Greenhouse gas lifecycle assessment of biochar and biocoal applications in British Columbia

Biochar, a form of black carbon produced from pyrolyzed biomass, has been touted as a product that may suppress agricultural soil emissions while also sequestering carbon. BC Biocarbon LTD, a recently established company in McBride, BC, has developed a method of producing a new product called biocoal. This biocoal is produced from a combination of crushed biochar and an organic-based binder also made from the original biomass feedstock. As their biocoal contains similar properties to fossil coal or petroleum coke, its use to reduce emissions as an energy fuel or sequestration method may be favourable to biochar’s use as a soil additive. Additionally, this biocoal may present a method of long-term carbon sequestration if buried. This dissertation assessed the greenhouse gas emissions from the production of biocoal from BC Biocarbon’s system and compared the results to wood pellet production and delivery (Project 1), coal and petroleum coke displacement (Project 2), landfilling for carbon sequestration, while also assessing biochar’s potential soil greenhouse gas reductions with added carbon sequestration (Project 3), and a regional and province-wide assessment for reducing emissions in BC using available sawmill and roadside slash residues (Project 4). Project 1 showed that when comparing biocoal made from sawmill residues to locally produced wood pellets, transportation emissions may be decreased 64% due to biocoal’s higher heating value. When comparing emissions produced for biocoal or wood pellets at gate, biocoal may show a 42% reduction in emissions or up to a 51% increase in emissions, however this is largely dependent on the data-sourced scenarios and their underlying assumptions of emissions allocation. Project 2 showed that displacing petroleum coke in cement kilns offered the largest reduction potential compared to coal applications such as electricity generation, or lead smelting. Project 3 showed that under 3 average conditions, sequestering biocoal offered greater emission reduction potential than soil applied biochar. Finally, Project 4 showed that an estimated GHG emission reduction or carbon sequestration of 28,000,00 Mg CO2e/year from current available residues, and 20,006,000 Mg CO2e/year in 10 years’ time, BC has the potential to reduce its current emissions by around 46%, and 33% in 10 years.