Biochar is a carbonaceous material obtained from biomass pyrolysis or gasification process. Biochar has the potential to improve crop yields, nutrient cycling, immobilize trace metals and sequester carbon in the soil. One of the main problems preventing a widespread adoption of biochar is to tailor a single biochar with a particular soil and crop type. This task will require a deeper understanding of the processes involved in the biochar-soil-plant interaction.
On the other hand, there is a growing interest on peat replacement by biochar in growing media to preserve natural ecosystem and also to improve crop production in greenhouses. This substitution will require a perfect knowledge of the parameters involved on biochar production to obtain a material with similar properties to peat.
The goal of this session is to gather together scientists interested in different aspects of biochar research, in particular mechanistic studies that can improve our ability to predict the biochar-media-plant interaction.
We aim to publish a selection of abstracts in an international journal.