NewBias

NewBIAS - New Biochars for the Improvement of Agricultural Soils

Duration:          2022 – 2025  

Funding:      Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen

Project partners: 

IBG-3, IBG-2, ZEA-3, Forschungszentrum Jülich;

INRES, University Bonn;

TEER & OM, RWTH Aachen;

Project description:

Biochars – produced by the pyrolysis of biomass – have recently been promoted as a useful soil amendment with a multifunctional use, e.g., sequester carbon (C), recover nutrient elements from waste-streams, fix excess nutrients in soils to reduce environmental risks, and ameliorate soil in terms of nutrient status and aggregate structure. Our project aims at a multifunctional use of biochars for nutrient recovery from manure and soil amelioration with a cascade-use of biochar feedstocks from horticulture. Thus, a recycling and value-added utilization of agricultural residues through combining technologies such as pyrolysis could increase the recoverable energy, close the nutrient recycle loop, and ensure cleaner agricultural production. Steps in this value chain are presented in Fig. 1. The NewBIAS consortium will ensure dissemination and exploitation of technology and products and thus will stimulate the bioeconomy in NRW by developed technology and regional resources with a clear global and worldwide focus on innovation through the delivery of a novel value-added chain.