Biochar production from the pyrolysis of tomato processing residues

Abstract

The global modern challenges of climate change, natural resources scarcity, waste overproduction, management and processing, etc., need to be examined under the circular economy principles. As such, biochar is considered as an abundant, cost effective, and universal organic amendment widely advantaged by the agriculture sector. Biomass waste constitutes the main feedstock for the production of biochar through thermochemical conversion. Toward this, tomato, a popular food commodity, is widely cultivated and consumed around the world and is examined as a case study for biochar production. The production and reuse of tomato waste biochar is therefore discussed, taking into account its chemical composition (e.g., cellulose and hemicellulose content). The main conditions of biochar production such as the final temperature, residence time, heating rate, flow, etc., are depicted next to the potential activation for improving its physiochemical properties. Toward this effort, the employment of various analytical techniques is necessary (e.g., SEM, EDX, FT-IR, TG, etc.) for biochar quality monitoring. Furthermore, examples of tomato-derived biochar valorization as an organic amendment in agriculture are reviewed. Finally, the chapter is concluded by a life cycle analysis, highlighting the benefits of biochar production from food processing residues.