Biochar in Agriculture for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

Daniel C.W. Tsang is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Pao Yue-Kong Chair Professor at the State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization of Zhejiang University in China. He was a Professor and MSc Programme Leader at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, a Visiting Professor at the University of Queensland in Australia and Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University in the US, an IMETE Scholar at Ghent University in Belgium, and a postdoctoral fellow at Imperial College London in the UK. With over 20 years of R&D experience, he has published more than 600 articles in top-tier journals and has been recognized among Stanford University’s Top 2% Scientists and Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers in the fields of Engineering and Environment & Ecology. His team is dedicated to developing green technologies for long-term decarbonization and promoting resource circularity and sustainable development. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of npj Materials Sustainability (Springer Nature), Chairman of the Hong Kong Waste Management Association (2023-2025), and Chairman of the Waste Management Subcommittee of the Advisory Council on the Environment (2023 & 2024) of the Hong Kong SAR Government. Dr. Ok is a full professor and global research director of Korea University, Seoul, Korea. He has published over 900 research papers and books, 92 of which have been ranked as Web of Science ESI top papers (90 have been selected as “Highly Cited Papers” (HCPs), and two as “Hot Papers”). He has been a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher (HCR) since 2018 in Cross Field, Environment and Ecology, and Engineering. In 2019, he became the first Korean to be selected as an HCR in the field of Environment and Ecology. Again in 2021, he became the first Korean HCR in two fields: Environment and Ecology, and Engineering. He is working at the vanguard of global efforts to develop sustainable waste management strategies and technologies to address the rising crisis in electronic and plastic waste, and pollution of soil and air with particulate matter. Dr. Ok has also served in a number of positions worldwide including, as an honorary professor at the University of Queensland (Australia), a visiting professor at Tsinghua University (China), an adjunct professor at the University of Wuppertal (Germany), and a guest professor at Ghent University (Belgium). He maintains a worldwide professional network by serving as a Co-Editor-in-Chief of Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, an Editor of Environmental Pollution, a member of the editorial advisory board of Environmental Science & Technology, and an editorial board member of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Chemical Engineering Journal, and Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, and several other top journals. He currently serves as the Director of the Sustainable Waste Management Program for the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) and the Co-President of the International ESG Association. Moreover, he has served on the Scientific Organizing Committee of P4G Nature Forum: Climate Change and Biodiversity, and Nature Forum: Plastics and Sustainability. Dr. Ok has also served as the chairman of numerous major conferences such as Engineering Sustainable Development series (ESD series), organized by the APRU and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). In 2021, Dr. Ok hosted the first Nature conference among South Korean universities in Seoul on waste management and valorization for a sustainable future together with Chief Editors of Nature Sustainability (Dr. Monica Contestabile), Nature Electronics (Dr. Owain Vaughan), and Nature Nanotechnology (Dr. Fabio Pulizzi). Prof. Ok will host the first Nature Forum on Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) for Global Sustainability: the “E” Pillar for Sustainable Business.

• Part I Introduction1. Agricultural waste-derived biochar for environmental management2. Biochar and sustainable development goalsPart II Biochar production and tunable properties3. Biochar and its potential to increase water, trace element, and nutrient retention in soils4. Biochar for carbon sequestration and environmental remediation in soil5. Hydrochar and activated carbon materials from P- and N-rich biomass waste for environmental remediation and bioenergy application 6. The remediation potential of biochar derived from different biomass for typical pollution in agricultural soil7. Biochar production from lignocellulosic and nonlignocellulosic biomass using conventional and microwave heating8. Biochar soil application: soil improvement and pollution remediationPart III Biochar for sustainable agriculture and food production9. Biochar for clean composting and organic fertilizer production10. Mineral-enriched biochar fertilizer for sustainable crop production and soil quality improvement11. Effects of biochar on the environmental behavior of pesticides12. Biochar nanoparticles: interactions with and impacts on soil and water microorganisms13. Functionalized biochars for the (im) mobilization of potentially toxic elements in paddy soils under dynamic redox conditions: a case study14. The role of mineral compositions in biochar stability and reactivity15. Biochar production and modification for environmental improvement16. The impact of biochar on nutrient supplies in agricultural ecosystems17. Utilization of biochar to mitigate the impacts of potentially toxic elements on sustainable agriculturePart IV Biochar for Environmental Improvement in Farmland18. Biochar for remediation of alkaline soils contaminated with toxic elements19. Thallium pollution in farmland soils and its potential amendment by biochar-based materials20. Effect of biochar on the emission of greenhouse gas in farmland21. Biochar for nutrient recovery from source-separated urine22. Influence of biochar on soil biology in the charosphere23. Biochar for sustainable immobilization of potentially toxic elements in contaminated farmland24. Sequential biochar systems in a circular economyPart V Biochar for circular bioeconomy and clean energy for sustainable agriculture25. Production of biochar using sustainable microwave pyrolysis approach26. Biochar electrocatalysts for clean energy applications27. Engineered biochar as a potential adsorbent for carbon dioxide capture28. Biochar: A sustainable solution for the management of agri-wastes and environment29. Biochars’ potential role in the remediation, revegetation, and restoration of contaminated soils30. Renewable energy, cleaner environments, and sustainable agriculture from pyrolysis and hydrothermal carbonization of residuals