More applied research examples from Australia,

“The North East CMA has been working with a range of partners to develop a mobile pyrolysis plant which can turn woody waste into Biochar, which can then be used for agricultural production. The CMA has also undertaken a range of trials of Biochar in the region to test how this works in an agricultural production system.”

Thanks to Frank Strie at Terra-Preta Developments in Tasmania (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-22/agribusiness-biochar-tas/5111096) for pointing to this work. Frank has commented on their use of ‘raw’ char…

...”So far just as in Tassie, fresh, ‘pure char’ researched without charging /composting it first with nutrients etc. …

1. This may change…   
   I think if we would try to compare brand new, high quality car & tractor batteries installed in good equipment without charging them first, 
   we would be just as disappointed with the performance.  Or not? 
   One crucial point that needs to be realized around the world, to make it economical and optimum effective, the cascading use of char is the way forward.

   Without the change to cascading use of char (like filter char – come biochar) www.ithaka-journal.net/55-anwendungen-von-pflanzenkohle?lang=en View shared post

Hans-Peter Schmidt – Dec 29, 2012″