What is biochar?
A carbon-rich material produced by thermally treating organic matter with limited air. Its properties vary with feedstock and processing conditions, so no single description fits all biochar.
Material and processing
Pyrolysis with limited oxygen
Processing heats organic material under limited-oxygen conditions; its composition changes and a carbon-rich solid fraction remains. This describes conditions and product, and does not mean the output is pure or oxygen-free carbon.
This explanation is limited to describing the material and processing in general. This project's results are read on the experiment and results pages and are not mixed with general scientific background.
A key distinction
Three layers that must not be merged
- 1
An element present in a sample
Means the analysis detected the element at the measured point, with a specific unit and method.
- 2
Availability to the plant
A different matter that depends on the element's form and on soil conditions, moisture and pH; it cannot be inferred from an analysis value alone.
- 3
A growth test result
An actual measurement of plant response under defined experimental conditions, read alongside the analyses rather than instead of them.
Terms
Cards linked to the glossary
- Biochar Biochar
- A carbon-rich material produced by thermally treating organic matter with limited air; its properties vary with feedstock and processing conditions.
- Pyrolysis Pyrolysis
- Thermal treatment of organic material with limited oxygen, changing its composition and forming a carbon-rich solid.
- SPAD SPAD
- An instrument reading used as a relative indicator of leaf chlorophyll status. It is not a chlorophyll percentage.
- ND ND
- Not detected: no value was observed above the detection limit. ND does not mean zero.
Reported in the project research report; not the result of new independent verification.