Chapter 19
Biochar: A Sustainable Tool in Soil
Pollutant Bioremediation
Chhatarpal Singh, Shashank Tiwari, and Jay Shankar Singh
Abstract Soil is a vital reservoir of living being likely bacteria, fungi, algae,
protozoa, etc. They dynamically standardize ecosystem functioning but, due to
some imbalance and unstoppable anthropogenic activities, for instance, industrialization, urbanization, and wrong agricultural practices, cause soil pollution,
eventually resulting in various environmental health hazards. Although there is
no any single factor that is responsible for leading these challenges, many more
other activities are involved in a direct and indirect manner to creating environmental pollution. Hence newly developed sustainable, cost-effective, and different
feedstock-mediated carbon-rich by-product is a unique and multifunctional sorbent
called “biochar” that can play a vital role in bioremediation of several highly
hazardous petroleum refinery wastes containing different types of aliphatic, aromatics, other complex hydrocarbons, and heavy metals in contaminated soils due
to the longtime recalcitrant nature against microbial degradation. Currently,
biochar is used as carrier sorbent for various microorganisms since they stimulate
the in situ bioremediation of several hazardous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
(PAH) compounds and heavy metals, due to the large surface area and micropores;
consequently pollutants are adsorbed on the surface. Biochar may work singly and
along with manure compost and remediates many hazardous pollutants from
contaminated soils.
Keywords Biochar · Bioremediation · Soil pollutants · Microorganism ·
Agricultural waste
C. Singh · S. Tiwari · J. S. Singh (*)
Department of Environmental Microbiology (DEM), School for Environmental Sciences (SES),
Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (A Central University), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh,
India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
R. N. Bharagava, G. Saxena (eds.), Bioremediation of Industrial Waste for
Environmental Safety, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3426-9_19
475
Biochar: A Sustainable Tool in Soil
Pollutant Bioremediation
Chhatarpal Singh, Shashank Tiwari, and Jay Shankar Singh
Abstract Soil is a vital reservoir of living being likely bacteria, fungi, algae,
protozoa, etc. They dynamically standardize ecosystem functioning but, due to
some imbalance and unstoppable anthropogenic activities, for instance, industrialization, urbanization, and wrong agricultural practices, cause soil pollution,
eventually resulting in various environmental health hazards. Although there is
no any single factor that is responsible for leading these challenges, many more
other activities are involved in a direct and indirect manner to creating environmental pollution. Hence newly developed sustainable, cost-effective, and different
feedstock-mediated carbon-rich by-product is a unique and multifunctional sorbent
called “biochar” that can play a vital role in bioremediation of several highly
hazardous petroleum refinery wastes containing different types of aliphatic, aromatics, other complex hydrocarbons, and heavy metals in contaminated soils due
to the longtime recalcitrant nature against microbial degradation. Currently,
biochar is used as carrier sorbent for various microorganisms since they stimulate
the in situ bioremediation of several hazardous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
(PAH) compounds and heavy metals, due to the large surface area and micropores;
consequently pollutants are adsorbed on the surface. Biochar may work singly and
along with manure compost and remediates many hazardous pollutants from
contaminated soils.
Keywords Biochar · Bioremediation · Soil pollutants · Microorganism ·
Agricultural waste
C. Singh · S. Tiwari · J. S. Singh (*)
Department of Environmental Microbiology (DEM), School for Environmental Sciences (SES),
Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (A Central University), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh,
India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
R. N. Bharagava, G. Saxena (eds.), Bioremediation of Industrial Waste for
Environmental Safety, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3426-9_19
475