Biochar production and applications in sub-Saharan Africa: opportunities, constraints, risks and uncertainties
Abstract
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experiences soil degradation, food and livelihood insecurity, environmental pollution and lack of access to energy. Biochar has gained international research attention, but few studies have investigated the potential of biochar to address the challenges in SSA. This paper seeks to identify and evaluate generic potential opportunities and constraints associated with biochar application in sub-Saharan Africa using Zimbabwe as case study. Specific objectives were to; (1) identify and quantify feedstocks for biochar production; (2) review literature on the biochar properties, and evaluate its potential applications in agriculture, environmental remediation and energy provision, and (3) identify research gaps, risks and constraints associated with biochar technology. Biochar feedstocks in Zimbabwe were estimated to be 9.9 Mton yr(-1), predominantly derived from manure (88%) and firewood (10%). This will yield 3.5, 1.7 and 3.1 Mton yr(-1) of biochar, bio-oil and synthetic gas, respectively. Land application of the 3.5 Mton yr(-1) of biochar (≈63% C) would sequester approximately 2.2 Mton yr(-1) of soil carbon in Zimbabwe alone, while simultaneously minimizing the environmental and public health risks, and greenhouse gas emissions associated with solid organic wastes. Biochar potentially enhances soil and crop productivity through enhanced nutrient and soil moisture availability, amelioration of acidic soils and stimulation of microbial diversity and activity. Due to its excellent adsorption properties, biochar has potential applications in industrial and environmental applications including water and wastewater treatment, remediation and revegetation of contaminated soils and water. Biochar products have energy values comparable or higher than those of traditional biomass fuels; thereby making them ideal alternative sources of energy especially for poor households without access to electricity. Before the benefits of biochar can be realized in SSA, there is need to overcome multiple risks and constraints such as lack of finance, socio-economic constraints including negative perceptions and attitudes among both researchers and consumers, and environmental and public health risks. Therefore, there is need to conduct fundamental research to demonstrate the benefits of biochar applications, and develop policy framework and criteria for its production and subsequent adoption.
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Using agricultural solid waste for biosorbents preparation can effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the air and achieve carbon capture and sequestration.
“Using agricultural solid waste for biosorbents preparation can effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the air (Saad et al. 2010;Gwenzi et al. 2015) and achieve carbon capture and sequestration (Gwenzi et al. 2015).”
From Recycling municipal, agricultural and industrial waste into energy, fertilizers, food and construction materials, and economic feasibility: a review (2023) · cites this paper as Gwenzi et al. 2015
Biochar properties vary greatly depending on feedstock, pyrolysis conditions, enrichment, and grinding.
“Of concern is the great variability in biochars; not only in their nutrient availability and pH, but also in their chemical (Gwenzi et al., 2014;Nguyen et al., 2010), and physical characteristics (Downie et al., 2009), depending on the nature of the feedstock, pyrolysis conditions, whether it is enriched with other compounds, and/or how finely it is ground (Beesley et al., 2011;Uchimiya et al., 2”
From Biochar implications for sustainable agriculture and environment: A review (2019) · cites this paper as Gwenzi et al., 2014
The low bulk density of biochar (~300 kg m−3) and its highly stable organic carbon to soils has the potential to reduce soil bulk density and penetration resistance, and accordingly increase total soil porosity.
“It has been suggested that the low bulk density of biochar (~300 kg m À3 ) and its highly stable organic carbon to soils has the potential to reduce soil bulk density and penetration resistance, and accordingly increase total soil porosity (Gwenzi et al., 2014).”
From Biochar implications for sustainable agriculture and environment: A review (2019) · cites this paper as Gwenzi et al., 2014
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- Authors
- Gwenzi, W., Chaukura, N., Mukome, F. N. D., Machado, S., & Nyamasoka, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Zimbabwe (ZW)
- Harare Institute of Technology (ZW)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Oregon State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gwenzi, Willis
- Venue
- Journal of Environmental Management
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-03
- Volume
- 150
- Pages
- 250-261
- ISSN
- 0301-4797 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1970076390
- Cited by
- 277
- References
- 84
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 4
- FWCI
- 5.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Environmental Management (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Swedish International Foundation for Science (IFS) (C/5266-1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Thermochemical Biomass Conversion Processes
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Energy and Environment Impacts
- Keywords
- biochar, biochar feedstock, manure, firewood, soil carbon sequestration, soil amendment, agricultural productivity, environmental remediation, bioenergy, biomass gasification, bio-oil, public health risk, technology adoption, Zimbabwe, sub-Saharan Africa, soil degradation
- MeSH terms
- Charcoal, Conservation of Natural Resources, Humans, Industry, Risk, Soil, Zimbabwe, Africa South of the Sahara, Carbon Sequestration
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
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