ILLINOIS BIOCHAR GROUP

Another potential environmental benefit associated with biochar applied to soil is that it can sequester atmospheric carbon. In the natural carbon cycle, plants take up carbon dioxide as they grow. Carbon dioxide is emitted rapidly when the plants die and decompose - a carbon-neutral cycle. In contrast, pyrolysis can potentially lock up this atmospheric carbon as biochar for hundreds of years. Therefore, biochar is an attractive solution to increased carbon in the atmosphere. Research is ongoing in this area of carbon sequestration.