Making (and understanding) Biochar

[Dennis Leahy]

Biochar holds great promise as a multi-use soil amendment. It is both a substance good for the environment (sequestering enormous quantities of CO2), and for agriculture (reclaiming/recreating the topsoil that AgriBiz has destroyed or let blow away.) However, this thread is for the home gardener, to discuss how to make enough biochar to kick your garden into high gear.

"Biochar" is charcoal made with low oxygen - pyrolysis - (and without all the petrochemical accelerants and 'binders/glue' used to make the charcoal briquettes sold in stores.)

Biochar is not the ash left over from burning wood ("potash.") Wood ash is a separate topic. It is a good nutrient for your garden, high in potassium. It is a bit caustic to plant roots (think "lye": "old fashioned" lye for lye soap is made using wood ash), so if you're going to use it, it should be turned into the soil in the fall, after harvest, and allowed to chemically mellow over the winter. Wood ash applied in spring will give you "scabs" on your potatoes, for example. Read more about wood ash here: Soil Acidity and Liming

So, now we know biochar is not wood ash, what is it?

Biochar is what remains after burning wood in a low oxygen fire.

Biochar is extremely porous, light, and readily adsorbs (like "absorb" but taken directly into the solids, not just filling empty chambers in the solids) gases and some nutrients. It is also absorbent, and helps the soil hold water and microorganisms. It breaks down slowly, adding its organic nutrients to the soil. Light and fluffy, it aerates the soil, keeps soil from compacting, and makes an environment that is more conducive for soil microorganisms to thrive. (Soil microorganisms break down organic matter and even inorganic matter - such as tiny pieces of rock - in the soil and make the nutrients and micronutrients "bio-available" to the plants.) As a bonus, if you ever need to create a cave painting, biochar should make excellent art medium - with a 32,000 year history of use.

I had thought the process of creating biochar was complicated and worse, would require a special oven to reduce the oxygen. I should have realized that there are low-tech solutions to making biochar, and archaeological digs in areas around the Amazon River indicate that the indigenous peoples used biochar for garden plots for hundreds if not thousands of years (in rainforest soil known to be worthless for agriculture after 3 to 5 years of gardening.)

Let's dive right in, and make some biochar!

Here's the first video that one of the Avalon members (do you wish to remain anonymous?) sent me in a PM:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ttr_8nJ_E6w

(for a couple of reasons, this may not be the way I'll make biochar, but it is a good introduction to the process and excellent to help understand why you don't simply want to make or buy biochar and just throw it into the garden without "priming" it first)
TLUD: Top-lit, Updraft
Pyrolysis: burning in low oxygen

My first thought after watching the above video was to use "rocket stove" technology, rather than a fan, as a rocket stove is already (low-tech) updraft technology and can be done without electricity.

That author came out with a second video:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=a5tDYxXQAY0

And here's a video showing a larger operation, using 55 gallon drums.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Kg95KYrH8PI

(zip ahead to about 45 seconds)


...and another video, showing four 55 gallon drums, used in sequence:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=dqkWYM7rYpU

(It seems to me this could be improved if the barrel was up on bricks, to allow the air to more easily flow under and up. Maybe that is why he gets some ash?

So, it does take some time and effort, but with a little bit of scrounging, you might get all the parts as junk for free, or else pay very little for the parts to make a pyrolysis stove. This is all new to me, but I will make and use one of these stoves this spring, and will have biochar in this year's garden!

Dennis

[spiritwind]

Thank you so much for posting these. We are definitely going to watch them. We're planning on assembling the materials to make our own rocket stoves which I was thinking of using to heat a green house. I love the idea of using discarded materials. I have a couple friends who grow most of their food too. I'm sure they'll find this info of use as well. You're efforts are appreciated Dennis.

[blufire]

Hi Dennis,

Out of respect for all you do I want to ask a question before I post my thoughts on Biochar.

Do you want to keep this thread solely for the small scale gardener and the option Biochar can give as a soil additive or . . . . do you also want to discuss the origins of Biochar and the true initiative behind it?

