About this Research Topic

Background

Rapidly increasing population, urbanization, and fossil-based industrial development and the resultant adverse climate change impacts have renewed the focus on bioenergy technologies and systems. Bioenergy can cater to a whole spectrum of energy demand, including power generation, heating and cooking applications, and transportation. Simultaneously, biomass-based systems and products can also help strengthen the organic and natural agricultural practices which are an urgent need of the hour considering the severely depleting soil health and high GHG emissions due to the production and extensive usage of chemical-based fertilizers.

The biogas sector has been in the limelight for supporting energy production, waste minimization and biofertilizers production along with its eco-friendly and carbon capturing characteristics. Biochar is emerging as an attractive biomaterial having diverse applications, including carbon sequestration, soil conditioning, energy generation etc. In the last couple of years, there has been a developing research interest in the applications of biochar in the biogas sector to tackle the challenges around biogas production, biomethane enrichment, and bio-fertilizer quality enhancement.

This Research Topic aims to attract research articles on the biogas and biochar sector individually as well as their trade-offs to develop integrated biochar-biogas-based closed-loop systems. The scope of this research topic explores use of biochar in biogas production with individual feedstocks or in co-digestion, understanding how different biochar properties alleviate challenges in biogas production, engineering biochar to meet specific goals in the biogas sector, the role of biomass feedstocks, biochar production parameters and biochar properties in enhanced biogas production and enrichment.

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Innovative strategies for low-cost biogas and biochar production
• Novel approaches to integrate biogas with biochar
• Biochar production considering its utilization in biogas sector
• Effects of physical/chemical/biological properties of biochar on biogas production
• Biochar for soil amendment as a supplement to fertilizers
• The role of biochar in enhancing the quality of bio-fertilizer from biogas digester and soil amendment
• Biochar and biogas in rural energy systems and agricultural applications

Keywords: Biogas, Biochar, Soil amendment, Biofertilizers, Biomethane, Biogas Storage, Biogas upgradation, Enrichment, Carbon Sequestration

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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