Paper details

Title:

Conversion of Vine Prunings to Biochar Outperforms Composting for Energy, Greenhouse Gases and Soil Carbon Storage

Author(s):

Fornasier, F., Mondini, C., Bragato, G., Assirelli, A.

Document(s):

Abstract:

The administration of organic matter in the soil, in its various forms including composting is always a good choice to maintain soil fertility, as it helps to maintain soil fertility and nutrients are recycled, reducing the use of synthetic fertilizers. However, about 50% of the initial C is lost during composting without any energy recovery. The conversion of woody crop residues into biochar offers the opportunity to produce energy and, at the same time, a residual material (the biochar itself) with an average residence time corresponding to hundreds of years. We produced biochar and compost starting from vine prunings and we measured the mineralization of these amendments in our laboratory by a respirometer to experimentally calculate the mean residence time of C contained in these two amendments. We used then a specifically modified RohC model to simulate the trend of soil organic C when regular production of vine prunings where added to soil by compost or biochar. Our simulation for vineyard in northern Italy showed that the biochar coming from the pruning of the vine, therefore woody biomass of good quality, despite everything, constantly increased the C content in the soil, increasing the initial 1% C by 1.5 times. in 100 years without further organic changes to the soil profile affected by the root systems of the crop. By contrast, compost, though being an excellent amendment, increased slightly C content of soil.

Keywords:

agricultural residues, biomass, CO₂ capture, composting, char

Topic:

Biomass Conversion to Intermediate Bioenergy Carriers and Sustainable Biofuels

Subtopic:

Pyrolysis

Event:

30th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition

Session:

5BO.2.4

Pages:

836 - 839

ISBN:

978-88-89407-22-6

Paper DOI:

10.5071/30thEUBCE2022-5BO.2.4

Price:

FREE