I am not saying Biochar is not a good option to use for poor soil quality or as a resource to organically alleviate biomass that needs to be effectively discarded. But, I also wonder if we as a forum should really understand where these products and ideas come from and the deeper reasons for their implementation?

Keep it warm and fuzzy or get down in the hard and dirty . . .???

A hint: Erich Knight is one of the founders or driving foundational force behind green technology and creation of Biochar as a business and industry.

The following is a simple google search:


Saving the World: Erich J. Knight's blog
http://www.savingtheworld.net/index....post/erich/204
Apr 23, 2009 – Make a Connection ... by Erich J. Knight .... Hosted by Monsanto, this group of diverse interests has been hammering out issues of definition, ...

[Delight]

Where did biochar techniques originate? Why, from the greatest soil scientists ever to grace the Americas. And variations were practiced in other places including European hugelkultur

In this video, I first heard about Terra Preta. I may have posted this before but am posting again. Excellent BBC documentary about the Search For El Dorado. It proves that the South American jungles were home to sophisticated cities feeding gigantic populations. It is truly a must view for all interested in ANYTHING (hehe)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=0Os-ujelkgw

I am curious about what BluFire means here? I am personally unable to think anything but Yippee about Biochar?

I am not saying Biochar is not a good option to use for poor soil quality or as a resource to organically alleviate biomass that needs to be effectively discarded. But, I also wonder if we as a forum should really understand where these products and ideas come from and the deeper reasons for their implementation?

Keep it warm and fuzzy or get down in the hard and dirty . . .???

One does want to be selective about charcoal..the kind of base and method of production.
The thing about biochar is that it makes a wonderful home for microbes, retains water and minerals that are added to the soil.
I am no expert but I have been studying some people who are expertshttp://www.subtleenergies.com/ormus/tw/biochar.htm

The following has worked very well IN COMBINATION for the health of my plants.
1. Biochar
2. Sea Minerals with most NaCl removed (ORMUS)
3. Microbes


There is also hugelkultur or woody beds: the ultimate raised garden beds. Here is a podcast from this month. From Jack Spirko:

]As many of you know I have suggested that we call what most (not all) people are doing in America woody beds vs hugulkultur. I suggest this for two reasons.

1. People who don’t know about it already understand “woody bed” but look at you like you have a snake crawling out of your ear when you say hugulkultur.

2. It is more accurate, hugul in the term hugulkultur pretty much means high as in high bed. As in 1.5-2 yards high. This is simply not what we are doing in America in most instances.

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/10...ith-wood-cores



hugelkultur logs and soil after one month




hugelkultur http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

raised garden bed hugelkultur after one year


raised garden bed hugelkultur after two years

raised garden beds hugelkultur after twenty years

[Dennis Leahy]

Posted by blufire (here)
Hi Dennis,

Out of respect for all you do I want to ask a question before I post my thoughts on Biochar.

Do you want to keep this thread solely for the small scale gardener and the option Biochar can give as a soil additive or . . . . do you also want to discuss the origins of Biochar and the true initiative behind it?

I am not saying Biochar is not a good option to use for poor soil quality or as a resource to organically alleviate biomass that needs to be effectively discarded. But, I also wonder if we as a forum should really understand where these products and ideas come from and the deeper reasons for their implementation?

Keep it warm and fuzzy or get down in the hard and dirty . . .???

A hint: Erich Knight is one of the founders or driving foundational force behind green technology and creation of Biochar as a business and industry.

The following is a simple google search:


Saving the World: Erich J. Knight's blog
www.savingtheworld.net/index.php/blog/post/erich/204
Apr 23, 2009 – Make a Connection ... by Erich J. Knight .... Hosted by Monsanto, this group of diverse interests has been hammering out issues of definition, ...

Of course, you've got me curious...

