Biochar

Biochar 

Sustainable biochar is a powerfully simple tool to fight global warming. This 2,000 year-old practice converts agricultural waste into a soil enhancer that can hold carbon, boost food security, and discourage deforestation. Sustainable biochar is one of the few technologies that is relatively inexpensive, widely applicable, and quickly scalable.

Latest Developments in Biochar

IBI Helps Two Biochar Projects Receive Funding through the National Geographic Great Energy Challenge

IBI is thrilled to announce our assistance in gaining funding of over $140,000 from world-renowned National Geographic for two biochar projects. IBI collected details on potential projects and then narrowed down the selection to best fit National Geographic’s Great Energy Challenge. National Geographic opted to fund two projects: the Estufa Finca project in Costa Rica and the African Christians Organization Network (ACON) in Kenya. IBI helped the projects in Costa Rica and Kenya to articulate their ideas and write full proposals. National Geographic decided to fund both programs and each group has received a grant of $72,000 to expand their respective biochar stove programs.
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Terra Preta Closes the Loop in Germany

By Kelpie Wilson
It is no great surprise that Germany, a country that is leading the world in renewable energy generation, would have a strong community of biochar researchers and practitioners. Not wanting to miss out on an opportunity to see some cutting-edge biochar work, I made sure to arrive a day early for the IBI Biochar Characterization Standards meeting in Frankfurt, Germany. Development specialist and Frankfurt area resident Christa Roth (author of the GIZ Micro-Gasification Manual) kindly agreed to help me set up visits and drive me to see ongoing biochar research at the University of Giessen and the Palaterra biochar compost facility at Hengstbacherhof.
BIOCHAR DIVERSITY
We met researcher Claudia Kammann at her lab at the Department of Plant Ecology, University of Giessen, 60 km north of Frankfurt. Dr. Kammann has worked on characterizing a variety of biochars and hydrochars (hydrochars are produced by hydrothermal carbonization). Some of her recent publications have looked at biochar’s role in drought tolerance and metal uptake by plants in sandy soils, and she is now developing a set of simple, cheap and easy biotoxicity tests (variations of worm avoidance tests and plant germination tests) that will accurately identify toxic substances in a charred material.
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Photo: Claudia Kammann at the FACE site. Courtesy of Kelpie Wilson.

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Profile: CSIRO Sustainable Agriculture Flagship: Leading Biochar Research Activities in Australia

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is Australia's national science agency and one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world. As part of CSIRO’s National Flagship Program, under the Sustainable Agriculture Flagship (SAF), two national biochar research projects are being carried out by the biochar research team, led by Dr Evelyn Krull, and funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry's Climate Change Research Program and the Grains Research & Development Corporation.

CSIRO’s step into biochar research was initiated through a Visiting Fellowship granted to Dr. Johannes Lehmann, Cornell University, USA in 2007. The CSIRO group had been working on charcoal in soils for many years (which was a component of the research with Dr. Lehmann). The first international biochar conference, held in Terrigal Australia, corresponded with Dr. Lehmann’s visit to CSIRO. That international conference, combined with the fact that Dr. Lehmann was in the process of editing and writing Biochar for Environmental Management with Dr. Stephen Joseph, enticed the CSIRO team to contribute a chapter to the book. These events and experiences highlighted the important role of biochar and motivated CSIRO to commission a biochar review.
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Photo: CSIRO team, courtesy of CSIRO

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Profile: re:char—Creating Affordable Opportunities for Biochar Production and use in Western Kenya

Jason Aramburu started working on biochar as a research scientist in 2005, through Princeton's Climate Mitigation Initiative and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and in 2008 formed re:char. His initial intention was to develop fast and slow pyrolysis systems for farms in the US, however after he connected with an organization in Western Kenya, Aramburu saw a real need for biochar and a great potential for rapid scale-up. re:char now focuses its work to empower subsistence farmers in the developing world to enhance their crop yields and supplement their income through biochar production and use (which can also improve soils and sequester carbon). The organization has raised over $370,000 to date to support this work. Specific funders include the Hitachi Foundation, Echoing Green, the Dutch Postcode Lottery, and DOEN Foundation.
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Photo: Biochar in soils compared to chemical fertilizers; courtesy of re:char.

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Gaining Theoretical and Practical Experience with TLUDs at Stove Camp

By Thayer Tomlinson
I had the pleasure of joining about 25 other participants to learn how to design, build, and operate small gasifiers at the CHAB camp (Combined Heat and Biochar) August 7 – 12th. Run by the Biomass Energy Foundation (BEF), the camp was located at the New England Small Farm Institute (NESFI) in Belchertown MA (United States). With large indoor and outdoor facilities and tools, it was a perfect place to test and build gasifiers.
The camp’s three instructors Paul Anderson (Dr. TLUD), Hugh McLaughlin, and Tom Reed provided group lectures on gasification, thermodynamics, design, application, feedstock issues, and chemistry as well as hands on instruction. We examined existing rocket and TLUD (top lit updraft) stove models, learned about larger “ovens”—55 gallon TLUDs—and had the opportunity to put theories into practice by building our own gasifiers and testing them. Through lighting and operating the units, it became obvious which designs worked and which needed further revision. Participants also put our stoves to work by cooking meals and learned how the stoves behave “in the field” when rain and wind are very much present. We also had the ability to use multiple feedstocks such as switchgrass, woodchips, walnut shells, jatropha seeds, and pellets—with different moisture percentages.