Characterization, production and evaluation of organic mineral biofertilizer from pyrolysed sugarcane trash

• Grant number: 16/13813-8
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): December 01, 2016
• Effective date (End): January 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal researcher: Henrique Coutinho Junqueira Franco
• Grantee: Bernardo Melo Montes Nogueira Borges
• Home Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 18/09464-3 - Biochar fertilizers in sugarcane - understanding residual effects, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

After sugarcane harvesting mechanization a new organic residue is generated: the straw (trash) (composed by dry leaves, shoots and green leaves). This material has positive impacts on crop yield, such as nutrient cycling and maintenance of soil moisture on drought periods. However, under some climatic and soil conditions, the maintenance of sugarcane straw on the field increases the incidence of insects, decrease sprouting and potentializes frost damage. The sugar-energy sector is far from having a consensus of how much of this material could be removed from the field and applied in the industry, in which innumerous studies have been carried out to answer this question. On this proposition, we intend to increase the options for sugarcane straw use in the sugar-energy industry, by its use as raw material for the production of organicmireral biofertilizers utilizing the pyrolysis process for biochar (basis for the fertilizer) production, bio-gas and bio-oil. The present work is proposed aiming to characterize and validate the production process of organicmineral biofertilizer as well as its efficiency when applied to sugarcane plants. The project will be developed in laboratory scale, being the sugarcane straw collected by bailing (10% moisture) submitted to the slow pyrolysis process. A characterization as the physical and chemical sugarcane straw properties before and after the biochar production as well as for the organicmineral biofertilizer will be perform. Subsequent to this, it will be install an experiment in a greenhouse with sugarcane seedlings in a complete randomized design during two growing cycles, in which treatments will be the organicmineral biofertilizers (biochar basis) and a standard P source (triple superphosphate). It will be evaluating shoot and root dry matter yield, P-soil content, P accumulated in the shoot and root dry matter, radicular morphology, agronomic efficiency, P use efficiency and a study of technical/economic simulation for fertilizer production. It is expected that these organomineral biofertilizers present superior physic-chemical characteristics and agronomic efficiency superior compared to the regular fertilizers, and that they will present technical-economic indicators that provides, if the hypothesis is confirmed, its scale up. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BORGES, BERNARDO M. M. N.; STRAUSS, MATHIAS; CAMELO, PRISCILA A.; SOHI, SARAN P.; FRANCO, HENRIQUE C. J.. Re-use of sugarcane residue as a novel biochar fertiliser-Increased phosphorus use efficiency and plant yield. JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION, v. 262, JUL 20 2020. (16/13813-8)