Bio-char / Agri-char / Terra Preta: Its potential use for carbon sequestration, improved soil fertility and sustainable (carbon-negative) energy production, ...and poverty reduction
Last updated: 17/12/2007  Rick Davies  | Home

  1. The basic idea: What is bio-char, how is different from charcoal? What use is it? Isn't planting trees good enough?

  2. Information sources on bio-char: Journal / magazine articles | Discussion Fora | Conferences |  Specialist websites |

  3. Some suggestions for research & practice: What is needed if poor rural communities are to benefit from bio-char 
1. The basic idea
  • What is bio-char, how is different from charcoal? 
    • Bio-char is bio-mass (wood, plants, plant waste) that has been converted to charcoal, but ...
      • Not for the purpose of burning it as a fuel, instead it is retained and used in other ways (see below)
      • Volatile fluids and gasses are captured and used, whereas with traditional charcoal production these "go up in smoke"
    • Bio-char is produced by pyrolysis: heating in the absence of oxygen, which prevents burning of the biomass (which happens in open fires)

  • What use is it? 
    • Bio-char, and its byproducts, has multiple uses
      • When added to the soil it can significantly improve soil fertility (especially if some volatiles are left or re-cycled back in) 
      • The volatile fluids and gasses produce usable bio-fuels, that can be produced on a sustainable basis
      • The carbon, when recycled into the soil, provides a stable long term removal of carbon (dioxide) from the atmosphere. Removing carbon from the atmosphere is called sequestration

  • Isn't planting trees good enough? (as a means of carbon sequestration)
    • Growing trees takes a long time
    • There is a finite limit to how much carbon an acre of forest can store
    • When trees die they decay and release carbon into the atmosphere via CO2 and methane
      • It is estimated that as little as 10% of the carbon captured by trees remains in the soil over the long term
    • But if trees are coppiced, the harvested biomass can be used to produce a continual source of bio-char. Or if they are harvested for other purposes and the incidental waste is used as a feedstock for bio-char production (e.g. in forestry or sugar can production).
2. Information Sources on bio-char
Journal /  Magazine articles                                                                           See also Technorati and Del.icio.us  tagged articles re biochar
Discussion Fora
  • Terra Preta Discussion List and Website at Bioenergylists.org. Tabbed sections on Authors, Organisations, Bibliography, Charcoal Uses, Companies, materials, Plants and Soils, CO2. And second set of tabs: About, Discussion Archives, Events, Join Terra Preta Discussion, Resources, Video.  "This new addition ("Terra Preta") to the suite of bioenergy lists is going to strive to be the primary world web location for technical discussions on a new possible important use for biomass... We have chosen the term "Terra Preta" (hereafter TP to save typing) as most of your search hits on these words will return valuable information. The term fits well-enough with the five other biomass-oriented discussion lists (bioenergy, stoves, gasification, bioconversion, anaerobic digestion) – all of which have the world-wide audience that we hope the Portuguese words for “Black Earth” will also connote. However, the topics to be discussed here are also known as "biochar" and "agrichar". Still other names will certainly appear and perhaps cause us to rename this site -which we are starting this day so that there is a convenient single site for dialog of the type found on the other "bioenergylists". Highly recommended

  • Hypography Science Forums, on Terra Preta
Conferences

Specialist websites
  • The International Agrichar Initiative (IAI):
    • "The International Agrichar Initiative is an informal, newly-formed coalition of research, commercial and policy-oriented people and organizations devoted to the sustainability of the world’s soils, and to sustainable bio-energy production.  Agrichar production and utilization can renew the world’s soils through the addition of organic carbon, which can help solve the pressing problem of global climate change.  The Agrichar production process also converts agricultural waste into valuable bio-fuels. "
    • During the 18th World Congress of Soil Science (WCSS) in July 2006 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a group of scientists, business interests, policy experts and others met to discuss the research priorities and challenges of this important area.  The result is the International Agrichar Initiative, a movement to pursue a more organized research, development and commercialization effort to further the promise of Agrichar. See the International Agrichar Initiative 2007 Conference above

  • CarbonNegative
    • "CarbonNegative.info is brought to you by Eprida. We are a company committed to putting CO2 back into the ground. Our webpage can be found at www.eprida.com We have provided this website to strengthen the community of scientists needed to promote carbon negative methods. This site provides a collection of related journal articles and other publications for members, as well as several other exciting features. If you have questions or have run into something unexpected during out beta testing phase, please click here. Read below to learn about the features available to our members." (Posted 12/03/07)

  • BioChar.org (Balance carbon and restore soil fertility)
    • Consulting services provided by Chrisoph Steiner. Website includes documents and videos and events listings on bio-char

3. Bio-char and the reduction of poverty: Some suggestions

  • Develop simple and low cost bio-char technologies that are usable in poor agriculture-based economies in Africa and Asia. [simple and low cost = not expensive to mass produce, or which are locally producable]. Simple charcoal production techniques have existed for thousands of years but what is now needed are:
    • Methods that combine energy efficient cooking and biochar making functions togerther. See Robert Flanagan's Biochar Stove: Carbon Negative Cooking
    • Methods that minimise the energy costs of producing biochar, especially those involving burning of biomass and release of CO2.  These could include use of solar energy and the recycling and use of combustable gasses produced during pyrolysis
    • Methods of processesing and storing combustable gasses produced during pyrolysis, for other fuel uses. These include methane.
    • Research on best ways to recycle volatile oils produced during pyrolysis back into the dry bio-char which results from pyrolysis, to increase the nutrient value of the biochar to colonising mycorrhizal fungi. 
    • Research on the relative value of different types of biomass, in terms of their charcoal yield, flamable gasses and volatile oils that can enrich the biochar.
    • Research on the risks of producing biochar: from handling the products of pyrolysis products and from working with flamable processes and products

  • Enable poor communities to participate in carbon credit  and carbon offset markets. The Markets for the Poor project in Vietnam,  funded by DFID and ADB, are currently investigating this possibility. NGOs could act as aggregators of supply and interact with companies who aggregate and intermediate demand from socially and environmentally companies and  individuals. Some examples already are emerging, though I have not yet investigated any of these in detail  (Carbon Footprint & ESCONET Kenya, Climatecare, Offsetters, Cooldrivepass).  NGOs could:
    • Help poor rural communities increase incomes through selling carbon credits / offsets, in addition to the locally generated benefits from the use of bio-char and its products, as outlined above
    • Help raise standards and expectations about levels of transparency about the source and permanence of carbon credits / offsets. 
    • Help increase the price of carbon credits, by appealing to donation-type purchasers who dont actually want to use their carbon credits (see Global Cool). These purchasers are effectively "retiring" the carbon credits they purchase, helping make the whole system carbon negative rather than carbon neutral.
Other NGOs could also act as independent source of information on these carbon credit services. They could provide information on:
  • The relative value of  the different forms of carbon sequestration that are being provided by community level activities, via NGOs.
  • What share these local communities get of profits earned from selling their carbon credits via NGOs
  • The transparency of the NGOs in regard to their relationships with local communities
For example, see Clean Air Cool Planet Dec 2006 report: Consumers’ Guide to Retail Carbon Offset Providers.

See also, Tim Flannery's "A New Industrial Revolution" for Australia, in the Bulletin, February 2007, page 19, which included pyrolysis as on six main steps that needed to be taken:
  • "Foster pyrolysis based technologies in Australia. These technologies convert crop waste into fuel and charcoal (which can be used to enhance soil fertility and store carbon long term). Using this technology and natural gas, we should be independent of foreign oil imports by 2025. This will involve the development of much infrastructure in rural Australia."

And other observations

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