A scientific article featuring BIO4A project activities prepared by RE-CORD team (David Casini, Tommaso Barsali, Andrea Maria Rizzo and David Chiaramonti) was published by Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery Publication in July 2019.
The research is about biochar and the increasing interest in the agriculture sector for its use as soil amendment as well as for its ability to sequester carbon into the soil. Promising results can be obtained from the co-composting of biochar with the solid fraction of Nitrogen-rich digestate derived from the anaerobic digestion of biomass.
The article describes the experimental tests carried out by the RE-CORD team for the production of biochar and the co-composting of biochar in different amounts with digestate from biomass anaerobic digestion (a product here named as COMBI). The quality of the products obtained by composting and co-composting was investigated against several criteria and indexes, including the compliance with the European Compost Network Quality Assurance Scheme (ECN-QAS) on inorganic pollutants. The 11.2% w/w d.b. biochar rate in the initial blend (19.8% w/w d.b final concentration in the co-composted products) offered the best performances and is recommended for further investigation. Additional benefits from co-composting were also assessed, as the reduced dust load that favours safety and health during logistics and use.
Farm-scale co-composting site—windrows and piles. Source: springer.com
Access to the full article here.