(Press-News.org) A new study from researchers at the University of Western Australia and Universitas Brawijaya has found that adding biochar to advanced food waste recycling systems can significantly increase the clean energy yields of hydrogen and methane. This breakthrough offers promising strategies for municipalities and industries aiming to turn food scraps into valuable renewable fuels while reducing environmental impacts.
Turning Waste Into Energy
Food waste generated by households, restaurants, and processing plants is a growing environmental challenge around the world. Innovative recycling solutions are urgently needed to keep this waste out of landfills and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Anaerobic digestion, a method that uses naturally occurring microbes to break down organic matter without oxygen, is among the most effective ways to convert food scraps into biogas for heating and power.
This research focused on a state-of-the-art variation called two-phase anaerobic digestion. The system works in two consecutive steps: first, a group of specialized bacteria creates hydrogen as they digest food waste; then, another set of microbes converts the leftover material into methane. Splitting the process enables each phase to operate under ideal conditions, resulting in more efficient biogas production.
The Biochar Advantage
The research team was especially interested in how biochar—a porous, carbon-rich material produced by heating wood waste—affects these digestion systems. Biochar has shown promise in small-scale trials for stabilizing microbial communities, improving pH balance, and boosting gas yields, but its impact under real-world, continuous conditions remained unclear.
In laboratory experiments, the scientists ran two identical sets of digestion reactors fed with simulated food waste. One set received regular doses of biochar, while the other did not. Over a 100-day testing period, researchers closely monitored the daily output of hydrogen and methane, the chemical environment inside the tanks, and the types of microbes present.
The results were striking. Across all levels of organic waste loading, reactors with biochar produced more hydrogen and methane than those without. At higher waste inputs, reactors without biochar suffered drops in gas output and unstable microbial activity. In contrast, biochar-amended systems maintained steady performance and resisted acid build-up—a common barrier to efficient digestion.
Microbial Insights
The addition of biochar was linked to beneficial changes in the microbial ecosystem. In hydrogen-producing reactors, biochar boosted populations of Clostridiaceae, a group of bacteria known for breaking down food waste into energy-rich acids. In methane-producing stages, biochar favored methanogenic microbes, including Methanosarcinaceae and Methanobacteriaceae, which drive the conversion of organic matter into methane fuel.
The biochar also acted as a natural buffer, keeping pH levels in an optimal range for these microbes, and provided surfaces that supported robust microbial communities. Notably, this positive effect was maintained even when reactors ran at higher organic loading rates, which are typically challenging for such systems.
Implications for Waste Management and Renewable Energy
The study suggests that using biochar in two-phase anaerobic digestion can make food-waste-to-energy systems more reliable and productive, particularly at the large scales required for municipal or industrial use. By allowing higher waste inputs and sustaining biogas yields, biochar-amended systems could lower the cost and raise the appeal of clean energy production from unavoidable food waste.
Lead author Yusron Sugiarto highlights the broad potential of this approach: “Our findings show that biochar is not only a cost-effective and sustainable additive but also a key enabler for scaling up renewable gas production from food waste. These insights can inform practical solutions for energy recovery and environmental protection.”
The research is published in Energy Environment Nexus and was supported by grants from the Australian Research Council and the Future Energy Export Cooperative Research Centre.
===
Journal reference: Sugiarto Y, Sunyoto NMS, Setyawan HY, Zhang D. 2025. Enhancing H2 and CH4 production with biochar addition in two-phase anaerobic digestion of food waste. Energy & Environment Nexus 1: e010
https://www.maxapress.com/article/doi/10.48130/een-0025-0010
===
About Energy & Environment Nexus:
Energy & Environment Nexus is an open-access journal publishing high-quality research on the interplay between energy systems and environmental sustainability, including renewable energy, carbon mitigation, and green technologies.
Follow us on Facebook, X, and Bluesky.
END
Biochar boosts clean energy output from food waste in novel two-stage digestion system
2025-11-19
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Seismic sensors used to identify types of aircraft flying over Alaska
2025-11-19
An array of seismic sensors deployed to capture aftershocks from the 2018 magnitude 7.1 Anchorage earthquake also collected distinctive signals from hundreds of flights crossing over Alaska.
In their study published in The Seismic Record, Isabella Seppi and colleagues at the University of Alaska Fairbanks show that these signals can be used to identify the type of aircraft, along with details such as the closest time, distance and speed of each plane or helicopter as it flew above the seismic array.
Acoustic waves generated by flying aircraft vibrate the ground below, transforming sound energy into ground motion that can ...
