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The 7th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster (RCND 2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 479 (2020) 012025 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/479/1/012025

Life Cycle Assessment of Biochar as a Partial Replacement

to Portland Cement

J. Campos1, S. Fajilan1, J. Lualhati1, N. Mandap1, S. Clemente1

1
Department of Civil Engineering, FEU Institute of Technology, Philippines

Abstract. Biochar also known as ‘biocarbon’ or ‘biocoal’ is a material that has a charcoal similar
property. It is obtained from thermolysis (pyrolysis) of biomass feedstocks and plant matters. It can
help the process of eliminating carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The biochar was considered as
waste by industrial plants and considered no additional cost except for the transportation. Biochar
was tested for its chemical properties in Department of Science and Technology as a parameter for
Simapro. Environmental and health impact were analyzed in this study for concrete with biochar as
partial replacement for cement. Different mixtures with zero percent to twenty percent biochar
replacement was simulated using life cycle assessment with the help of Simapro. Different sources
in Luzon island, Philippines were gathered and found out that sources in southern part of Luzon is
the best sources for biochar because of its near location that decreases the effect of transportation.
Also, concrete with biochar replacement with or without considereing the effect of transportation
yields greater health and environmental impact compared to mixture without biochar replacement.

1. Introduction
Concrete is one of the world’s leading material for construction and cement, its most important
component is accounted for 5-7 percent of the CO2 emission globally [1]. The cement industry is one
of the largest consumers of natural resources such as limestone, clay and gypsum and heated to about
1500 degrees celsius [2]. That heating process is one of the best contributors of CO2 emission. Global
warming is the result of emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Globally, the construction
industry contributes 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It is determined that manufacturing of 1
ton of cement produces 1 ton of carbon dioxide. During the manufacturing of cement, different
harmful gases like Carbon Dioxide, Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide escape in the athmosphere.

Using of cementitious materials as a partial replacement cement in concrete decreases the amount of
cement which in turn reduces the emission of CO2 [3]. Some supplementary cementitious materials as
a partial replacement of cement in concrete have a positive impact when it comes to strength [4]. In
line with the effects of these supplementary materials that comes from the cement manufacturing
industries on environment, researches on the replacement of cement by using by-products and other
material have been done [5]. Using of these products as a binding material has been popular
worldwide because of the reduction of many harmful gases in the environment.

Biochar also known as ‘biocarbon’ or ‘biocoal’ is a material that has a charcoal-similar property [6]. It
is obtained from thermolysis (pyrolysis) of biomass feedstocks and plant matters. Mainly, biochar is
used on the agricultural sectors to improve the quality of soil and increase crop yields [7]. It can help
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The 7th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster (RCND 2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 479 (2020) 012025 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/479/1/012025

the process of eliminating carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It retains about an average of 50
percent of Carbon present in the actual biomass and decelerate the rate of carbon decomposition [8].

Since the Philippines is one an agricultural country that mainly produces crops such as corn, rice,
sugarcane, etc., There are a lot of waste materials and its utilization is far too low. Biochar is a new
additive being tested for further utilization on concrete structures. Several researches studied its effect
to mechanical and physical properties to cement mortar and yields positive results [9][10].

This research is intended to test the environmental impact of using biochar as partial replacement for
cement specifically for Philippine setting in Luzon island. Different sources and location were
simulated to further analyze the effect of transporting it to the mixing site.

There are 4 types of assessment that can be practiced when using LCA. The first one is Cradle-to-
Grave, in this method, all inputs and outputs are to be considered for all the phases of the life cycle
[11]. Second is Cradle-to-Gate, in this assessment, the only points to be considered is the partial
product life cycle from the manufacture to the factory gate. The use and disposal phase are usually
disregarded in order to focus more on the impact of the product. This method is to be used to examine
the life cycle of the biochar that is infused with the cement mixture. The third one is the Cradle-to-
Cradle, this assessment focuses on the recycling process after the disposal step of the product that is
being tested and the last one is Life Cycle Energy Analysis, all energy inputs to a product is to be
considered in this type of assessment.

This study used SimaPro as a tool in determining the environmental effect of concrete with biochar
replacement to cement. It has been one of the world’s leading LCA software package for more than 20
years [8]. SimaPro has the latest features for addressing the concerns of the product. A wide variety of add-
ons can be used in changing the life cycle of a product that can help and improve its positive impact.

2. Materials and Methods

The system boundary that will be considered in this LCA is cradle-to gate. Figure 1 shows the steps on
the concrete production being analyze in the study. The first method is to determine the raw materials
needed and their method of extraction and transportation. The second method is to identify different
processes that each material had gone through ex. (grinding, sieving etc.). The third method is the
production of concrete and the last is the transportation to the job site.

