Biochar can contribute to negative greenhouse gas emissions in the form of long-term carbon storage. It is important for the development of the biochar market to strengthen the knowledge around biochar stability in soils over long times and to develop ways of accounting for biochar stability.
This 4-year research project, named Biochar Stability: supporting transparent & reliable carbon removal, is funded by the Swedish Energy Agency.
Contact
The contact email of the project is: kolinlagringattraknamed@2050.se (the Swedish translation of “carbon storage to count on”).
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This webpage will be updated as the project goes
Background
Biochar produced from biomass has large potential to provide negative greenhouse gas emissions as a stable carbon sink in soil. A major hurdle for biochar market establishment is the limited knowledge about the stability of biochar over longer time periods.
Research objectives
Knowledge on biochar stability in Swedish agricultural soils
Field trials established for long-term evaluation of biochar stability
Open database for international research data on biochar stability
New models for calculation of biochar stability based on biochar properties and environmental conditions
Practical guidelines on how to use the stability models developed
Figure - Incubation equipment, biochar sample, and elemental composition chart
Timeline and work packages
The project has 5 work packages (WP):
WP1: Stakeholders & guidelines
WP2: Biochar characterisation
WP3: Laboratory incubations
WP4: Field trials
WP5: Data analysis
The project started in january 2022, and will continue until year 2025:
Year 2022: survey & roundtables with stakeholders (WP1) / biochar collection & characterisation (WP2) / experiment design (WP3-4) / litterature data collection, modelling toochain, and first re-analysis (WP5)
Year 2023: initial guidelines (WP1-5) / start of incubation (WP3) / start of field trials (WP4) / uncertainty modelling (WP5)
Year 2024: continued laboratory and field work (WP3-4)
Elias Azzi (SLU, PhD in biochar systems analysis) Data management & modelling of biochar stability in python. elias.azzi@slu.se
Erik Karltun (SLU, lecturer in soil science at the Soil & Environment Department). Soil and plant interactions with biochar. erik.karltun@slu.se
Harald Cederlund (SLU, molecular sciences) Researcher responsible for stability characterisation at the laboratory scale. harald.cederlund@slu.se
Haichao Li (SLU, Post-doctoral researcher, Soil & Environment Department) Responsible for laboratory and field incubations experiements. haichao.li@slu.se
Helena Söderqvist (2050 Consulting) Knowledge bridge between market & user. helena.soderqvist@2050.se
Research outputs (dated 2022-06-08)
WP 5: A database schema to describe biochar stability incubation data was created. You can download it in machine readable format (JSON) or display it as a human readable HTML file (right click on the buttons below to open in a new tab)
HTML Database Schema
JSON Database Schema
WP 5: an interactive dashboard to explore the biochar stability incubation data, available here: