2020, Kreidenweis, Ulrich, Breier, Jannes, Herrmann, Christiane, Libra, Judy, Prochnow, Annette

The production of broiler meat has increased significantly in the last decades in Germany and worldwide, and is projected to increase further in the future. As the number of animals raised increases, so too does the amount of manure produced. The identification of manure treatment options that cause low greenhouse gas emissions becomes ever more important. This study compares four treatment options for broiler manure followed by field spreading: storage before distribution, composting, anaerobic digestion in a biogas plant and production of biochar. For these options potential direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions were assessed for the situation in Germany. Previous analyses have shown that greenhouse gas balances of manure management are often strongly influenced by a small number of processes. Therefore, in this study major processes were represented with several variants and the sensitivity of model results to different management decisions and uncertain parameters was assessed. In doing so, correlations between processes were considered, in which higher emissions earlier on in the process chain reduce emissions later. The results show that biogas production from broiler manure leads to the lowest greenhouse gas emissions in most of the analysed cases, mainly due to the emission savings related to the substitution of mineral fertilizers and the production of electricity. Pyrolysis of the manure and subsequent field spreading as a soil amendment can lead to similarly low emissions due to the long residence time of the biochar, and may even be the better option than poorly managed biogas production. Composting is the treatment option resulting in highest emissions of greenhouse gases, due to high ammonia volatilization, and is likely worse than untreated storage in this respect. These results are relatively insensitive to the length of transport required for field spreading, but high uncertainties are associated with the use of emission factors.

2016, Tammeorg, Priit, Bastos, Ana Catarina, Jeffery, Simon, Rees, Frédéric, Kern, Jürgen, Graber, Ellen R., Ventura, Maurizio, Kibblewhite, Mark, Amaro, António, Budai, Alice, Cordovil, Cláudia M.d.S., Domene, Xavier, Gardi, Ciro, Gascó, Gabriel, Horák, Ján, Kammann, Claudia, Kondrlova, Elena, Laird, David, Loureiro, Susana, Martins, Martinho A.S., Panzacchi, Pietro, Prasad, Munoo, Prodana, Marija, Puga, Aline Peregrina, Ruysschaert, Greet, Sas-Paszt, Lidia, Silva, Flávio C., Teixeira, Wenceslau Geraldes, Tonon, Giustino, Delle Vedove, Gemini, Zavalloni, Costanza, Glaser, Bruno, Verheijen, Frank G.A.

Key priorities in biochar research for future guidance of sustainable policy development have been identified by expert assessment within the COST Action TD1107. The current level of scientific understanding (LOSU) regarding the consequences of biochar application to soil were explored. Five broad thematic areas of biochar research were addressed: soil biodiversity and ecotoxicology, soil organic matter and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil physical properties, nutrient cycles and crop production, and soil remediation. The highest future research priorities regarding biochar’s effects in soils were: functional redundancy within soil microbial communities, bioavailability of biochar’s contaminants to soil biota, soil organic matter stability, GHG emissions, soil formation, soil hydrology, nutrient cycling due to microbial priming as well as altered rhizosphere ecology, and soil pH buffering capacity. Methodological and other constraints to achieve the required LOSU are discussed and options for efficient progress of biochar research and sustainable application to soil are presented.

2015, Harsono, Soni Sisbudi, Grundmann, Philipp, Siahaanc, Donald

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which related to palm oil production are tend to increase due to the increasing of palm oil demand and the expansion process of oil palm production worldwide. The specific objective of the study was to assess the contribution of innovative biomass processes as effort to improve the energy balance and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) associated with biodiesel made from palm oil. The GHG was calculated that GHG emission savings up to 63.14% in total. GHG emissions from biochar using empty fruit bunches (EFB) resulted to 2.95% from total GHG emissions, and biogas from palm oil mill effluent (POME) produced 74.22% of the total GHG emissions from palm oil based biodiesel production. Innovative technologies and processes for the treatment of by-products can contribute significantly for meeting the emission targets. Build upon the research, resulted to the recommendation to use biochar and capturing methane from POME. The research result was also concerned that emission savings are annulled in the case of land use change (LUC) and oil palm production on peatland. Based on this research resulted to recommended that the utilization of waste from oil palm cultivation on peatland which was disuse and the capturing of methane from POME