**9. Discussion**

*Applications of Biochar for Environmental Safety*

**8. The implications of amending soils with biochar**

*amended treatment; T2 = 4500 kg/ha biochar-amended treatment.*

of the effective use of biochar [38, 39].

Biochar is a natural soil booster and has recorded high success rates over the years in some parts of the world. In some regions including Africa, biochar has been found to yield positive results although some negative results were reported, for example due to improper incorporation of biochar into soil blends which fosters soil erosion [39]. Biochar has been found to balance soil pH, absorb pollutants, improve soil moisture and increases soil aeration. However, there are other economic importance attached with the use of biochar, these include the geographical distribution

*Proportions of soil fungi after biochar treatment [36]. CK = un-amended treatment; T1 = 2250 kg/ha biochar-*

*Proportions of soil bacteria after biochar treatment [36]. CK = un-amended treatment; T1 = 2250 kg/ha* 

*biochar-amended treatment; T2 = 4500 kg/ha biochar-amended treatment.*

Biochar has not been known in some parts of the world due to lack of research, negligence and cultural practices. Another major implication of biochar application is contamination which is of high economic importance. The kinds of cattle manure used in biochar production could be contaminated with non-soil infectious microorganisms, heavy metals or may be denatured due to the high temperature of

Excessive removal of feedstock from biochar raw material and production processes could lead to usage of biochar devoid of adequate organic nutrient

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pyrolysis [40].

**Figure 5.**

**Figure 6.**

Soil has been one major source of habitat for plants and animals. However, the anthropogenic activities of humans have contributed to the depletion of natural resources and nutrients from the soil. In a rescue mission to curtail the devastation of land and soil, biochar have been introduced for both agricultural and commercial purposes. Digestion of wastes in less amounts of oxygen at high temperature produces high quality biochar. The high temperature explains the pyrolysis process which is usually more than 200°C anaerobically [4, 41–43]. Biofertilizers and organic fertilizers have served as appetizers to the soil over the years. Recently, other forms of soil amendments have been procured for soil improvement. The soil amendments generally have a low cost and easy accessibility. An example of these soil amendments includes biochar.

Biochar is environmentally friendly and has a high binding capacity that allows the soil to adhere to biomolecules and absorb nutrients. Biochar is globally known to becoming a means of sustainable amendment of soil and means excavating heavy metals from the soil [44]. Although, biochar is produced from different biomass sources, but biochar produced from carbonization of organic wastes produces amended soil types with high carbon sequestration [45]. The quality of biochar depends on the pyrolysis conditions and raw materials, while the efficiency of biochar not only depends on the pre-production parameters but also the post-production and application procedure of the biochar; which include the type of soil under amendment and the amount of biochar applied [46]. In the process of pyrolysis of biomass, biochar is produced. There are new innovations that need to be applied when producing biochar. For example nanotechnologies and large scale model production are among the recent methods that need to be explored for adequate and mass production of biochar [15, 44, 47]. The temperature of pyrolysis, the particle size and residence time are factors that determine the end product of biomass conversion into biochar. These factors determine the state and half-life of the biochar product [48]. Biochar is a good soil and plant health promoter because it helps to retain the nutrients in the soil through its absorbent power thereby enhancing overall plant growth [49].
