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Updated: Sep 11, 2025

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Biochar in the circular bionutrient economy.

Johannes Lehmann1,2,3, Edmundo Barrios4, Mariana Devault5

  • 1Soil and Crop Sciences, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|August 11, 2025
PubMed
Summary

Biochar technology can advance the circular bionutrient economy by enabling dry nutrient capture, separate nutrient recovery, and pathogen removal. This process reduces waste, lowers transport costs, and enhances nutrient availability for plants.

Keywords:
fertilizermanuresanitation

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Area of Science:

  • * Agricultural Science
  • * Environmental Science
  • * Material Science

Background:

  • * The circular bionutrient economy focuses on nutrient cycling within managed organic residues.
  • * Current nutrient management practices face challenges with nutrient loss and transportation costs.
  • * Organic residues, including human excreta, contain valuable nutrients but require efficient recovery methods.

Purpose of the Study:

  • * To explore biochar technology's potential to stimulate the circular bionutrient economy.
  • * To identify key requirements for successful nutrient circularity using biochar.
  • * To assess the economic and environmental implications of biochar-based nutrient recovery.

Main Methods:

  • * Analysis of biochar's properties in capturing and processing nutrients from organic residues.
  • * Evaluation of pyrolysis process impacts on waste reduction (weight and volume).
  • * Calculation of potential nutrient contributions (e.g., nitrogen) from human excreta with and without urine incorporation.

Main Results:

  • * Biochar facilitates dry nutrient capture, increasing market value and reducing transport costs.
  • * Pyrolysis significantly reduces the weight (85-90%) and volume (74-90%) of excreta.
  • * Including urine in nutrient recovery from human feces could increase nitrogen fertilizer contribution from 2% to 16-17% of global application.
  • * Biochar enhances plant nutrient uptake through soil retention and pH buffering.

Conclusions:

  • * Biochar technology offers a viable pathway to establish a circular bionutrient economy.
  • * Public-private partnerships and marketable products are essential for incentivizing investment.
  • * Internalizing environmental costs, potentially through carbon credits, may be necessary for cost-competitiveness with conventional fertilizers.