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Testing the Efficiency of Biological Charcoal to Fight CO2 Air Pollution

JSHS · 2022

Jack Lowenthal, Katie Parson · Pulaski Academy, Little Rock, AR

Overview

Biological charcoal, or biochar, is an incredible substance that has the potential to mitigate climate change. While biochar is typically sold as a soil additive, it can also trap carbon dioxide in its incredibly porous structure. The hypothesis of this experiment was to determine if the efficiency of biochar in its typical use case was linear. This was tested using a carbon dioxide meter in an airtight container. In the container, biochar was tested 3 times per mass level, and three amounts in total (10 Grams, 20 Grams, and 30 Grams). The biochar was left in the container for 1 hour each test, and every hour 600 data points were collected using a Vernier LabQuest and carbon dioxide probe. For each group, the mean amount of carbon dioxide removed within the hour was calculated. Using 10 grams of biochar, 61% of the carbon dioxide was absorbed. Interestingly, increasing the amount of biochar in the container did not significantly improve the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed; rather, with the addition of more biochar, a smaller percentage of the carbon dioxide in the container was absorbed. This is seen as the 20-gram tests could remove 67% of biochar, and the 30-gram tests could only remove 71% of all CO2 in the container. This statistically insignificant difference most likely occurs due to the fact that not all of the biochar was exposed to oxygen at once. This shows that in its typical use case, in soil, biochar’s efficiency at absorbing carbon dioxide would be greatly reduced, as only the top layer of biochar would be exposed to enough air. As a result, this experiment shows that if biochar is to be used as a combatant to climate change, it should be used in a quite spread out, well-ventilated area.

Competition history

  • JSHS 2022 Category not listed

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Source: Junior Science and Humanities Symposium

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