Comments on: Maybe bio-char does have a part to play

By: ebattleon

ebattleon — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:39:02 +0000

I see several issues…
1) The person pushing it is “Rich” there is no altruism in his concept so there is going in the long run an environmental disaster down the line.
2) Bio-char is not just charcoal, it is incompletely combusted wood with some (up to 40%) complex organic compounds. To control the carbonization you will need a extremely sophisticated system to carefully carbonize the wood. Too much it charcoal too little and your feeding termites which may be WORSE.
3) For it not to be consuming large amount of either wood as fuel or fossil fuels for its transport it would have to be done in small local plants and returned to local farms.
4) If the spread of the bio-char is not just right you could end up with under soil fires which very difficult to extinguish.
5) Terrapreta earths are only seen in tropical rainforest’s and may not be applicable or should I say reproducible outside of Tropics.

Note I am not dumping on the idea of biochar, it is potentially and important part of sustainable environmental solutions. However there need to be quite a bit of research to see if it will work outside of tropical rain forest before we can call it a panacea for human driven global warming.

By: new_biochar_land

new_biochar_land — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 18:27:26 +0000

You must read this
“The Biochar Revolution” with “The Biochar Solution”

The Biochar Revolution collects the results and best practical advice that these entrepreneurs have to offer to the biochar community. When practice and theory advance to the point where they meet in the middle, then we will truly see a biochar revolution.

By: Berry Go Rounder, 6th edition « Seeds Aside

Berry Go Rounder, 6th edition « Seeds Aside — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:59:51 +0000

[...] Agricultural Biodiversity is digging questions around the soil richness and woofs or goofs around possible carbon sequestration. Take some time to dig through yourself and vote for science, for there’s still plenty to do. [...]

By: Chuck Yokota

Chuck Yokota — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:42:21 +0000

Yes, continuous process pyrolysers are being developed; a batch process is just a simple example of the basic principle.

By: back40

back40 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:32:46 +0000

That’s an accurate description of a batch process, but aren’t there also continuous feed systems in development?

By: Chuck Yokota

Chuck Yokota — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:28:53 +0000

The pyrolysis process in itself is endothermic, but it produces three types of products:
* Charcoal
* Noncombustible gases (mostly steam)
* Combustible gases – carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane, and vaporized organic compounds.

There is more than enough energy in the combustible gases, if it is burned to heat the pyrolysis chamber, to drive the pyrolysis process. This is shown in barrel kilns, which after an initial startup with an outside fire, are self-sustaining until the process is complete, even with lost heat.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:23:15 +0000

Is there enough energy gain from pyrolysis? I thought the process was endothermic.

EGS does look interesting, I agree.

By: back40

back40 — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:57:23 +0000

Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) have much to recommend them as ubiquitous sources of energy that can be used to synthesize all manner of commodities – such as liquid fuels for transportation – from air, rocks and water.

The net energy gain from pyrolysis might be best used for synthesis of fertilizer, squaring the circle so to speak, since it results in more biomass. When integrated into the biochar production system – such as with Eprida’s system of nitrogen doped biochar – the result is a timed release fertilizer that has greater effect and less loss to leaching or denitrifying bacteria, and so fewer GHG emissions. Less fertilizer is needed for increased yield and less environmental stress.

I think of it as environmental jiu-jitsu, finesse rather than brute force.

By: Duane Pendergast

Duane Pendergast — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:55:46 +0000

Nuclear energy can be integrated into agricultural systems so we will have enough energy to drive the pyrolisis and provide for human needs as well.

http://www.computare.org/publications.htm

By: Inoculated Mind

Inoculated Mind — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:09:35 +0000

Well, solar and wind can apply to cars if the cars are plug-in hybrids that get charged up by them for the regular commute.

We’re going to have to do something, because even right now, with gas ONLY at $4/gallon, politicians are talking about doing more drilling, and will probably not blink about approving more coal power plants. Even though the long-term sustainability of biofuels is in question given current methods, surely it must be better than that?

Welcome to the secret bio-char fan club – I came across it a couple years ago and mentioned it on my show. Since then, it’s been popping up again and again and sounds more promising.