Turning Plants into Charcoal Cuts Carbon Dioxide Emissions

A process called pyrolysis makes biofuel and biochar, a fertilizer that keeps carbon in the ground.

Kevin Bullis 08/10/2010

9 Comments

Converting plant material into biochar--a type of charcoal--could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 12 percent a year, according to a new analysis published in Nature Communications. The study concludes that in most cases, this is a better use of biomass than burning it in power plants.

The process of making biochar involves exposing biomass to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. This produces oil, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide--all of which can be made into biofuels--as well as biochar, which can be applied to cropland as a fertilizer. And because biochar traps carbon, the process is a way to sequester carbon dioxide, offsetting carbon dioxide emissions.

The article is publicly available here. Researchers have been making the case for biochar for years, although some argue that other approaches to reducing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere could have a bigger effect.

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ryuuguu

44 Comments

545 Days Ago
08/11/2010

the here link is not public

The here link is not public it leads to an MIT only site. even if you sign up for the account it just says the content is MIT only.

DJTal

154 Comments

545 Days Ago
08/11/2010

Re: the here link is not public

It is pretty easy to find just by typing 'nature communications' in a search engine.

howiem

16 Comments

545 Days Ago
08/11/2010

Re: the here link is not public

Correct - the direct link is http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v1/n5/full/ncomms1053.html

Vailhem

8 Comments

545 Days Ago
08/11/2010

Pyrolysis

I went to the US Biochar Conference at Iowa State a few months back... have to say, very impressive but still has a few years to go.
The few companies that had machines there will, unfortunately, be dwarfed by large scale systems producing it.
I came away from it feeling very optimistic about the future of it as an industry. The Cornell facility recently constructed should really take the field a long way as far as getting the raw materials and research done that will really prove how viable this 'product' is.

erichj

8 Comments

544 Days Ago
08/12/2010

Current Research

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.

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.

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http://archaeologyexcavations.blogspot.com/2010/08/time-traveling-via-satellite.html

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

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.

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

dyslectic not dumb

4 Comments

524 Days Ago
09/01/2010

Re: Current Research

I wonder why no mention is made of the energy cost. Growing the biomass, harvesting it, transporting it to the prosseing plant, heating it, transporting the char back to the fields, spreading it, converting the byproducts to useable fules, transporting them to a prosseing plant, getting the resaulting fuels to market, and the secondary cost of building the specilized equpment needed to support thes processes. So is this truley a energy greater or a energy user.

Did You Know that there is a natural prosses that use to perform this function. It is called a forest fire, ware fire storms, and hot spotes get so entance that they produce increadbile tempetures and near zero oxegin leaves. Woops that is right we must pertect the oh so inportant forest and not let fires burn millons of squar miles, instead of acers the way they use to.

Some days i think we are to smart for our own good. We have become so good at understanding ever smaller detalis of how things work. That we forget to study the bigger system our reserch target fits into.

For example. We look at a forest fire, and all we see is all the CO2 beining released into the air becuse that is what we are studying. So we miss all the carbon being sequestered in the ash, char, and charcoal.

Ken Bourne

1 Comment

508 Days Ago
09/17/2010

Re: Current Research

Instead of allowing the residue to escape into the atmosphere and add carbon dioxide during the process of creating bio-char, the captured gases and oil can create 9-14 times more energy than that required to produce it. There are machines available today that can drive to farms and convert farm waste, including manure into charcoal which can be utilized in the farm soil. The gas and oil produced is used as a fuel for these vehicles. If this process is taken further with larger machines, turning organic garbage and sewage sludge into bio-char would clean our water supply, reduce the amount taken to landfills and stop the pollution of our oceans. Buried in the soil of farms and forests the charcoal will last for thousands of years.The Amazon farmers have proven this when they used charcoal 1000 years ago! And it is still there! It will help the bacteria in the soil to produce more nutrients for the plants they feed, act as a filter to reduce ground water pollution, and sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually. The oil and gases could be used to create electricity and reduce our use of fossil fuels. With all this industry it would create many jobs, reduce poverty and illnesses ( if combined with the regeneration of our topsoil by the addition of rock dust). Second and third class agricultural land could be brought into production and if done worldwide would go far to reduce or even reverse global warming. When the oil runs out, which it will, we will have a readily available fuel created by humans!

erichj

8 Comments

530 Days Ago
08/26/2010

Not Covered in Nature article

Not talked about in this otherwise comprehensive study are the climate and whole ecological implications of new , higher value, applications of chars.

First, the insitu remediation of a vast variety of toxic agents in soils and sediments.
Biochar Sorption of Contaminants; http://www.biorenew.iastate.edu/events/biochar2010/conference-agenda/agenda-overview/breakout-session-5/agriculture-forestry-soil-science-and-environment.html

Dr. Lima's work; Specialized Characterization Methods for Biochar http://www.biorenew.iastate.edu/events/biochar2010/conference-agenda/agenda-overview/breakout-session-4/production-and-characterization.html

And at USDA; The Ultimate Trash To Treasure: *ARS Research Turns Poultry Waste into Toxin-grabbing Char
http://www.ars.usda.gov/IS/AR/archive/jul05/char0705.htm

Second, the uses as a feed ration for livestock to reduce GHG emissions and increase disease resistance.

Third, Recent work by C. Steiner showing a 52% reduction of NH3 loss when char is used as a composting accelerator. This will have profound value added consequences for the commercial composting industry by reduction of their GHG emissions and the sale of compost as a nitrogen fertilizer.

newbiocharland

1 Comment

380 Days Ago
01/23/2011

biochar book

You want to know all the secrets about biochar ?
This book will help !

http://www.biochar-books.com

Here practice and theory merge under a single cover of "The Biochar Revolution" and reveals hidden secrets of science called Biochar

Bio

Kevin Bullis is Technology Review’s energy editor.

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