Producción y caracterización de biocarbones a partir de residuos agroindustriales en la región Atlántica, con potencial de uso para la protección ambiental.

The search for versatile materials that can help to solve important environmental needs
within agricultural processes is of high importance worldwide. The Caribbean area of
Costa Rica is no exception, where a large part of the economic activity is related to the
farming sector.
Biochar is a material with low production cost and a wide range of agricultural
applications, among which the production of soil improvers, removal of pollutants and the
slow release of nutrients. In addition, the production of biochar allows the recovery of
waste generated within the same production systems and, due to its physicochemical
characteristics as an adsorbent material, becomes a viable alternative within the region.
The objective of the project is the evaluation of biochar of agricultural origin, for its
potential use in the Huetar Atlántica zone, in environmental control applications. This in
order to produce a material that has an added value for the community, from the agroenvironmental perspective, using it as a pollutant removal agent and generate valuable
knowledge that can be integrated in later stages within the productive processes of each
undertaking in this area, since much of the knowledge generated at the national level has
been directed towards other regions of the country.
In Costa Rica, there has been a growth in the use of pesticides in recent years, being
considered one of the largest importers of these material, since 1997. The Caribbean
area is an important consumer of pesticides, and large amounts have been found both in
the soil as water sources (Chaves et al., 2007; Vindas et al., 2014; Echeverría-Sáenz et
al., 2012).
For this reason, the use of eco-friendly and low-cost alternatives is important to combat
the presence of these products in the environment, so the alternative of using biochar as
an option to solve this problem turns out to be an extremely attractive to evaluate.

Evaluar el uso potencial de biocarbones elaborados a partir
de residuos agrícolas, en la remoción de contaminantes generados por la
actividad agrícola en la región Huetar Atlántica.

Soluciones Químicas para el desarrollo, Soluciones de ingeniería ambiental para el desarrollo.