Biochar: a sustainable solution
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Abstract
Abstract The planet Earth has been thronged by a horde of threatening issues since the late twentieth century. Climate change, fossil fuel depletion and various types of pollution, including heavy metal pollution, have hit the humanity hard. Application of biochar has been emerged as a viable option to tackle heavy metal pollution. Biochar is a carbonaceous product obtained on pyrolysing any substance containing biomass. The chemico-physical properties of biochar depend on the type of feedstock used and the pyrolysis temperature involved in its production. Its remarkable properties of high porosity, large surface area, surplus surface functional groups and high adsorption capacity make it an excellent substrate for removing heavy metals from contaminated soil and water. At the same time, it can also tackle the emerging issues of climate change, by sequestering carbon, curtail depleting fossil fuels via bio-oil and syngas production, and it turns out to be a cheap and eco-friendly method. Due to such wide ranging applications, the review was conceptualized to determine whether biochar can be a sustainable solution to deal with the various threatening issues. The review focuses upon production, properties and applications of biochar showing that it can help in partial achievement of multiple sustainable development goals.