The
phenomenon of global warming has gained immense interest among academic and
industrial researchers. Many mitigation techniques are being analyzed to
address this issue. Among these, biochar application to soil is considered as
promising technique for greenhouse gases (GHG) mitigation [1]. Biochar or
charcoal is a biomass-derived black carbon (C). It is a stable residue that is
produced after charring the biomass. Biochar when applied to soil can enhance
moisture and nutrients retention while improving fertility and microbiological
properties of soils. The average carbon content of the biochar is about 50%,
and when it is applied to the land, some research results show that even after
100 years of passage of time, biochar derived from crop residues loses less
than 10 percent of its carbon content [1]. A comparison of the process of
degradation of the C-content for biomass and biochar over a period of 100 years
is shown in Fig-1.
Biochar
shows very good stability due to the presence of charcoal which is inert and
resistant to biochemical breakdown. This property of biochar to retain
nutrients especially C-content for a long period of time originates the concept
of C sequestration potential of biochar in the context of the global C cycle.
The concept of biochar-C sequestration involves breaking the carbon cycle by
converting it into a stable form (biochar), thus effectively removing a fraction
of carbon from the cycle and limiting its release to the atmosphere. In this
sense biochar can act as a long term sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide in
land environment. The use of biochar as a C is a promising way to reduce
atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and thus mitigate climate change.
The effectiveness of this solution will depend on the maximization of the range
of economic and environmental benefits of this practice [3]. Production to
application costs of biochar can be fully recovered from the crop production
and savings in fertilizer cost. There are new economic opportunities for
sectors like forestry and agricultural industry, if biochar is used efficiently
and cost effectively. One of the main benefits of using biochar as a fertilizer
is that, it filters the pollutants that lead to soil remediation [4]. Hence,
biochar can be utilized in different ways that brings down the average economic
cost of implementation.
All the
steps from biochar production to its application for GHG mitigation should be
studied and analyzed for better results. These steps if and when modeled
spatially and integrated into geographic information system (GIS) layers for
clarity of observation, then the data can be managed and implemented efficiently.
The biochar can be applied into terrestrial ecosystems and its outcome as a
measure of the GHG mitigation can be studied. Utilizing GIS modeling
techniques, data layers for biochar production can integrate the resources of
biomass such as crop residues, livestock manure, pulp mill waste etc. Other
layers of analysis can also include transport analysis, land management
practices, and biochar application techniques. In addition, soil data can also
be modeled into layers including soil response to field application of biochar.
To solve
challenging problems of the project a modeling framework can be developed in
the ArcGIS-Desktop environment. ArcGIS-Desktop is used for spatial analysis and
modeling of all sorts of data as well as data management and mapping. This
software can be easily used on Windows operating system. It is a platform for
creating, editing, and analyzing geographic knowledge. The decision making can
be improved as it allows seeing data on map for the clarity of patterns and
trends in a given data. The data can be presented using separate layers and
also as integration of all or a set of layers.
The
emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from agricultural sector contribute
mainly to greenhouse gases. The application of sufficient quantity of biochar
could reduce these emissions from soils as well as development of biochar
system can provide opportunities of carbon sequestration and storage into soils
[3]. Biochar can be produced from feedstock with high lignin content like in
forest residues, crop residues and organic wastes that can result in high
biochar yields and thus waste management fee of these residues would add up to
economic benefits in terms of beneficial biochar production which would play a
role in the structure of overall economy [2].
The
regional case study of any affected locality can be modeled that would counter
most of the soils, land-uses, and environmental issues throughout the country.
Dairy lands can be chosen for such study as they generate high nitrous oxide
and nitrate leachate such as from urine patches and require foremost attention
[3]. Algorithms can be proposed for the assessment of competent biomass resource
that would give higher biochar yield and to estimate the harvesting cost of
biomass and mobility costs of biomass and biochar. The algorithms can also
include the evaluation of application rates of biochar at particular site to
determine the biochar production requirement. This would lead to propose the
optimal size of the biomass processing plant for biochar production for a
particular site. Many soil profiles are shallow and the volume of biochar
application for efficient crop productivity is questionable. For shallow soils,
even small volume of biochar if added to top few centimeters of soil might
result in high yield as well as being effective for GHG mitigation. The soil
types and conditions would govern the efficiency of biochar application [3].
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