Food waste to biochar; a potential sustainable solution for Australia: a comprehensive review

Australia generates a significant amount of food waste (FW) every year, creating a substantial burden on its economy, environment, and resources. Several waste management practices, such as landfilling, composting, and anaerobic digestion, are available in Australia. However, landfilling of FW is not environmentally viable, composting requires substantial space, and anaerobic digestion is expensive. The conversion of FW into biochar offers a sustainable solution to this problem, and pyrolysis is an effective technology for this transformation. The conversion of FW into biochar offers Australia significant benefits, particularly considering the country’s unique soil properties. Therefore, this review explores the potential FW streams for biochar conversion. We identify and review potential pyrolysis technologies, as well as discuss FW-based biochar’s unique properties and activation methods. The effects of process parameters, such as temperature and pressure, on biochar properties have also been considered. Additionally, we discuss biochar’s potential applications for climate change mitigation. Finally, we address the current challenges related to FW-based biochar and propose potential solutions.