Biochar Production from Agricultural and Forest Biomass Waste

Abstract

Waste generation from the agricultural and forest biomass waste sectors influences macro- and micro-ecosystems. Utilization of this waste for the synthesis of new products precedes sustainable waste management. Biomass can be processed through an array of physical, thermochemical, and biochemical techniques to produce high-value products and can be converted into biochars, bio-oils, biofuels. Biochar is a carbon-rich product that is inexpensive to produce. Biochar is extensively used for enzyme immobilization, as a photocatalyst, biofuel, and biofilter, and for agricultural applications such as for plant growth enhancement, carbon sequestration, disease management, pesticide remediation, fertilizer, and waste-water treatment, soil amendment. Biochar can be extended to nano-biochar (N-BC) by applying various physicochemical treatments. The focus of this chapter is to summarize recently reported information on the production of biochar from different sources, the scaling up of biochar into nano-biochar by different techniques, and corresponding applications.