculture and forestry waste has the added benefit of reducing the carbon footprint of modern farming, an international review involving UNSW has found.
Visiting Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at UNSW Science, Stephen Joseph, says the study published in GCB Bioenergy provides strong evidence that biochar can contribute to climate change mitigation.
“Biochar can draw down carbon from the atmosphere into the soil and store it for hundreds to thousands of years,” the lead author says.
“This study also found that biochar helps build organic carbon in soil by up to 20 per cent (average 3.8 per cent) and can reduce nitrous oxide emissions from soil by 12 to 50 per cent, which increases the climate change mitigation benefits of biochar.”
Read more at University of New South Wales
Photo Credit: Oregon Department of Forestry via Wikimedia Commons
