Production and use of biochar for soil enrichment in the south of the Ecuadorian Andes

Biochar is a carbon rich solid material that is obtained by pyrolysis of lignocellulosic materials. The most prominent uses of the biochar that are currently explored worldwide are for the amendment of agricultural soils and as a means to kidnap carbon. However, these uses still require studies to understand the potential and possible limitations of the use of biochar in soils under specific geographical conditions. The objective of this project is to study the technological conditions that allow Biochar to produce with adequate properties for use as amendment of typical agricultural soils of the southern Ecuadorian Andes and evaluate the impact of the addition of Biochar on these soils. The raw material for biochar production will be residues of the timber industry Cuenca and residual biomass of rapid growth in the area. The pyrolysis will be carried out under different temperatures and residence times conditions in a reactor built for this purpose. The biochar will be evaluated to determine specific properties (functional groups, surface area, porosity, micro and manometric scale structure, pH, water retention capacity) of interest to enrich agricultural soils of the Ecuadorian south. Then rapid growth plants will be sown in soils with biochar amendments with or without the addition of fertilizers. The results will identify and suggest the best combinations of biomass type, pyrolysis conditions, soil type and biochar dosage (with or without fertilizers) to obtain adequate yields in plants' production.

15th UNIVERSITY RESEARCH COMPETITION