The Biochar Debate by James Bruges

[steam_cannon]

Proceed with caution, I had planned to do the same thing until I discovered that most if not all Briquettes actually contain 25%+ powdered coal to make them burn longer in their mixture. Not sure if anyone has tried powdered coal and what its effects might be. Lump charcole is different, but around where I live it is prohibitively expensive compared to Briquettes.

I've done this. You just need to read the package and look for pure charcoal with like a starch binder. Stop & Shop in the north has this. You can also google "organic charcoal briquettes" to find other sources. It's not that hard to find. And since the charcoal is precrushed and the binder is water soluble, it's easy to melt in a bucket and mix with soil or compost.

[Graeme]

Biochar And The Biomass Recycling Industry

BIOCHAR, the high carbon content remains of organic biomass heated in the absence of oxygen, has been a topic of intense interest and growing experimentation in the past five years. The rediscovery of terra preta (or black earth) soils in the Amazon has sparked the imagination and curiosity of researchers around the world. These “human-built” soils are dark, productive deposits — a composite of charcoal (biochar), pottery shards and organic matter such as plant material, animal feces and fish and animal bones. Significantly, these soils are several thousand years old, yet continue to maintain high plant productivity and high soil carbon content despite existing in a region well known for low soil productivity and rapid organic matter decomposition. Charcoal presence is not unique to the tropics. U.S. farmland soils can vary in charcoal content from 10 to 35 percent of the total organic carbon (TOC), with charcoal-enriched areas in regions with a wildfire-dependent ecology (Skemstad et al., 2002).

Much of the published terra preta research to date has focused solely on the biochar component. A full picture of “biochar-only” effects is yet to be fully understood. Most of the best-documented studies have used a single addition of biochar, which is intensively measured over a number of years, but data to date suggest a wide range of outcomes. Biochar additions have been seen to be positive, neutral and even negative. This wide range in outcomes may be due to differences in the specific biochar used, time since addition, the crop species tested and the particular starting soil properties/deficiencies.

Biochar is a by-product of pyrolysis and gasification. Large-scale flash pyrolysis systems convert 70 percent of the biomass to oil, 15 percent to gas and 15 percent to char. The char is sometimes consumed to heat the process. Gasification and staged combustion can be adjusted to produce more (15%) or less (2%) biochar. Pyrolysis systems vary in the amount of volatile nutrients like nitrogen, sulfur and potassium that are retained. Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a new process that converts biomass to char under heat and pressure in aqueous solutions. It may be suitable for wet wastes like biosolids since it promises a higher retention of nutrients than dry pyrolysis.

Interest is rising in the biochar community to further explore the dynamic relationship between the known properties of biochar and the organic materials long used to build soil carbon and productivity. To realize the full potential of biochar as a tool for carbon cycle management and to sustainably increase soil productivity, biochar should be tested in combination with other organic waste streams, and in multiple applications over years.

jgpress

[erich]

The single best book ;"The Biochar Solution"
http://www.biocharsolution.com/

The second best; "The Biochar Revolution"
http://biochar-books.com/The_Biochar_Revolution

Black Swan of Biochar
Short a nano material PV / thermoelectrical / ultracapasitating Black swan,
What we can do now with "off the shelf" technology, what I proposed at the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, to the EPA chiefs of North America.
The most cited soil scientist in the world, Dr. Rattan Lal at OSU, was impressed with this talk, commending me on conceptualizing & articulating the concept.

Bellow the opening & closing text. A Report on my talk at CEC, and complete text & links are here:http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biochar-policy/message/3233

The Establishment of Soil Carbon as the Universal Measure of Sustainability
The Paleoclimate Record shows agricultural-geo-engineering is responsible for 2/3rds of our excess greenhouse gases. The unintended consequence, the flowering of our civilization. Our science has now realized these consequences and has developed a more encompassing wisdom. Wise land management, afforestation and the thermal conversion of biomass can build back our soil carbon. Pyrolysis, Gasification and Hydro-Thermal Carbonization are known biofuel technologies, What is new are the concomitant benefits of biochars for Soil Carbon Sequestration; building soil biodiversity & nitrogen efficiency, for in situ remediation of toxic agents, and, as a feed supplement cutting the carbon foot print of livestock. Modern systems are closed-loop with no significant emissions. The general life cycle analysis is: every 1 ton of biomass yields 1/3 ton Biochar equal to 1 ton CO2e, plus biofuels equal to 1MWh exported electricity, so each energy cycle is 1/3 carbon negative.

