Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
DOI
10.3390/bioengineering12111137
Publication Title
Bioengineering
Volume
12
Issue
11
Pages
1137
Abstract
The excessive use of chemical fertilizers results in environmental issues, including loss of soil fertility, eutrophication, increased soil acidity, alterations in soil characteristics, and disrupted plant–microbe symbiosis. Here, we synthesize recent studies available from up to 2025, focusing on engineered biochar and its application in addressing issues of soil nutrient imbalance, soil pollution from inorganic and organic pollutants, soil acidification, salinity, and greenhouse gas emissions from fields. Application of engineered biochar enhanced the removal of Cr (VI), Cd²+, Ni²+, Zn²+, Hg²+, and Eu³+ by 85%, 73%, 57.2%, 12.7%, 99.3%, and 99.2%, respectively, while Cu²+ and V⁵+ removal increased by 4 and 39.9 times. Adsorption capacities for Sb⁵+, Tl+, and F− were 237.53, 1123, and 83.05 mg g−¹, respectively, and the optimal proportion of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) removal was 57%. Herbicides such as imazapyr were reduced by 23% and 78%. Low-temperature pyrolyzed biochar showed high cation exchange capacity (CEC) resulting from improved surface functional groups. Although biochar application led to a yield increase of 43.3%, the biochar–compost mix enhanced it by 155%. The analysis demonstrates the need for future studies on the cost-effectiveness of biochar post-processing, large-scale biochar aging studies, re-application impact, and studies on biochar–compost or biochar–fertilizer mix productivity.
Rights
© 2025 by the authors.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.
Data Availability
Article states: "No new data were created or analyzed in this study. Data sharing is not applicable to this article."
ORCID
0000-0002-3655-3454 (Pokharel), 0000-0003-3173-6101 (Kumar)
Original Publication Citation
Pokharel, U., Neelgund, G., Ray, R. L., Balan, V., & Kumar, S. (2025). Biochar for soil amendment: Applications, benefits, and environmental impacts. Bioengineering, 12(11), Article 1137. https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering12111137
Repository Citation
Pokharel, Ujjwal; Neelgund, Gururaj; Ray, Ram L.; Balan, Venkatesh; and Kumar, Sandeep, "Biochar for Soil Amendment: Applications, Benefits, and Environmental Impacts" (2025). Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications. 151.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cee_fac_pubs/151