Biochar

[Clive]

not sure if this has ever been discussed on here or not ?

anyone with experience ? looks logical to me

 

[Wastexprt]

not sure if this has ever been discussed on here or not ?

anyone with experience ? looks logical to me

I'm going to a Biochar conference tomorrow, I'll be extolling the virtues later this week

 

[Clive]

I'm going to a Biochar conference tomorrow, I'll be extolling the virtues later this week

were is that ? whose running it ?

 

[Wastexprt]

Biochar workshop at Aston University http://www.biochar.ac.uk/

 

[T C]

Bit about it here
http://www.nuffieldinternational.or...ick_Ward_Nuffield_Report_2009_final_draft.pdf
Was also on Country File the other week helping ash die back.

 

[ajd132]

Yes been to a talk about it. It's too expensive for a field scale. I think it's more aimed at high value tomatoe beds and things like that. I did get a free sample though!

 

[Wastexprt]

Very interesting morning, the afternoon was a little heavy going though..... I need to re-read my notes and pick out the salient bits. Generally looks worthwhile, although there is a huge amount, bacteria-wise, that needs to be learned.

 

[Chasingmytail]

we used Rootgrow when planting our thousands of agriforestry and new hedges this month. I'm not sure whether they are related in any way as this is very bacteria and fungi based product. Be interested in any findings. I did use Biochar on my new orchard trees last year but I have nothing to compare it with.

 

[bactosoil]

There is a real benefit from biochar but feed source has an effect as well as pore size of the biochar , being able to make biochar to have a consistent pore size can create favorable conditions to different ranges of bacteria and is already possible .Its also possible to switch on and off the accessibility of carbon to the soil that creates some interesting possibilities with the later leading to carbon sequestration and possible revenue streams .

 

[Wastexprt]

There is a real benefit from biochar but feed source has an effect as well as pore size of the biochar , being able to make biochar to have a consistent pore size can create favorable conditions to different ranges of bacteria and is already possible .Its also possible to switch on and off the accessibility of carbon to the soil that creates some interesting possibilities with the later leading to carbon sequestration and possible revenue streams .

Absolutely, as I learned on Tuesday, it is a hugely complex subject and the biochar characteristics can be manipulated through feedstock and 'burn' time choices. Not quite sure how it will scale up though?

One delegate mentioned that compost in Germany can be retailed for 5 Euros/m3, this price increased to 180 Euros/m3 with the addition of biochar. At present optimal application rate was deemed to be 1t/ha.

This was mentioned a few times http://www.biochar.info/biochar.terra-preta.cfml

 

[bactosoil]

finely controlled pyrolysis is already possible with good outputs but again the other variable is production method
and like all things as the technology and efficiency gets better the price will come down

 

[Wastexprt]

Absolutely.

Depending on whether fast, medium or slow pyrolysis techniques are used can influence the characteristics of the biochar, this includes pore size, porosity, liming value. So there is the capability of producing biochar for a specific end use.

Also, whether or not waste materials are used will have a substantial affect on costs. Sadly, the EA still see biochar as a waste, even when produced from crop residues etc.

 

[conor t]

What sort of application rates does it need?

 

[bactosoil]

as 360farmsupport said their is so much yet to learn but application rates will depend on what you are trying to achieve be it plant health , bacterial manipulation for soil health or carbon increase/sequestration .The biochars I have seen are now highly uniform and are being made in numerous ways with different feedstocks and are in prills and pellets rather than the rough ungraded materials that have been used previously but 1t/ha as previously said for uniform biochar would be a good starting point .

 

[teslacoils]

Sorry to resurrect this, but can anyone give me a brief idea of what this is? To my untrained eye, it looks like a way to take wood; add energy or burn the wood somehow releasing half of the carbon; then spreading the resulting gumf onto the soil. Why, if we are not looking to chop down trees / emit any carbon, is this stuff "a good thing"?

 

[Clive]

Sorry to resurrect this, but can anyone give me a brief idea of what this is? To my untrained eye, it looks like a way to take wood; add energy or burn the wood somehow releasing half of the carbon; then spreading the resulting gumf onto the soil. Why, if we are not looking to chop down trees / emit any carbon, is this stuff "a good thing"?

in a simplified nutshell you burn wood (or waste organic matter ideally) in the absence of oxygen so no co2 is released - you take the heat energy from that to produce power and the biochar (crushed charcoal basically) is a valuable soil improver ( tera preta as used by Inca civilisation)

you are effective locking the carbon of the waste or wood away in the soil - kinda like coal mining in reverse !

the reason it improves soil is its coral like structure basically increasing soil surface area dramatically making it biologically much better

 

[PSQ]

in a simplified nutshell you burn wood (or waste organic matter ideally) in the absence of oxygen so no co2 is released - you take the heat energy from that to produce power and the biochar (crushed charcoal basically) is a valuable soil improver ( tera preta as used by Inca civilisation)

you are effective locking the carbon of the waste or wood away in the soil - kinda like coal mining in reverse !

the reason it improves soil is its coral like structure basically increasing soil surface area dramatically making it biologically much better

And it's a very stable form of 'carbon capture' (can't comment on the veracity of the link, looks a bit hippy dippy):

Back to the Future: Terra Preta – Ancient Carbon Farming System for Earth Healing in the 21st Century - The Permaculture Research Institute

Terra Preta, meaning "Black Earth" in Portuguese, is a soil building technique developed b

www.permaculturenews.org

 

[Wastexprt]

in a simplified nutshell you burn wood (or waste organic matter ideally) in the absence of oxygen so no co2 is released - you take the heat energy from that to produce power and the biochar (crushed charcoal basically) is a valuable soil improver ( tera preta as used by Inca civilisation)

you are effective locking the carbon of the waste or wood away in the soil - kinda like coal mining in reverse !

the reason it improves soil is its coral like structure basically increasing soil surface area dramatically making it biologically much better

I would say 'heat' rather than 'burn'. It's charcoal basically.

 

[SilliamWhale]

It's rubbish.

Based on something from rainforest soils way back which do have a problem holding onto nutrients. Foolishly extrapolated above and beyond what it needs to be and it would be expensive.

Possibly at garden scale level it has a merit but even then there are more practical alternatives

 

[teslacoils]

But surely it's better to *not* burn the wood? Or is this more a way to divert a waste stream somewhere else?