Beyond Rectifying the Carbon Cycle;
Biochar systems Integrate nutrient management, serving the same healing function for the Nitrogen and Phosphorous Cycles.
The Agricultural Soil Carbon Sequestration Standards are the royal road for the GHG Mitigation;

The Bio-Refining Technologies to Harvest Carbon.
The photosynthetic "capture" collectors are up and running all around us, the "storage" sink is in operation just under our feet, conversion reactors are the only infrastructure we need to build out. Carbon, as the center of life, has high value to recapitalize our soils. Yielding nutrient dense foods and Biofuels, Paying Premiums of pollution abatement and toxic remediation and the growing Dividend created by the increasing biomass of a thriving soil community.

Since we have filled the air,
filling the seas to full,
soil is the only beneficial place left.
Carbon to the Soil, the only ubiquitous and economic place to put it.

[careinke]

It might be interesting to run the math on how much biochar needs to be produced to put CO2 on a downward slope.

[erich]

The best estimates I've found are that the total loss of forest and soil carbon (combined
pre-industrial and industrial) has been about 200-240 billion tons. Of
that, the soils are estimated to account for about 1/3, and the vegetation
the other 2/3.

Since man controls 24 billion tons in his agriculture then it seems we have plenty to work with in sequestering our fossil fuel CO2 emissions as stable charcoal in the soil.

As Dr. Lehmann at Cornell points out, "Closed-Loop Pyrolysis systems are the only way to make a fuel that is actually carbon negative". and that " a strategy combining biochar with biofuels could ultimately offset 9.5 billion tons of carbon per year-an amount equal to the total current fossil fuel emissions! "
Terra Preta Soils Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon sequestration, 10X Lower CH4 & N2O soil emissions, and 3X FertilityToo

This some what orphaned new soil technology speaks to so many different interests and disciplines that it has not been embraced fully by any. I'm sure you will see both the potential of this system and the convergence needed for it's implementation.

The integrated energy strategy offered by Charcoal based Terra Preta Soil technology may
provide the only path to sustain our agricultural and fossil fueled power
structure without climate degradation, other than nuclear power.

[Graeme]

Erich, Thanks very much for your response! Dr Lehmann's technique for making biochar and biofuel certainly is impressive. Do you know if any trials have been done? I vaguely recall at least one American company doing this already. I will try to look for others. What do you think are the barriers that prevent/hinder the global implementation of biochar/biofuel production?

[Graeme]

Biocharsolutions is making biochar in USA. Pacific Pyrolysis will soon be built in Australia. Perhaps the best hope for large-scale biochar production lies with farming.

[erich]

Research:

NASA’s Space Archaeology; $364K Terra Preta Program
http://archaeologyexcavations.blogspot. ... llite.html

This is the finest explanation I have read on the process of biochar testing. Hugh lays it out like medical triage to extract the data most needed for soil carbon sequestration. A triage for all levels of competence, the Para-Medic Gardener to the Surgeon Chem-Engineer.
http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/Ch ... g_Biochars

The Ozzie's for 5 years now in field studies
The future of biochar - Project Rainbow Bee Eater
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/features ... 20142.html

Phosphorous Solution;
http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/nishio

The Japanese have been at it decades:
Japan Biochar Association ;
http://www.geocities.jp/yasizato/pioneer.htm

UK Biochar Research Centre
http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/sccs/biochar/

ICHAR, the Italian Biochar Association
http://www.ichar.org/

Field Trial Data Base; The new version of BiocharDB has been released! To see it, please visit http://biocharbazaar.org .

