Study to explore use of biochar for CO2 removal

The study is one of five UKRI-funded projects aiming to cut emissions in line with the government’s 2050 net zero target, through the use of Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR) technologies.

Biochar is produced by heating organic biomass from agriculture and forestry waste in the absence of oxygen (pyrolosis), making it carbon-rich and chemically stable. Currently produced on a small scale in the UK and used as a mulch for horticulture, the substance is similar to commercial-grade charcoal used on BBQs but should be produced at higher temperatures to produce stable carbon.

“The aim is to take carbon from the atmospheric emissions and trap it in the biochar,” said project lead professor Colin Snape, director of the EPSRC Centre of Doctoral Training in Carbon Capture and Storage and Cleaner Fossil Energy. 

“That carbon will then be locked in the soil for centuries, if not millennia, so its sustainable production could be a powerful tool in the fight against climate change. However, we need to get a detailed and accurate picture of the longevity and stability of biochar carbon in soils to ensure it has no detrimental impact.”