(cherry-picked from the article you linked)

"Biochar, the modern version of an ancient Amazonian agricultural practice called Terra Preta (black earth, TP), is gaining widespread credibility as a way to address world hunger, climate change, rural poverty, deforestation, and energy shortages… SIMULTANEOUSLY!
Modern Pyrolysis of biomass is a process for Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon sequestration,10X Lower Methane & N2O soil emissions, and 3X Fertility Too.
Every 1 ton of Biomass yields 1/3 ton Charcoal for soil Sequestration, Bio-Gas & Bio-oil fuels, 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, build it and they will come.
As one microbologist said on the TP list; "Microbes like to sit down when they eat". By setting this table we expand husbandry to whole new orders of life."

I don't doubt that Monsanto is working with biochar technology - and wants to be in on it "on a grand scale." Monsanto has a kind of bizarre zigzag history and was once a leading producer of vinyl siding for homes (if I remember correctly), but has also brought us Agent Orange, glyphosate ("RoundUp"), and not just led the GMO revolution but has been seven notches past aggressive in trying to jam GMO seeds down farmer's throats or bankrupting those who won't comply. If biochar technology is something in the "good" column for Monsanto, feel free to bring that out. Maybe it is definitive proof that not everyone in every division of that mega-corporation is as malignant as the overall corporation.

For us here at Avalon, there are (at least) a couple of ways the biochar info is important. One is the very low-tech methods of home-made biochar that we as gardeners are discovering and are interested to try. Another is the back-story behind the current popularity and positive press that biochar is getting (which may be in large part due to Monsanto's efforts.) Don't be surprised that no matter what, some (possibly even including me) will see Monsanto's role as having an ulterior motive or hidden agenda - if only to actually do something good to balance their corporate karma. That just comes with the territory of being the antagonist/villain stars of no less than 4 documentaries and being named the worst corporation on Earth a couple of times.

Whatever Monsanto's role really is in biochar, it will not affect any of us as gardeners. But yes, if you think the back-story, that includes (or maybe even stars) Monsanto as good guys for a change is an interesting aside, bring it on. I don't think it will cause any problems in this thread, and if it does, we can always ask to split it off into its own topic. :~)

Dennis

[nomadguy]

I am glad you mentioned Terra Preta. I think that humans making terra preta may be why the Amazon is so lush and green. The constant additions of terra preta from ancient peoples over many millenia may have terraformed a much different landscape.
Here is an article about Terra Preta from the late Philip Coppens.
http://www.philipcoppens.com/terrapreta.html
Maybe we can speed up this process with our numbers in population and with newer technology. A mixture - "new age" thinking meets ancient knowledge.

[Bo Atkinson]

I happen to prefer composting, to entrain carbon in the garden soil... I am biased towards Rudolph Steiner's research in his book Agriculture.... I've studied and directly worked a lot with compost and also with a lot of wood burning, charring of brush piles (by quenching) and also with sylva culture, for 40+ years, here in Maine...

The main points of difference and objections are:

What is the most harmonious gardening system? Is it a consumer practice or more independent in nature? An excess of raw compost near to your vegetable garden will attract insect pests (such as flies and beetles). Too many wooden scraps piled under your growth beds could support unwanted mice, or critters which may eat the crops... Raw compost is improved with the addition of rich soil. But, assuring heat levels above the comfort level of the pests is desirable, but not good for the crops, not easy to achieve besides.... Here is where other alternatives can be well appreciated.

There are paradoxes to deal with. Bird feeders are important to keep birds interested in your land. You need bird populations to eat the pest insects. Yet bird feeders might attract mice and rats... Feeding chickens or critters also challenges us. Cats might eat mice, but also eat the birds you want. Balance and harmony are a challenge to master. It takes patience, especially if you are an aries ;-)

For those interested in permaculture, (so called but actually more common before supermarkets and refrigeration existed)-- Berry bushes and orchards are not most likely to flourish upon piles of wood scraps piled together with raw-sub-soils. Scattered burial of twigs under landscaping is not much of an issue, but heavy loading of wood scraps could work to a disadvantage... I've seen it all in my years. Back-to-the-landers of the 1960s were soon heading back to the cities to become young-upwardly-mobile-urbanites. Cities are not hiring much nowadays. Cutting fire wood or sifting out the char from the ash or toiling in gardens was not their thing.