The Lancet: Experts warn global rise in ultra-processed foods poses major public health threat; call for worldwide policy reform
2025-11-19
The Lancet: Experts warn global rise in ultra-processed foods poses major public health threat; call for worldwide policy reform
A new three paper Series published in The Lancet reviews evidence that ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are displacing fresh and minimally processed foods and meals, worsening diet quality, and are associated with an increased risk of multiple chronic diseases.
The Lancet Series on Ultra-Processed Foods and Human Health argues, although additional studies on the impact of UPFs on human health will be valuable, further research should not delay immediate and decisive public ...
Health impacts of eating disorders complex and long-lasting
2025-11-19
The health impacts of eating disorders, such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating, are not only complex, affecting many different organ systems, but long-lasting, finds a large tracking study, published in the open access journal BMJ Medicine.
The risks of serious conditions, such as diabetes, renal and liver failure, fractures, and premature death, are particularly high within the first 12 months of diagnosis. But these heightened risks persist for years, highlighting the need for timely integrated multidisciplinary health services and continued monitoring to improve outcomes, conclude the researchers.
UK rates of eating disorders ...
Ape ancestors and Neanderthals likely kissed, new analysis finds
2025-11-19
UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 00:01 GMT WEDNESDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2025 / 19:01 ET TUESDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2025
Ape ancestors and Neanderthals likely kissed, new analysis finds
A new study led by the University of Oxford has found evidence that kissing evolved in the common ancestor of humans and other large apes around 21 million years ago, and that Neanderthals likely engaged in kissing too. The findings have been published today (19 November) in Evolution and Human Behavior.
Kissing occurs in a variety of animals, but presents an evolutionary puzzle: it appears to carry high risks, such as disease transmission, while offering no obvious reproductive or survival advantage. Despite kissing carrying cultural ...
Ancient bogs reveal 15,000-year climate secret, say scientists
2025-11-19
Scientists have revealed that ancient bogs in the Southern Hemisphere hold clues to a major shift in the Earth's climate thousands of years ago.
Researchers looking at peatlands have discovered that sudden shifts in the Southern Westerly Winds 15,000 years ago triggered a massive growth of the swamps.
Geo-experts have never fully understood what caused the bogs to form across the Southern Hemisphere after the last Ice Age.
But the scientists behind the new paper, published in Nature Geoscience, now ...
Study shows investing in engaging healthcare teams is essential for improving patient experience
2025-11-18
A study published in the Journal of Patient Experience, with the participation of the D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), analyzed the perceptions of over 47,000 healthcare professionals on institutional efforts to improve patient experience in private hospitals in Brazil. The research indicated that engaging care teams remains the biggest challenge for concrete improvements in the quality of care.
What Healthcare Professionals Think About Patient Experience
Patient experience, understood as how patients and their families perceive the care they receive, has gained prominence as a quality indicator in healthcare. However, while research often prioritizes ...
New pika research finds troubling signs for the iconic Rocky Mountain animal
2025-11-18
A new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder carries a warning for one of the Rocky Mountains’ most iconic animals—the American pika (Ochotona princeps), a small and fuzzy creature that often greets hikers in Colorado with loud squeaks.
The study draws on long-running surveys of pikas living in a single habitat about 10 miles south of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.
The researchers discovered that the “recruitment “of juveniles to this site seems to have plummeted ...
Seismic data can identify aircraft by type
2025-11-18
Instruments typically used to detect the ground motion of earthquakes can also be used to identify the type of aircraft flying far overhead, research by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists shows.
That’s because aircraft sound waves also shake the ground, though to a much lesser extent.
An aircraft’s type — a Cessna 185 Skywagon, for example — can be determined by analyzing a seismic spectrogram to find the aircraft’s frequency imprint from the sound waves it creates and then matching ...
Just cutting down doesn’t cut it when it comes to the impact of smoking on your health
2025-11-18
Research Highlights:
Adults who were light smokers — smoking 2-5 cigarettes daily — were more than twice as likely than those who did not smoke to have serious health problems and had a 60% increased risk of death from any cause, according to a study of more than 320,000 adults followed for 20 years.
While quitting smoking greatly reduced smoking-related health risks in the first 10 years, it may take 30 years or more for health risks among people who previously smoked to be on par with people who never smoked.
The message: Don’t smoke — and for those who do, quit early in life and strive to ...
Gene silencing may slow down bladder cancer
2025-11-18
Bladder cancer ranks among the ten most common types of cancer worldwide. The main treatment is bladder removal surgery, and despite advances in systemic therapies, recurrence is frequent in the most aggressive forms of the disease. For this reason, researchers have been seeking less invasive and more effective strategies to fight it.
A study involving the D’Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR) and published in Biochemical Genetics points to a promising path: by blocking a small molecule called miR-21, bladder cancer cells lose their ability to multiply and spread. This discovery could ...