Lifecycle environmental impacts of biochar in Belgium: The influence of biochar feedstocks, production temperatures, and applications.
Campion L, Thomsen TP, Weidema BP, Malina R, Kuppens T
Soil Health
Spreading biochar made from chicken manure on your garden beds could do more than improve your soil — it may actively pull carbon out of the atmosphere and keep it locked underground for centuries.
Researchers in Belgium looked at what happens to the environment when you take organic waste — like yard trimmings or chicken manure — and bake it at high temperatures without oxygen to make biochar, a charcoal-like material you can mix into soil. They found that making and using biochar is generally better for the climate than just composting or burning that waste, mainly because biochar locks carbon into the soil instead of releasing it as CO2. Chicken manure biochar came out ahead of wood-waste biochar in most environmental comparisons, and using the biochar in two steps — first to boost a composting process, then as a soil additive — was often the greenest choice.
Key Findings
Biochar production at both 450°C and 600°C from chicken manure outperformed green waste (woody fraction) biochar in most environmental impact categories.
Cascading use of biochar — first enhancing anaerobic digestion, then applying to soil — was generally superior for climate (global warming) and fossil resource metrics compared to direct soil amendment alone.
Environmental benefits were driven more by carbon sequestration and market substitution effects (displacing other products) than by biochar's direct agronomic effects on the field.
chevron_right Technical Summary
A lifecycle analysis of biochar production in Belgium found that turning green waste or chicken manure into biochar generally reduces greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel use compared to not making biochar, though no single combination of feedstock and method wins on every environmental measure. Chicken manure-based biochar outperformed wood-waste biochar in most impact categories.
Abstract Preview
This study aims to support decision-making on biochar deployment in Flanders, Belgium by assessing whether diverting biomass to biochar production yields environmental benefits on a lifecycle basis...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Urban Tree Canopy Reduces Heat-Related Mortality by 39% in European Cities
Trees in your local park or street aren't just pretty — they are literally keeping people alive during heatwaves, and planting even a modest number of the ri...
Composting is the controlled decomposition of organic materials—such as plant waste, food scraps, and manure—into a nutrient-rich amendment that improves soil fertility and structure. For plant science, compost is significant because it enhances soil microbial communities, increases nutrient
arrow_forward Explore topic