Back to the OP subject, biochar might include a hundred and one variations of source material-- One big advantage over raw wood scraps is that it does not rob plants of nitrogen-- Nitrate fertilizers are not cheap, to deplete in raw scraps of buried wood. Instead wood char simply holds the nitrates and nutrients, available for plant roots to absorb. There are other aspects of charring, perhaps a little to far out for basic gardening.

I have used various related over the years, while landscaping... Wood-wastes, (carbon) barely break(s) down in absence of nitrogen. But (cold) charcoal, as an amendment does not deplete nitrogen. (Nitrogen: like smelly, rich kitchen wastes or animal wastes)... Therefore, it may be helpful for modern people to use serious bio-digesting or bio reactors...Lacking the setups, one can spend the money and buy selective ingredients at a premium. "Doing it oneself" is either time consuming to build or else very expensive to sponsor-- The big corporations are not helping independent-styled gardening nor decentralization. The big box mentality is a monopolizing collectivist mentality. Independent living is very labor intensive and requires self discipline and resilience.

Thanks to the www, there is sort of a tacit support group for online discussions-- Talk can help one suffer for the gardener's arts, (or homesteading). Like getting on your knees to work the soil. Like spending time meticulously harvesting small berries, etc... Here is my latest, long delayed effort bio-reactor-project, along with some low cost, independent styled composting.
http://harmoniouspalette.com/Alchemi...tBatching.html

[RMorgan]

Posted by nomadguy (here)
I am glad you mentioned Terra Preta. I think that humans making terra preta may be why the Amazon is so lush and green. The constant additions of terra preta from ancient peoples over many millenia may have terraformed a much different landscape.
Here is an article about Terra Preta from the late Philip Coppens.
http://www.philipcoppens.com/terrapreta.html
Maybe we can speed up this process with our numbers in population and with newer technology. A mixture - "new age" thinking meets ancient knowledge.

Terra Preta (Black Soil) is plentiful in lots of different regions here in Brazil, not only in the Amazonic region.

Here in Minas Gerais, the state I live in, its southern part is famous for its black soil, which is absolutely the best soil to plant stuff, but here they use it mostly for planting coffee (One of the best coffee in the world, by the way).

Anyway, its a natural characteristic of the land and environment, not human made most of the time.

Usually, land with natural black soil are also regions with a natural propensity to spread wild fires. I guess this natural process was and still is responsible for the development of this great fertile soil, causing the land to have a very high vegetable charcoal content.

Raf.

[Dennis Leahy]

Hi wavydome.

I'm new to biochar (a new concept to me - I have not used it yet, nor have I personally seen it demonstrated.) From websites and videos about biochar that I have checked out, I have not gotten the idea that biochar is a panacea for gardening. In other words, biochar as a soil amendment is complementary technology, not as a replacement for composting.

I would still compost every weed I pull - my compost pile would not be diminished.

At the community gardening site here in Duluth, MN, the soil is "glacial till" - rocks and clay and rocks. Did I mention rocks? Every year, I put 20 to 40 bags of leaves into my garden, and turn them under. I also compost weeds, and put the composted soil into the garden. Roots from weeds add organic components to the sol each year, and I use some pelletized turkey fertilizer as well (which adds a teeny amount of organic matter.) After 6 years, I can see a definite improvement in the soil in my plot - not as dramatic as the gardeners who have done the same thing for a dozen or more years, but markedly better soil than many of my neighboring gardeners that don't bother. Yes, it is labor intensive to turn clay and rocks into loamy garden soil.

I'm planning to continue doing all that, plus, as an adjunct therapy for the soil, I'll add biochar.

Dennis

[nomadguy]

Posted by RMorgan (here)

Posted by nomadguy (here)
I am glad you mentioned Terra Preta. I think that humans making terra preta may be why the Amazon is so lush and green. The constant additions of terra preta from ancient peoples over many millenia may have terraformed a much different landscape.
Here is an article about Terra Preta from the late Philip Coppens.
http://www.philipcoppens.com/terrapreta.html
Maybe we can speed up this process with our numbers in population and with newer technology. A mixture - "new age" thinking meets ancient knowledge.

