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Robert Thomas Bachmann

Bio: Robert Thomas Bachmann is an academic researcher from University of Kuala Lumpur. The author has contributed to research in topics: Biochar & Pyrolysis. The author has an hindex of 19, co-authored 48 publications receiving 1809 citations. Previous affiliations of Robert Thomas Bachmann include Norwegian Geotechnical Institute & University of Sheffield.

Papers
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TL;DR: No clear pattern of how strongly PAHs were bound to differentBiochars was found based on the biochars' physicochemical properties, and total concentrations were below existing environmental quality standards for concentrations of PAhs in soils.
Abstract: Biochar soil amendment is advocated to mitigate climate change and improve soil fertility. A concern though, is that during biochar preparation PAHs and dioxins are likely formed. These contaminants can possibly be present in the biochar matrix and even bioavailable to exposed organisms. Here we quantify total and bioavailable PAHs and dioxins in a suite of over 50 biochars produced via slow pyrolysis between 250 and 900 °C, using various methods and biomass from tropical, boreal, and temperate areas. These slow pyrolysis biochars, which can be produced locally on farms with minimum resources, are also compared to biochar produced using the industrial methods of fast pyrolysis and gasification. Total concentrations were measured with a Soxhlet extraction and bioavailable concentrations were measured with polyoxymethylene passive samplers. Total PAH concentrations ranged from 0.07 μg g–1 to 3.27 μg g–1 for the slow pyrolysis biochars and were dependent on biomass source, pyrolysis temperature, and time. Wi...

500 citations

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TL;DR: In this article, a biochar was produced from waste rubber-wood-sawdust and the produced biochars were characterized by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) gas porosimetry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).

257 citations

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TL;DR: In this paper, a review about production and application potential of biochar from oil palm biomass in Malaysia is given, and some of the challenges in promoting biochar production and applying, such as nature of the feedstocks, economic and logistical factors and market acceptance are highlighted as well.
Abstract: 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.

217 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
21 Jun 2016-PLOS ONE
TL;DR: Pyrolysis is therefore a potential technology with its carbon-negative, energy positive and soil amendment benefits thus creating win- win scenario.
Abstract: This study examined the influence of pyrolysis temperature on biochar characteristics and evaluated its suitability for carbon capture and energy production. Biochar was produced from corn stover using slow pyrolysis at 300, 400 and 500°C and 2 hrs holding time. The experimental biochars were characterized by elemental analysis, BET, FTIR, TGA/DTA, NMR (C-13). Higher heating value (HHV) of feedstock and biochars was measured using bomb calorimeter. Results show that carbon content of corn stover biochar increased from 45.5% to 64.5%, with increasing pyrolysis temperatures. A decrease in H:C and O:C ratios as well as volatile matter, coupled with increase in the concentration of aromatic carbon in the biochar as determined by FTIR and NMR (C-13) demonstrates a higher biochar carbon stability at 500°C. It was estimated that corn stover pyrolysed at 500°C could provide of 10.12 MJ/kg thermal energy. Pyrolysis is therefore a potential technology with its carbon-negative, energy positive and soil amendment benefits thus creating win- win scenario.

192 citations

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TL;DR: An overview on MEOR and biorefining relevant to the petroleum industry and highlights challenges that need to be overcome to become commercially successful is provided in this paper, where the emerging field of crude oil refining and associated industrial processes such as biodesulfurization, biodemetallation, biodenitrogenation and biotransformation are also covered.

183 citations


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TL;DR: A review of recent applications of biochars, produced from biomass pyrolysis (slow and fast), in water and wastewater treatment, and a few recommendations for further research have been made in the area of biochar development for application to water filtration.

1,738 citations

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TL;DR: An overview of biochar production technologies, biochar properties, and recent advances in the removal of heavy metals, organic pollutants and other inorganic pollutants using biochar is provided.

1,301 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The first quantitative review of the effects of biochar on multiple ecosystem functions and the central tendencies suggest that biochar holds promise in being a win-win-win solution to energy, carbon storage, and ecosystem function as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Biochar is a carbon-rich coproduct resulting from pyrolyzing biomass. When applied to the soil it resists decomposition, effectively sequestering the applied carbon and mitigating anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Other promoted benefits of biochar application to soil include increased plant productivity and reduced nutrient leaching. However, the effects of biochar are variable and it remains unclear if recent enthusiasm can be justified. We evaluate ecosystem responses to biochar application with a meta-analysis of 371 independent studies culled from 114 published manuscripts. We find that despite variability introduced by soil and climate, the addition of biochar to soils resulted, on average, in increased aboveground productivity, crop yield, soil microbial biomass, rhizobia nodulation, plant K tissue concentration, soil phosphorus (P), soil potassium (K), total soil nitrogen (N), and total soil carbon (C) compared with control conditions. Soil pH also tended to increase, becoming less acidic, following the addition of biochar. Variables that showed no significant mean response to biochar included belowground productivity, the ratio of aboveground : belowground biomass, mycorrhizal colonization of roots, plant tissue N, and soil P concentration, and soil inorganic N. Additional analyses found no detectable relationship between the amount of biochar added and aboveground productivity. Our results provide the first quantitative review of the effects of biochar on multiple ecosystem functions and the central tendencies suggest that biochar holds promise in being a win-win-win solution to energy, carbon storage, and ecosystem function. However, biochar's impacts on a fourth component, the downstream nontarget environments, remain unknown and present a critical research gap.

1,245 citations

01 Jan 1987
TL;DR: Eisma et al. as mentioned in this paper showed that the CEC can vary over 2 orders of magnitude for various types of, minerals and can vary one order of magnitude within one soil type.
Abstract: Positive ions that are available in soils absorb on grain surfaces. The total sum of cations that can be absorbed bij a soil/sediment at a certain PH is defined by the cation-exchange capacity (CEC, in meq g-1: mol equivalents per gram). The uptake of cations is an important parameter in agriculture and the larger the CEC, the more cations can be absorbed to the soil. The CEC depends highly on the pH of soil and sediments, where the CEC decreases with decreasing PH (increasing acidity). The exchange of ions on sediments occurs commonly fast on geological time scales, but the kinetics of adsorption in natural environments is still poorly understood. The strength of the bonding between the cations and the sediments varies from weak Van der Waals bondings (physical adsorption) to strong chemical bonds. The CEC is widely used for agricultural assessment because it is a measure of general soil fertility as well as an indicator of structural stability because CED is capabel of enhancing development of shrinkage cracks. The list below shows the CEC for different types of minerals. The data indicate that the CEC can vary over 2 orders of magnitude for various types of , minerals and can vary one order of magnitude within one soil type. Cation exchange capacity for different types of sediment (Eisma, 1992; Locher and de Bakker, 1990):

1,169 citations