Virginia Tech is in their 5 th year with the Carbon Char Group's "CharGrow" formulated bagged product. An idea whose time has come | Carbon Char Group
The 2008 trials at Virginia Tech showed a 46% increase in yield of tomato transplants grown with just 2 - 5 cups (2 - 5%) "CharGrow" per cubic foot of growing medium. http://www.carbonchar.com/plant-performance

Nikolaus has been at it 4 years. Nikolaus Foidl,
His current work with aspirin is Amazing in Maize, 250% yield gains, 15 cobs per plant;
http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/co ... d-charcoal

My 09 field trials with the Rodale Institute & JMU ;
Alterna Biocarbon and Cowboy Charcoal Virginia field trials '09
http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/node/1408

Imperial College test,
This work in temperate soils gives data from which one can calculate savings on fertilizer use, which is expected to be ongoing with no additional soil amending.
http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1755-1315 ... e7e2f3ce1b

The BlueLeaf Inc./ Dynamotive study are exciting results given how far north the site is at 45 degrees, and the low application rates. I suspect, as we saw with the Imperial College test, the yield benefits seem to decrease the cooler the climate. In 2008, a 20% increase in grain yield was shown and for a forage mixture in 2009 a 100% increase in fresh biomass was obtained. Other parameters showing increases with CQuest Biochar included earthworm, nematode and mycorrhizal root colonization, supporting the hypothesis that biochar may serve as a refuge for soil microbes. Surface soil water infiltration was also greater in biochar amended soil.
http://www.biofuelsjournal.com/articles ... 90009.html

Reports:

For those looking for an overview of biochar and its benefits, These authors have done a very nice job of distilling a great deal of information about biochar and applying it to the US context:

US Focused Biochar report: Assessment of Biochar's Benefits for the USA

http://www.biochar-us.org/pdf%20files/b ... lowres.pdf

This PNAS report (by a Nobel lariat) should cause the Royal Society to rethink their report that criticized Biochar systems sequestration potential;
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Reducing abrupt climate change risk using
the Montreal Protocol and other regulatory
actions to complement cuts in CO2 emissions
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/ ... l.pdf+html

[Graeme]

Erich, Thank you very much for providing these excellent links. It certainly helps to have someone like you who is already a biochar researcher, and who is willing to share this information. It is of particular interest to me to see this:

The International Biochar Initiative estimates that biochar
production has the potential to provide 1 Gt carbon per year in
climate mitigation by 2040, or 3.67 Gt CO2 per year, using only
waste biomass (66). Hansen et al. (5) estimate that if slash-andchar
agriculture replaced slash-and-burn practices, and if agricultural
and forestry wastes were used for biochar production, it
would be possible to drawdown CO2 concentrations by approximately
8 ppm or more within half a century, or 62.5 Gt CO2.
According to Sohi et al. (61), the global potential for annual
sequestration of CO2 may be ‘‘at the billion-ton scale’’ within 30
years, although they note that the published evidence is largely
from small-scale studies and cannot be generalized to all locations
and types of biochar. Under an aggressive scenario, where
all projected demand for renewable biomass fuel is met through
pyrolysis, Lehmann et al. (62) estimate that biochar may be able
to sequester 5.5–9.5 Gt C per year, or 20–35 Gt CO2, per year
by 2100.

Now that we have a better understanding of biochar's potential for reducing atmospheric CO2, the final step is to implement it's production. I'll be looking with considerable interest to see the following happen.

Biosequestration through biochar production may be able to
be deployed rapidly and relatively cheaply on a decadal time
scale (68) using both regulatory and market-based approaches at
national, regional, and global levels. The United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification has proposed including biochar
in the UNFCCC climate negotiations (69).

[Cog]

Coal also has some rather nasty elements like lead, arsenic, and is slightly radioactive. Something to keep in mind if you intend to use briquettes as a carbon component.

