A new biochar research literature database by Jacob Jeffers has been getting a lot of kudos in the biochar community. I’ve added a link to the Links page.
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One of our group members has supplied the following report…
“After consulting with a few international experts and a few knowledgeable local people, we took their cautions seriously and decided to start with a small “open burn” rather than a trench burn which we originally intended. Recently we tried this for the first time on a small scale. The idea was to build a pyramid of wood (the base of ours was about 1 meter square) and light it from the top (rather than the bottom as in a more normal bonfire type burn.) This is called a pyrolysis pyramid, and it is the way charcoal has been made by Jack Daniels for a very long time (they filter their whiskey though charcoal.) As well as lighting from the top there is a need to hose the pile with water in places that it are burning too hot and forming ash rather than charcoal. The trial was successful in that we did end up with a nice pile of good quality charcoal. However to do this on a larger scale is daunting because of the amount of water that would be required to control the burn. Our next plan is to do an open trench burn (rather than covering the trench which is when the risk of explosions apparently increases.) Small cautious steps, and lots of learning along the way. (Photos below).
We’d like to come up with something simple that works on a large scale, and encourage foresters and horticulturists in our area to deal with their waste wood in this way and then enrich depleted soils with the biochar produced. …. a long term goal but one very worth pursuing, especially in light of the latest IPCC report. As you know, there is an urgency not just to cut global emissions, but to actually take carbon out of the atmosphere and lock it away safely for a very long time. Biochar is coming to be seen worldwide as one of the”solutions” to mitigate climate change.
I did watch the video Biochar – The Next Stage In Climate Action on your website and found it inspiring.
Comments on our project very welcome, cheers,
Katerina Seligman, on behalf of “The Renewables, Motueka” “
Opinion: Where is agriculture’s place in a low-carbon economy?
One important focus area for biochar in NZ is water quality butting up against intensive dairy. Maybe this could be addressed in the future with more research on riparian margin biochar applications for P & N management.
Urine patching is another issue that has a biochar solution but how to solve economic issues?
This article has some comment on biochar.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/
“Lincoln University Professor of Biogeochemistry Leo Condron has been studying soil chemistry for three decades. He believes there’s “incredible potential” to use land management to alter CO2 and nitrous oxide emissions in New Zealand. Some farm management techniques are now well-proven. Only use as much fertiliser as you need and target it well. Don’t send animals onto wet paddocks. Others seem to have potential. One of Condron’s studies involved applying biochar – charcoal made from waste biomass – to the kind of soil that’s found under dairy land. The result? A “massive” reduction, both in the lab and in the field, in nitrous oxide loss.Biochar doubles as a waste management and carbon sequestration tool as it stabilises and stores the carbon from the materials such as sawdust used to make it. The catch, Condron says, is that the best results in the test came from applying the equivalent of 30 tonnes of biochar per hectare, which isn’t currently practical.“At the end of the day, it has to be economic,” he says. “For individual farmers, it’s never going to be economic for a single farmer to make biochar. How do they make it?””
I think farmers or farmer co-op’s could make their own biochar in the future using farm biomass as & when available. So, if 30 T/ha of biochar is a reasonable number to solve the urine patch / nitrous oxide issue then how do we get there? Some thoughts…
- add slowly, over a number of years
- animal feed supplement
- biogas catalyst for dairy shed wash water recycling
- reseeding mix
- fertilizer mix (organic, biological, NPK-C)
- carbon farming payments
- urea tax (N-tax)
- P&N stripping at sewage treatment plants using biochar for water polishing (‘subsidized’ and pre-charged with P&N for return to the land),
On the first item only: Lets assume supplementary feeding of biochar to dairy cows proves to be good pathway. Ignoring the potential methane reduction and animal health benefits… How long would it take to get 30T/ha thru cows & into the pasture? NZ averages just under 3 cows /Ha so you could say how long to pass 10T biochar thru a cow. Herd homes and feed pads are becoming more common in NZ to reduce pasture impact but the biochar would still end up on/in the soil (some losses). Assuming the herd had access to supplementary feed (& biochar) for 250 D/yr…. If they were feed 100gms /day = 400yrs. Even a 1kg/day = 40yrs and this excludes losses in the system. So what sort of animal feed rates are being considered by the scientists?