Material
Raw Material Transportation
Processin Production
Acquisition g of the Product

Figure 1. System Boundary

The composition of biochar was tested as a requirement for the software to further analyze its
environmental and health impact. As shown in Figure 2, the composition of the biochar rice husk that
is acquired from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is consists of 30.82% Carbon,
51.55% Silicon Dioxide, 1.95% Ferrous Oxide, 1.34% Potassium Oxide, 0.20% Magnesium Oxide,
0.14% Calcium Oxide, 0.11gram of the biochar rice husk, the product is required to have 24.10
kilograms of Silicon, 1.52 kilograms of Iron, 1.34 kilograms of Potassium Oxide, 0.12 kilograms of

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The 7th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster (RCND 2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 479 (2020) 012025 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/479/1/012025

Magnesium, 0.10 kilograms of Calcium, 0.09 kilograms of Manganese, 28.02 kilograms of Oxygen,
30.82 kilograms of Carbon, and 13.89 kilograms of ash.

Figure 2. Composition of biochar

Different cement replacement by biochar (0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%) were tested in the Simapro to
analyze what percentage lessen the environmental and health impacts. Table 1 shows the replacement
of biochar on the cement content.

Table 1. Data Composition of Biochar Rice Husk mix

Bichar Replacement Biochar content (kg) Cement content (kg)

0% 0.00 0.1942
5% 0.0097 0.1845
10% 0.0194 0.1748
15% 0.0291 0.1651
20% 0.0388 0.1554

Table 2 and 3 shows the different sources of biochar in Luzon island. Since the location was one of the
factors for considering the environmental and health impact of replacing cement by biochar, it was
added to the analysis. The location considered to be the job-site were the location of the university,
which is in Manila or the capital city of the Philippines. These research did not consider biochar from
farmers that burn their rice husk, these locations were chosen based on the availability of industrial
plants that uses waste rice husk as their fuel for their production.

3
The 7th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster (RCND 2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 479 (2020) 012025 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/479/1/012025

Table 2. Data of distance taken from north of Luzon

Location Distance from FEU-IT (km)

Sta. Lucia, Ilocos Sur 486.2
Bauang, La Union 257.0
Laoag, Ilocos Norte 408.3

Table 3. Data of distance taken from south of Luzon

Location Distance from FEU-IT (km)

Malvar, Batangas 70.5
Dasmarinas, Cavite 53.0
Sta. Cruz, Laguna 91.4

3. Results and Discussion

Shown in Table 4 are the result of different mixture of concrete with of 0%-20% biochar replacement
for cement without considering the additional effect of transporting the biochar rice husk-ash (BRH) to
the job-site. As shown on the table, as the biochar replacement increases, the health impact decreases.
This is the conventional result of which the cement content of concrete was replaced by a mineral or
ash particles. This is because the production of cement due to the fact it uses a lot of energy and heat,
it is the main reason high environmental effect of concrete. The replacement of cement by biochar
decreases all the categories for environmental and health impact.

One of the parameters that shows significant change is the human toxicity, based on W. Chin et. al
(2003) the standardization references for human toxicity through the environment should reflect the
total human toxic load caused by human activity in the reference area, i.e. the potential risk associated
with environmental exposure (via air, soil, supplies and drinking water) as a result of industrial
production, traffic, power plants, etc. emissions to the environment. human toxicity - in LCA context -
covers several different effects: acute toxicity, irritation/corrosive effects, allergenic effects,
irreversible damage/organ damage, genotoxicity, carcinogenic effects, toxicity to reproductive
system/teratogenic effects, and neurotoxicity in a single parameter (toxic equivalency factors, EF). The
effect in human in terms of human toxicity in air, was significantly decreases when a portion of
cement particles were replaced by biochar.

4
The 7th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster (RCND 2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 479 (2020) 012025 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/479/1/012025

Table 4. Characterization data results from simulation of biochar concrete mix without transportation

Unit BRH 0% BRH 5% BRH 10% BRH 15% BRH 20%

Ozone Kg CFC11
0.00000032 3.09E-07 0.000000298 0.000000288 0.000000277
Depletion eq
Ozone
Formation Person.ppm.h 0.000018 0.0000174 0.0000167 0.0000161 0.0000154
(human)
Human Person
Toxicity 0.00000261 2.53E-06 0.00000245 0.00000237 0.00000229
air
Human m3
Toxicity 0.0000428 0.0000412 0.0000397 0.0000381 0.0000365
water
Human m3
Toxicity 0.00000137 1.13E-06 0.00000129 0.00000125 0.00000122
soil
Hazardous kg
6.34E-08 6.18E-08 6.02E-08 5.86E-08 5.69E-08
Waste

The result of Table 4 was normalized with respect to the mixture without biochar replacement to further
analyze the effect visually. It was shown that all categories of environmental and health impact decreases
with respect to the increasing amount of biochar as a replacement. Similar to other additive or replacement
to cement such as fly ash, bottom ash, mineral like zeolite, etc., biochar can be considered as a partial
replacement to cement that will decrease its environmental impact. This is because that the production of
cement is one the leading cause of its high environmental impact due to high temperature needed.

