Biochar research yields significant results
Biomass Magazine
August 2010
By Anna Austin
Posted August 12, 2010, at 12:18 p.m. CST
Although it will not solve climate change entirely, biochar has the potential to mitigate up to a tenth of current greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study.
The extensive research paper, which has been in the works for several years, centered on the carbon sequestration capabilities of biochar was published this week in Nature Communication, and co-author James Amonette hopes it will have great influence on those in the scientific community who doubt biochar’s climate mitigation potential.
Amonette, a soil scientist at the U.S. DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, said he has wanted to conduct a solid biochar study for the past several years and finally got started in 2009 after discussions with study co-author Dominic Woolf of Swansea University in Wales. “We are extremely concerned about climate change and ways to mitigate it, and independently arrived at the conclusion that biochar is something that nobody has done a real thorough study on,” he said. “We’d done some quick calculations, but nobody knew whether the numbers would be at 90 gigatons or 1 gigaton of carbon per year.”
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2 comments:
Agriculture allowed our cultural accent and Agriculture will now prevent our descent.
Wise Land management; Organic farming and afforestation can build back our soil carbon,
Biochar allows the soil food web to build much more recalcitrant organic carbon, ( living biomass & Glomalins) in addition to the carbon in the biochar.
Every 1 ton of Biomass yields 1/3 ton Charcoal for soil Sequestration (= to 1 Ton CO2e) + Bio-Gas & Bio-oil fuels = to 1MWh exported electricity, so is a totally virtuous, carbon negative energy cycle. Modern Pyrolysis units are closed-loop, the only emissions produced are from combustion of the Syn-gas & oil.
Biochar viewed as soil Infrastructure; The old saw;
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Feed the Soil Not the Plants\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" becomes;
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Feed, Cloth and House the Soil, utilities included !\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\".
Free Carbon Condominiums with carboxyl group fats in the pantry and hydroxyl alcohol in the mini bar.
Build it and the Wee-Beasties will come.
Microbes like to sit down when they eat.
By setting this table we expand husbandry to whole new orders & Kingdoms of life.
( These oxidised surface charges; carbonyl. hydroxyl, carboxylic acids, and lactones or quinones, have as well a role as signaling substances towards bacteria, fungi and plants.)
This is what I try to get across to Farmers, as to how I feel about the act of returning carbon to the soil. An act of penitence and thankfulness for the civilization we have created. Farmers are the Soil Sink Bankers, once carbon has a price, they will be laughing all the way to it.
Unlike CCS which only reduces emissions, biochar systems draw down CO2 every energy cycle, closing a circle back to support the soil food web. The photosynthetic \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"capture\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" collectors are up and running, the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"storage\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" sink is in operation just under our feet. Pyrolysis conversion plants are the only infrastructure we need to build out.
Another significant aspect of low cost Biomass cook stoves that produce char is removal of BC aerosols and no respiratory disease emissions. At Scale, replacing \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Three Stone\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" stoves the health benefits would equal eradication of Malaria & Aids !
Google; The Biochar Fund :
Exceptional results from biochar experiment in Cameroon
The broad smiles of 1500 subsistence farmers say it all ( that , and the size of the Biochar corn root balls )
Also Google ; US Biochar Conference 2010, at ISU
To me, in the long run, the final arbiter / accountancy / measure of sustainability will be
soil carbon content. Once this royal road is constructed, traffic cops ( Carbon Board ) in place, the truth of land-management and Biochar systems will be self-evident.
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.
NASA’s Space Archaeology; $364K Terra Preta Program
http://archaeologyexcavations.blogspot.com/2010/08/time-traveling-via-satellite.html
WorldStoves in Haiti ; http://www.charcoalproject.org/2010/05/a-man-a-stove-a-mission/ and
The Biochar Fund http://biocharfund.org/ deserves your attention and support.
Exceptional results from biochar experiment in Cameroon
NSF Awards $600K to BREAD: Biochar Inoculants for Enabling Smallholder Agriculture
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0965336
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/biochar_report_lowres.pdf
This new study has shown good results. As it can mitigate the effects up to the tenth of the greenhouse emissions.
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