Woody biomass energy crops : possibilities for physical and biological carbon sequestration

Abstract

Bioenergy through short rotation forestry could hold potential for fossil fuel displacement mitigating enhanced climate change by using various combustion, carbon capture technologies, and sequestration technologies. Two routes, gasification and pyrolysis, show potential for enabling bioenergy to become carbon negative rather than carbon neutral. One further relatively unexplored route is biochar, a naturally occurring material that may offer a unique link between bioenergy and sequestration that is both simple and energy bearing.