[Graeme]

Persistence of soil organic matter as an ecosystem property

Globally, soil organic matter (SOM) contains more than three times as much carbon as either the atmosphere or terrestrial vegetation. Yet it remains largely unknown why some SOM persists for millennia whereas other SOM decomposes readily—and this limits our ability to predict how soils will respond to climate change. Recent analytical and experimental advances have demonstrated that molecular structure alone does not control SOM stability: in fact, environmental and biological controls predominate. Here we propose ways to include this understanding in a new generation of experiments and soil carbon models, thereby improving predictions of the SOM response to global warming.

nature

Editor's summary

Soil carbon stability revisited

The mechanisms underpinning soil carbon stability are complicated. The future response of soil carbon to climate change is uncertain but crucial, given that the carbon pool in soils is three times greater than that of the atmosphere. In a Perspective, Michael Schmidt and an international team of collaborators discuss how our understanding of soil carbon cycling has been changing. Rather than being mostly a function of molecular structure, as has been assumed, soil organic carbon stability is an ecosystem property. This means that it arises from complex interactions among many biotic and abiotic factors that are not fully understood. This fact must be more rigorously addressed in a new generation of experiments and soil carbon models, say Schmidt et al., if we are to improve our attempts to understand this vital component of the Earth system.

[Revi]

I have been using the ashes from my woodstove in my garden for 10 years now. It makes a really nice friable soil because the ashes contain lots of charcoal. I use the ashes from our maple syrup evaporator in the woodlot. They are much finer because the evap burns really hot.

[Graeme]

Revi, Thanks for your comment. I just saw this morning that the authors of the Nature paper above actually call into question the stability of biochar. They think it can decompose! I also saw that Erich defends biochar's potential in his response to the following article (see 2nd comment):

What will happen to soil carbon as the climate changes? A team of scientists seeks answers

The ground beneath your feet could hide a sleeping giant. Globally, soils store three times as much carbon as there is in the atmosphere or in living plants.



Scientists don’t know what will happen to this carbon in response to climate change. It could enter the atmosphere as CO2, a greenhouse gas, and further accelerate climate change. But how much — and when — remain a mystery.

An international group of scientists has proposed a new approach to soil carbon research that seeks answers to these questions. Their roadmap is published in the October 6 issue of the journal Nature and is co-authored by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) soil scientist Margaret Torn.


Q: Can this research also help scientists develop climate change mitigation strategies?

A: As scientists, we’re driven by the idea that a more accurate understanding of the earth system will help us do a better job of being stewards. And that applies here.

Our research could help evaluate carbon emissions-reducing technologies such as biofuels and biological carbon sequestration. Michael Schmidt, a co-author of the Nature paper from the University of Zurich, has already found that biochar, which is charred material from wildfires or a kiln, is not stable as previously believed. It also readily decomposes. Some scientists had believed that biochar could be used to sequester carbon, but this may not be the case.

physorg

[Graeme]

Winning the Prize, Saving the Planet -- Winner of the 2011 ConocoPhillips Energy Prize Announce

The 2011 ConocoPhillips Energy Prize, a joint initiative between ConocoPhillips and Penn State, concluded today with its fourth annual mission to provoke and catalyze the 21st century energy revolution by awarding this year's prize to Ben Glass and Adam Rein for their innovation, "Aerostat Platform for Rapid Deployment Airborne Wind Turbine," a plan to make wind power literally leap out from the box by taking advantage of stronger and more-consistent winds higher in the air, seeking to hoist a wind-turbine up to 2,000 feet aloft.

The first runner up was Jason Aramburu, founder and CEO of re:char, and team for their entry, "Biochar Production for Climate Change Mitigation." This concept seeks to roll biochar out to the masses, with cheap recycled kilns that can churn out up to five tonnes of biochar each year.

marketwatch

[Graeme]

Could Biomass Technology Help Commercialize Biochar?

A nascent biochar industry is emerging in connection with biomass power technologies that coproduce electricity and char via gasification and pyrolysis.



A single source of biomass could ostensibly create multiple revenue streams, with systems calibrated to produce more electricity, biochar or bio-oil when one is more profitable than the other.

Research shows biochar improves soil fertility, decreases water pollution and even mitigates heavy metals. The charcoal-like substance has enthusiastic support from researchers and the sustainability movement, but it has been slow to commercialize.

“This is a brand new industry with a chicken-and-egg problem,” says Kelpie Wilson, project development director of the International Biochar Initiative. “You have lots of research but not a lot of supplies.”

For now, however, large biomass power producers are neither equipped to create biochar nor are they interested in making it. The creation of biochar leaves less energy for power production. Also, there is no established market for biochar in industrial agriculture.

