Novel Biochar Composite Materials for Carbon Capture and Soil Improvement

Soil acidification is increasingly becoming a global problem. Acidity reduces the availability of plant nutrients, increases the impact of toxic elements, and damages soil biological environment. In addition, due to global climate change concerns, reducing CO2 emissions from large industrial fuel combustion sources such as power plants and factories, is becoming increasingly important. Carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration, a process that captures CO2 followed by recycling it for utilization or sequestrating it underground, is wildly regarded as a viable option. When products produced from carbon capture are utilized for agricultural applications, it offers an economic way to solve the conflict between the increasing energy demand and CO2 emissions reduction need. The proposed project will develop a novel biochar composite material based on biomass and industrial waste materials using an innovative process. The proposed research will study the effects of material composition, fabrication process, and activation conditions on the microstructure and properties of the composite materials. The composite materials will be used as adsorbents to capture CO2 from flue gas and then used as a soil amendment to improve acidic soils. The proposed biochar composite materials will utilize waste materials to produce high performance adsorbents for CO2 capture from flue gas, increasing recycling and reducing CO2 emissions. They can also be used as a soil amendment to treat acidic soils and increase agricultural sustainability.