U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

i

An Emerging Environmental Concern: Biochar-Induced Dust Emissions and Their Potentially Toxic Properties



Details

  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    Amending soils with biochar is increasingly proposed as a solution to many pressing agricultural and environmental challenges. Biochar, created by thermochemical conversion of biomass in an oxygen-limited environment, has several purported benefits, including remediation of contaminated soils, increased crop yields, reduced fertilizer demands, increased plant available water, and mitigation of climate change. Due to these potential benefits, biochar-related research has flourished in the past decade, though there remains a critically understudied area of research regarding biochar's potential impact on human health. Because biochar characteristically has low bulk density and high porosity, the material is susceptible to atmospheric release via natural or mechanical soil disturbance. The specific risks of biochar inhalation have not been elucidated; however, recent publications have demonstrated that biochar can increase soil dust emissions of particles <10 µm (PM10) or possess elevated levels of toxic chemicals. These data should not be interpreted to suggest that all biochars are problematic, but rather to highlight an important and overlooked field of study, and to stress the need to critically assess parameters for biochar production and management strategies that safeguard human health. Here the literature on biochar-related dust emissions and potentially toxic properties (PTPs) is reviewed in order to summarize what is known, highlight areas for future study, and aggregate solutions to minimize potential harm. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • ISSN:
    0048-9697
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Cooperative Agreement
  • Genre:
    Journal Article
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • Volume:
    678
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20068579
  • Citation:
    Sci Total Environ 2019 Aug; 678:813-820
  • Contact Point Address:
    Sanjai J. Parikh, University of California Davis, Land, Air and Water Resources, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, United States of America
  • Email:
    sjparikh@ucdavis.edu
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2019
  • NORA Priority Area:
    Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
  • Performing Organization:
    University of California - Davis
  • Peer Reviewed:
    True
  • Start Date:
    20010930
  • Source Full Name:
    Science of the Total Environment
  • End Date:
    20270929
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:9c4b847866970db4263baea9ff53585dc3fea5192f61e400ee67a85688069e21d85e352b673720bd89b4e159d4447bd26ba42e4da2629ff008b4ad4b9bcd3dbe
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 1.37 MB ]
PREVIOUS
ON THIS PAGE
Details
CDC STACKS serves as an archival repository of CDC-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other public health information authored or co-authored by CDC or funded partners.

As a repository, CDC STACKS retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
BACK TO TOP