Biochar from oil palm biomass: A review of its potential and challenges

Climate change, food crisis, energy generation and environmental pollution are among the greatest threats and challenges faced by mankind today. Biochar production from various biomass sources has gained a lot of interests since its addition to degraded agricultural soils not only improve soil fertility and biomass yield, but also mitigate climate change through soil carbon sequestration and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. There are enormous amounts of oil palm biomass generated along with the main palm oil production streams. A lot of research has been carried out to convert oil palm biomass into value-added products, but none except biochar has come close to be labeled as carbon negative products. In this paper, a review about production and application potential of biochar from oil palm biomass in Malaysia is given. Besides, some of the challenges in promoting biochar production and application, such as nature of the feedstocks, economic and logistical factors and market acceptance are highlighted as well. Producing biochar from oil palm biomass can potentially lead to a healthier environmental, societal and economic growth for the oil palm industry specifically, and enhances sustainability in worldwide context. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.