My thinking is that this pathway to the soil can only be complimentary to other systems.
But 30T/ha may be more than is needed in many scenarios, anyway?
See also:
Recommended viewing. A few missed opportunities in the first half for incorporating biochar applications but about 30min in, Dr Todd starts discussing soil formation and biochar.
I’ve been exploring the NZRS website, searching their history on biochar reporting. A search on ‘biochar’ on their website pulls information back to 2007. I list and link some of this below…
Oct-2013 – 10. Branch event: ‘Biochar in New Zealand’, 15 October, Palmerston North The Royal Society of New Zealand Manawatu Branch presents a talk by Associate Professor Marta Camps.
May-2011 – reference to RadioNZ report on biochar: “It’s been heralded as ‘black gold’, a way of improving the soil and of mitigating climate change by locking away carbon. But what exactly is biochar, how do you make it, and how do you find out what it does in the soil? To find out more about this ‘super charcoal’ Alison Ballance meets soil biologist Marta Camps and chemical engineer Jim Jones at Massey University’s Biochar Research Centre.” RadioNZ OurChangingWorld link
Mar-2011 – http://royalsociety.org.nz/expert-advice/information-papers/yr2011/geo-engineering-an-interactive-workshop/ “The workshop explored recent research into geo-engineering options. The range of proposals is large and expanding, including increasing soil carbon and sequestering biochar, avoiding deforestation, increased mineral weathering, and ocean fertilisation.” This links to a presentation from Prof. Jim Jones.
Sep-2009 – “Geoengineering no replacement for reducing greenhouse gas emissions: The Royal Society of London released a major report on geoengineering – the science of actively intervening in the climate. The Royal Society of New Zealand commented on the report from a New Zealand context, where proposals for afforestation, biochar and biofuels, and ocean fertilisation are most relevant. However, no proposal is a silver bullet to solve climate change.” http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/expert-advice/information-papers/yr2009/geoengineering-commentary/ This policy(?) document is nearly 5 years old. It would be interesting to know if there is any shift in this ‘neutral’ report on biochar.
RNZ’s Our Changing World has reported on Carbonscape activities at Glenbrook steel mill looking to the potential for the production of ‘bio-coke’. Biochar is briefly mention in association with Carbonscape’s historical development activities.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ourchangingworld/audio/2588575/clean-technology
Dr Paul Taylor has visited NZ from Oz in the cause of biochar. Similar voices to his are currently missing from agriculture and environmental discourse in NZ. He has sensible things to say in this ABC radio interview.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-11/biochar-revolutionary/5313028
Paul Taylor’s book: The Biochar Revolution…
http://sea-biochar.blogspot.com/2010/12/another-new-biochar-book-biochar.html
Here is another well made demonstration video on simple biochar production. This relates to another ‘managed combustion’ system – providing much better environmental outcomes than just burning biomass but still wasteful on the energy front.
See also:
Last night, Prime TV aired the third episode of ‘Keeping it Pure’ which was focused on water… “Most of New Zealand’s monitored waterways are polluted, but how has this happened and is it possible to turn things around?”
I think they did a good job but in ignorance of biochar as a possible tool to solve some of these issues. I hope to make contact with some of the scientists and other folk featured in the documentary to engage with them on biochar. If you know any of these people, it would be very helpful to point them at biochar and this website.
The link I had no longer works but I’ve found the trailer which sets the scene (episode 3). If I find access to the complete documentary, I will post a comment…
http://www.greenstonetv.com/programmes/documentaries/society/keeping-it-pure/