Figure 3. Normalized value of environmental effect of biochar replacement to cement without considering the
effect of transportation

Biochar in the Philippines can be acquired through industrial plants near the rice fields that utilized it
as fuel. Most of the rice fields in Luzon island is on the northern part but it yields higher impact
compared to areas in the south because of the additional effect of the transportation.
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The 7th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster (RCND 2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 479 (2020) 012025 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/479/1/012025

As shown in Table 5, the assumption of the author is the biochar is transported to the concrete
production. In the case of Luzon island in the Philippines, Concrete batching plant is near the plant of
cement manufacturers, but for the case of Biochar, it was assumed at different location in the Luzon
area were rice fields are located. The farthest location which is the northern Luzon gave the highest
environmental impact due to the additional transportation needed in order to bring it to the batching
plants. Comparing the result of concrete batch without the effect of transporting biochar from different
sources, it shows significant increase

Table 5. Characterization result of 5% biochar concrete mix with transportation.

Category Unit BRH 5% BRH 5%

Northern Southern
Luzon Luzon
Ozone Kg CFC11 eq
0.0000025 0.000000649
Depletion
Ozone Person.ppm.h
Formation 0.0000612 0.0000251
(human)
Human Person
0.000114 0.000054
Toxicity air
Human m3
Toxicity 0.0000121 0.00000322
water
Human m3
0.0000458 0.0000193
Toxicity soil
Hazardous kg
0.00000019 8.43E-08
Waste

Other impact categories as shown in Table 6 were calculated using Simapro and shows the same
results in which higher replacement of cement by Biochar leads to lower impact. Biochar can be a
good replacement to other mineral replacement like fly ash to cement due to the fact that it lowers all
the environmental and health impacts of the cement production. This is because cement production is
one of the leading environmental hazards. There is none existing product that can be utilized to replace
concrete or cement in particular, with its unprecedented characteristics and lower cost, it is the most
practical material in the construction industry, and one way to reduce its impact is to find materials
such as biochar if it can utilized to at least partially used as a substitute to cement [12].

Table 6. Characterization Result of 0%-20% biochar concrete mix without transportation

Impact
Unit BRH 0% BRH 5% BRH 10% BRH 15% BRH 20%
Category

6
The 7th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster (RCND 2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 479 (2020) 012025 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/479/1/012025

Global
Kg Co2 eq 0.0000251 0.0000241 0.000023 0.000022 0.000021
Warming
Ozone
Formation m2.ppm.h 0.0000125 0.0000121 0.00000116 0.0000111 0.0000107
(Vegetation)
Acidification m2 0.0000192 0.0000185 0.0000178 0.0000171 0.0000164
Terrestrial
Eutrophicatio m2 0.00000706 0.00000681 0.00000655 0.00000629 0.00000604
n
Aquatic
eutrophication Kg N 0.0000045 0.00000433 0.00000417 0.00000401 0.00000385
EP(N)
Aquatic
eutrophication Kg P 0.0000584 0.0000563 0.0000543 0.0000523 0.0000502
EP(P)
Ecotoxicity
m3 0.0000141 0.0000136 0.0000131 0.0000127 0.0000122
water chronic
Ecotoxicity
m3 0.0000136 0.0000131 0.0000127 0.0000122 0.0000118
water acute
Ecotoxicity
m3 0.00000194 0.00000189 0.00000184 0.00000179 0.00000174
soil chronic

As shown in Figure 4, cement account for 82.7 percent of the total environmental impact of the
concrete mixture. The added biochar only accounts for 0.584% since it was a waste material. Burning
rice husk is not intended for concrete use, and therefore should not be considered as environmental
impact to the concrete. Bichar can be an alternative to other cement replacement like fly ash that can
reduce the impact of cement production and cost [13].

Figure 4. LCA Using Simapro of concrete with 5% biochar replacement

4. Conclusion

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The 7th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster (RCND 2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 479 (2020) 012025 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/479/1/012025

Since the Philippines is an agrarian country where rice, corn and any other crops were grown, there is
an abundant source of Biochar. Biochar can be derived by burning the husk of crops, but it is not
advisable to burn these crops for the purpose of using it as a replacement to cement. It can be utilized
as substitute to coal or charcoal for a heat source of different production plant like sugarcane. The
resulting ash form this production plant can be used to substitute for a portion of cement to lower its
environmental impact.

Cement is the leading cause of environmental impact in the constituents of concrete. Replacing cement
by biochar even considering the additional environmental impact due to transportation, it shows
decreasing impact when the replacement of cement increases. Biochar is a good substitute to fly ash
because of its positive effect to the physical strength of concrete and also it can lower the
environmental impact due to the fact that Biochar is just a waste product of burning rice husk.

The southern part of Luzon is the most viable source of biochar because of its strategic location and
near Metro Manila. But since the northern Luzon mostly produces rice and other biomass, it can be
also considered as a source of biochar to be utilized by concrete batching plants. Considering the
distance of sources in northern Luzon, concrete without biochar yields higher environmental and
health impact compared to concrete with biochar considering the added effect of transportation.

Reference

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[4] EcoSmart, “Environmental Impact: Cement Production and the CO2 Challenge”, 2012.
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[13] Gupta, S., & Kua, H. W. (2019). Combination of Biochar and Silica Fume as Partial Cement
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