Biochar, Soil Health, and the Sustainability of Palm Oil Productivity

Healthy soil is invariably fertile, but fertile soil is not necessarily healthy. Healthy soil teems with life—such as earthworms and other organisms—that naturally provides nutrients. Continuous use of chemical fertilizers without a corresponding addition of organic matter depletes soil microorganism populations. Over the long term, this causes the soil to harden, reduces its nutrient-supplying capacity, and increases crop dependence on chemical fertilizers. Consequently, production costs rise while land quality steadily declines.

The future of the palm oil industry is no longer solely about increasing production; it is also required to demonstrate that productivity can go hand-in-hand with environmental protection and social acceptance. Palm oil plantations must be grounded in the three pillars of sustainability: generating economic profit, gaining social acceptance, and preserving the environment. These principles also guide the implementation of the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) standard. Balanced fertilization—combining chemical (inorganic) and organic fertilizers—serves as one such solution.

These two types of fertilizers serve complementary functions. Chemical or inorganic fertilizers provide nutrients rapidly, whereas organic fertilizers improve soil structure and health, thereby sustaining productivity over the long term. A well-balanced combination of the two can maintain high productivity while ensuring land sustainability. Another equally important factor is the use of superior-quality seedlings that are certified or come from reliable sources with proven quality; if the seedlings are unsuitable, the results will not be optimal, regardless of how well they are fertilized.

Biochar is not a fertilizer, so its nutrient content is very low. While some types of biochar do possess relatively high nutrient levels, these are exceptions or added bonuses. As an organic material, biochar is environmentally friendly and derived from renewable sources. Its use also enhances fertilization efficiency—specifically Nutrient Use Efficiency (NUE)—for both chemical (inorganic) and organic fertilizers. This is because biochar transforms fertilizers into slow-release products, allowing nutrient availability to better align with plant needs; read more details here.

Biochar significantly supports soil health due to its favorable physical, chemical, and biological properties. Physically, it features high porosity and low bulk density; chemically, it offers high cation exchange capacity (CEC), alkalinity (high pH), and high carbon stability; and biologically, it serves as a habitat for microorganisms and stimulates soil enzyme activity. Furthermore, biochar is capable of binding toxic substances. This is due to its strong adsorption capacity, which allows it to capture heavy metals (such as lead or cadmium) and chemical pesticide residues present in the soil. These harmful substances are trapped within the biochar's pores, preventing their uptake by plant roots. For more details on biochar quality parameters, read here.

Biochar application is also a climate solution. Biochar can store carbon for hundreds of years in the soil. Each ton of biochar can store up to 3 tons of carbon / CO2 equivalent. This makes it very possible to get carbon credits. For this reason, biochar producers must use methodologies created by carbon standard institutions such as Verra, Puro, CSI (Carbon Standard International), Isometric and so on. By using biochar, fertilizer application becomes optimal, environmentally friendly and improves social acceptance in the community. Economically, the use of biochar can also be very profitable. So regarding biochar, soil health and sustainable palm oil productivity, biochar is very suitable and relevant so its use needs to be widely socialized and increased.

When the soil is healthy, fertilizer use becomes more efficient. High dosages are not always necessary, yet productivity can still increase because the soil functions naturally. Shifting the paradigm to recognize that sustainable productivity depends on soil health is no longer merely an option, but a necessity. Global markets are increasingly scrutinizing production methods, making environmentally friendly cultivation practices a key factor in the competitiveness of Indonesian palm oil. A model that successfully boosts productivity while lowering production costs—all while preserving the environment for long-term sustainability—naturally serves as an exemplary standard.

Laboratory-Scale Pyrolysis Equipment for Biochar Production Trials and Research

The decarbonization trend continues to grow across all sectors of life as part of a global consensus to save the earth. Biomass plays a strategic role through biotransition, where biomass acts as a carbon-neutral fuel, thus preventing it from contributing to increased CO2 emissions in the atmosphere, and through carbon-negative programs with carbon sequestration. Substantively, decarbonization through carbon-negative programs (CDR/carbon dioxide removal) will be effective if biomass fuel, as a carbon-neutral fuel, or the use of other renewable energy sources, is also increased. In other words, efforts to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations cannot simply involve absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere (carbon capture and storage). In the context of biomass-based renewable energy, the practical application of wood chip and wood pellet production as carbon-neutral renewable fuels will complement biochar (carbon-negative). Read more details here.

Biochar, a product of biomass pyrolysis, or biocarbon products used as a medium for climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration/carbon sinks, is not yet as popular as the use of biomass as a renewable energy source, such as wood chips, wood pellets, or palm kernel shells (PKS). For comparison, global biochar production in 2023 was 350,000 tons, while wood pellet production was 47 million tons. With a conversion of biomass to biochar of approximately 30%, the amount of dry biomass processed into biochar in 2023 was 1.2 million tons, compared to 47 million tons of wood pellets in the same year, or only about 2.6% of the biomass used for wood pellets—a significant gap. However, biochar is predicted to gain momentum and be produced on a large scale globally. The application of biochar as part of carbon capture and storage (CCS) is currently experiencing the fastest growth compared to other CO2 reduction (CDR) efforts. Biochar leads in CDR credits in the voluntary carbon market (VCM), with over 90% globally by 2023 as per the cdr.fyi database.

