Biochar from agricultural biomass: Green material as an ecological alternative to solid fossil fuels

Abstract

The stalks left after harvesting corn, tomatoes, and tobacco have no further use and are usually burned on agricultural land. In our work samples of this waste were collected and pyrolyzed at 400 ℃ for 30 min in a nitrogen atmosphere. The solid residue (biochar) obtained by pyrolysis was analyzed, and the results were compared with widely used solid fuels such as wood, coal, coke and charcoal. The heat values of biochar from tomato, tobacco, corn ZP 6263, and corn BC 398 stalks were 24.12, 23.09, 26.24 and 25.78 MJ kg-1, respectively. These values are significantly higher than the heat value of wood, which is about 12.50 MJ kg-1. The ash content of biochar was 12–20 %, which is consistent with the ash content of solid fuels. No heavy metals were found in biochar samples. The results show that biochar obtained from the pyrolysis of agricultural waste, such as tomatoes, tobacco and corn stalks, has good potential for use as a solid fuel.

Keywords

• biochar
• agricultural waste
• solid fuel