Supporters say biomass operators will soon see more revenue from biochar since organic farmers and garden centers are starting to demand it for soil blending. EPA clean water regulations could open nutrient credit exchanges to biochar, setting the stage for a biochar boom in agriculture and environmental mitigation.


A 2010 study in Nature Communications says biochar is 20% more effective at mitigating climate change than bioenergy because it slows the rate carbon returns to the atmosphere while increasing agricultural productivity.

Biochar comes with inherent competing interests between biomass power and agriculture, but research and outreach efforts are starting to close the gap in understanding. Farmers say they will express greater interest in biochar coproduced with electricity if it is rooted in agriculture science.

“You don’t want to create a negative legacy by applying the wrong char to the wrong soil,” says Jeff Novak, a USDA soil scientist.

His research shows char produced at temperatures of 300 to 400 C have good qualities, but chars produced at temperatures exceeding 600 C can become alkaline. Chars that improve southern soil can also lead to nutrient imbalances in other regions.

Recognizing these concerns, the International Biochar Initiative has begun an effort to standardize and certify char products.

“Electricity production isn’t our focus, although we are very interested in energy capture when biochar is produced,” says Wilson, the group’s project development director. “The ultimate goal is to have an impact on climate change.”

renewableenergyworld

[Graeme]

ISU engineers create panel to advance a carbon negative economy

http://www.biomassmagazine.com/articles ... ve-economy

[Graeme]

Branson picks Carbondale biochar company as finalist for $25M prize

http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/150133

[erich]

The three main popular books on Biochar;
1) The hands down Best, most engaging book, a total page turner! and I'm not just saying this because of my help in content and editing, ($10 on ebay);

"The Biochar Solution" : http://www.newsociety.com/bookid/4078

2) Encyclopedic companion book, hands-on testimonials from across the industry and I'm not just saying this because of my help in content and editing;

"The Biochar Revolution" ; http://biochar-books.com/TBRDetails

3) three years old, not nearly as expansive, "The Biochar Debate" and I'm not just saying this because I didn't help in content or editing.

IBI Biochar Standards efforts;
Developing a Characterization Standard for Biochar
http://www.biochar-international.org/ch ... onstandard

My current best summery for thermal conversion you can review here;
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bioc ... ssage/3233
What we can do now with "off the shelf" technology, what I proposed in a 5 minute talk at the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, to the EPA chiefs of North America, titled;
The Establishment of Soil Carbon as the Universal Measure of Sustainability
The most cited soil scientist in the world (some say the universe ), Dr. Rattan Lal at OSU, was impressed with this talk, commending me on conceptualizing & articulating the concept.

[Graeme]

Findings on biochar, greenhouse gas emissions and ethylene

Adding a charred biomass material called biochar to glacial soils can help reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists.

Studies by scientists with USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are providing valuable information about how biochar-the charred biomass created from wood, plant material, and manure-interacts with soil and crops. As part of this effort, ARS scientists in St. Paul, Minn., are studying biochar activity in soils formed from glacial deposits.


After the researchers amended the soils with biochar at levels ranging from 2 to 60 percent, emission levels for the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide were suppressed at all amendment levels. But the suppression in nitrous oxide emission was notable only in soils amended with 20, 40 or 60 percent biochar.

The amended soils also had lower microbial production of carbon dioxide and lower volatilization rates for the pesticides atrazine and acetochlor. The scientists plan to follow these findings with new investigations on how volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in biochar affect soil microbe activity. As part of this work, they have already identified 200 different VOCs on some biochars.

Spokas and Baker also conducted the first study that documented the formation of ethylene, a key plant hormone that helps regulate growth, from biochar and soils amended with biochar. They found that ethylene production in biochar-amended, non-sterile soil was twice as high as ethylene production observed in sterile, biochar-amended soil.

This strongly suggests that soil microbes are active in this biochar-induced ethylene production. The scientists also believe ethylene might be involved in plants' reaction to biochar additions, since even low ethylene concentrations produce various plant responses.

physorg

[Shaved Monkey]

This is a good youtube for making your own if you have access to wood chips.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqkWYM7rYpU