Furthermore, carbon capture and storage (CCS) applications using absorber-stripper columns, where the captured carbon dioxide is stored in the Earth's crust, remain expensive. Pyrolysis technology for biochar production, meanwhile, is increasingly developing, making it easy to operate, efficient, and environmentally friendly, with the potential to produce various by-products that offer additional benefits. These pyrolysis units can even be integrated with processing plants, such as palm oil mills. For more details, read here.

Including the BECCS (Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage) application which is overall a carbon negative program or CO2 removal from the atmosphere (CDR / Carbon Dioxide Removal) but building a bioenergy unit such as a biomass power plant itself is also not cheap, especially with the addition of carbon capture and storage (CCS) equipment. A number of countries that already have many biomass power plants, for example Japan with around 300 biomass power plants, to become carbon negative operations or part of CO2 removal from the atmosphere (CDR / Carbon Dioxide Removal) will be easier by upgrading them with the installation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) equipments. But in general, to absorb CO2 in the atmosphere and achieve climate targets, the application of biochar produced with pyrolysis units is easier, cheaper and strategic.

To anticipate and prepare for the growing era of CO2 removal from the atmosphere (CDR), biochar research must also be enhanced. Pyrolysis equipment that can cover or carry out comprehensive biochar production trials under all measurable production process operating conditions is crucial. Biochar product quality parameters are determined by three factors: the raw material or type of biomass, the production process, and the biomass pretreatment. For more details, read here. Important variables in the biochar production process in the pyrolysis unit, such as duration/residence time, temperature, and heating rate, must also be able to be handled with this equipment.

Furthermore, the issue of exhaust emissions is also crucial. This is because carbon standards organizations like Puro, Verra, and CSI require exhaust emissions to meet certain thresholds. Furthermore, excess heat from pyrolysis and/or liquid and gaseous products must be utilized. This means that laboratory-scale pyrolysis equipment must be sophisticated enough to meet these requirements. Following the methodologies developed by these standards organizations is essential for producing certified biochar to earn carbon credits. With each ton of CO2 equivalent removed from the atmosphere, or CO2 Removal Certificates (CORCs), worth over $150, this is certainly very attractive.

The diverse uses of biochar, such as in agriculture, animal husbandry, and even for concrete construction, further encourage its implementation in the future. Even if there is a question, for example, about the use of biochar in the agricultural sector: should biochar be prioritized for soil fertility or climate solutions first? This is certainly not a dichotomous question, but rather a driving force for its application, which is strongly influenced by factors that are problematic in the region or area. For more details, read here. To achieve the best performance while minimizing the risks of biochar production, increasing biochar production capacity is necessary, starting from the laboratory scale, pilot scale, demo scale, and finally commercial plants. By understanding the characteristics of the production process gradually and in depth, the hope is that the success rate of large-scale or commercial production will also be high. 

Biochar: Priority for Soil Fertility or Climate Solution First?

Perspective or point of view on biochar is greatly influenced by a person's expertise, while the driving force of its application is greatly influenced by factors that are the problems of the area or region. For example: climate scientists see soil improvement from biochar applications as an additional benefit (co-benefit). For soil scientists or farmers who use biochar as a soil amendment because of their practical experience that has a positive effect on soil fertility and the economic aspects of their farming, while climate benefits become additional benefits (co-benefits). And in reality the accumulation of benefits (including economic) and the effectiveness of providing environmental solutions will accelerate the use of biochar in the real world.

The photo taken from here

To maximize the benefits of biochar applications, the quality of biochar becomes very important, or in other words the physical and chemical properties of biochar control the level of its effectiveness for various applications. These properties are determined by factors, namely, raw materials, process conditions and before and after the production process. This is so that the biochar produced has different properties so that laboratory analysis is a method used to predict the effectiveness of the biochar. And also to qualify for certain incentives that apply in certain countries, the biochar produced can also meet certain criteria, for example the standards made by the IBI (International Biochar Initiative). Or to get carbon credit or BCR (biochar carbon removal) credit that has been applied internationally also requires biochar with certain criteria and quality, and for that biochar production must follow a certain methodology according to international carbon standard institutions such as Puro earth, Verra, and European Biochar Certificate (EBC). To get quality parameters or biochar specifications that are in accordance with their use, a certain type of laboratory is needed. Not many laboratories can do this biochar test. Some laboratories that can do this include compost, soil, coal and activated carbon analysis laboratories.

Currently the main and long-standing focus, namely the use of biochar for agriculture, plantations and forestry is to increase productivity / yield. However, in fact the added value that biochar can offer in its application in the soil, especially in cultivation, not only includes increasing crop yields, but also preventing the loss of humus in the soil, preventing nitrate leaching, and increasing water storage capacity to increase plant resistance to drought and its resilience to the climate crisis. As for how the fastest entry point for the biochar industry, for more details read here.