Use of biomass-derived carbons (BCs) and BC-derived products for soil amendment and in soilless growing media

The energy crisis, environmental pollution and global warming are serious problems that are of great concern
throughout the world. Around 40% of the world’s energy consumption is dedicated to the production of materials
and chemicals. Thus, there is a need to develop high-performance materials based on renewable resources, simpler
to synthesise and cost effective. Carbon materials derived from renewable resources (e.g., biomass) are ideal
candidates to meet these needs. The main objective of our proposed Innovative Training Network is to develop new
scientific knowledge, capability, technology, and commercial products for biomass-derived carbons (BCs); thus
impacting the way that Europe uses and innovates with sustainable carbon materials. This will be accomplished
through outstanding research and training programmes for fourteen early-stage researchers (ESRs). Our proposed
research programme is feasible given the varied expertise and knowledge of the academic and industrial participants.
We expect that GreenCarbon will improve our ability to rationally design a range of functionalised BC-derived
materials using different individual and synergistically coupled processes and expand their practical applications.
Our research programme comprehensively covers all aspects from precursors (the nature of biomass) to processing
(thermochemical conversion, porosity development, chemical functionalisation) and application (e.g., CO2 capture,
heterogeneous catalysis and chemicals from biomass) enabling a unique design of engineered sustainable BC
materials. At the same time, our training programme is designed with the aim to empower the ESRs through the
provision of a comprehensive and coherent training package, which includes complementary competencies and
knowledge in all the science, engineering and business skills so as to be capable of deploying new technologies within
different environments both inside and outside of academia.