Biochar for soil remediation and land reclamation

Land reclamation generally relates to the improvement of soils degraded by human activities, for example construction and certain forms of agriculture. Soil remediation refers to the process of removing, neutralizing or reducing the toxicity of certain compounds, often left by human activities such as mining and industry. Each degraded and/or contaminated site is potentially unique in its characteristics such as the presence of any specific contaminants, land form topography, climate, watershed dynamics, proximity to vulnerable populations etc. For this reason, whether biochar can be a tool to help with reclamation and remediation will be situation-specific. Biochar can potentially facilitate the revegetation of degraded soils through several mechanisms, and sorb a variety of compounds in soil. These multiple potential benefits, combined with the fact that biochar can potentially be a relatively low-cost and environmentally friendly tool for soil reclamation, provides incentive for more research. Data presented here does not include the effects of activated carbon (AC) on soil properties, although this has been widely studied. Biochar is the precursor to making activated carbon, which typically requires an additional step for activation, for example exposure to a chemical solution or gases. Depending on how they are made, some biochars may approach the sorption properties of AC.