Terra Preta (Black Soil) is plentiful in lots of different regions here in Brazil, not only in the Amazonic region.

Here in Minas Gerais, the state I live in, its southern part is famous for its black soil, which is absolutely the best soil to plant stuff, but here they use it mostly for planting coffee (One of the best coffee in the world, by the way).

Anyway, its a natural characteristic of the land and environment, not human made most of the time.

Usually, land with natural black soil are also regions with a natural propensity to spread wild fires. I guess this natural process was and still is responsible for the development of this great fertile soil, causing the land to have a very high vegetable charcoal content.

Raf.

Thanks for this.
That's very interesting, and I think it might retain a clue. It brings up an obvious question for me,
Why are wildfires attracted to that area?

[Bo Atkinson]

I wish i could better convey the paradox involved with soil building. I see my writing above needs serious editing.... How may a garden- builder navigate the matrix paradoxes we face today?

Dennis, I garbled the issue of robbing crops, where unstable carbon (like leaves) closely neighbor the crop....

Nitrous nutrients are robbed by the leaf decomposition phase, instead of feeding crops specifically.

While the leaves are processing, the nitrous nutrients are partly diverted-- Abundant cropping demands abundant nutrients without diversions.

It is indeed lovely to convert leaves into humus and top soil-- However, one must choose among differing approaches to this effort. Leaves as leaves are not yet plant nutrients, (nor yet a stabilized carbon structure).

Carbon arranges into many diverse and sable forms. Multiple carbon forms harbor and store nutrients in garden soil.

How does charcoal differ from the products formed by microbes, fungi, etc? Is there any difference? People may differ in opinion.

Tropical forests, have ecosystems which do not accumulate (non-living) carbon structures into bulky layers beneath the forest floor. One scholar stated that rain forests of hotter climates, will cycle most of the carbon above ground level, (not below)-- To explain the shallower "top soil carbon count" .

By contrast, cooler climate forests have microbes and fungi ecosystems, who laboriously accumulate carbon structures beneath the soil surface. The buffalo harmonized well and managed to create top soil 12 ft deep, was it? Humans have eroded this way down, near to nothing. For Wheaties & football, bread & circuses, nazcar and scorched earth politics.... Megalo mart hubris hides and depletes the soil connections of life force.

How will our personal lives affect eco-balances of the soil? Mastery of our local ecosystems is more life connecting .... May the life force be with you.

ωΩ

[Erichj]

Prease review my opening presentation at the fourth USBI Biochar Conference in Sonoma California;
Carbon Conservation for Home, Health, Energy & Climate
http://2012.biochar.us.com/299/2012-...-presentations

Complementary to my focus on animal feed supplements as practiced by the European and Japanese companies, here is this latest in vivo study by Dr.Leng in Australia. This Black Revolution for agriculture could be fermented by our livestock. In the EU, 90% of the Biochar produced is passed through livestock before composting and field application. On Swiss Farms they have eliminated manure odor and closed the nutrient loop by retaining N in the Char/Compost. Dr. Ron Leng have shown cattle fed char reduced enteric methane emissions (40%), enhancing feed conversion (25%!), this has to be one the greatest advances in bovine nutrition in the last few decades.
http://www.lrrd.org/public-lrrd/proo.../leng24199.htm

A New discovery from the Advanced Light Source at Berkeley about fungal potassium salts being the primary nucleating catalyst for clouds & rain. That vision of how life itself calls the rain is another unaccounted for ecological service provided by a healthy soil. Several other findings concerning soil microbiology and Soil Carbon are extremely supportive to Carbon Farming initiatives & Soil Carbon Standards [1].

Also;
In situ Toxic remediation
The DuPont/Oak Ridge lab remediation on Hg with Dr. Richard Landis and Dr. Palumbo, head of Bio-Science at Oak Ridge are showing a Hg reduction of 60% traveling up the food chain.
The Iwamoto company (SuperStoneClean Biochar) has been doing soil remediation in Fukushima Japan, concentrating the cesium to magnetic ash. Additionally, the video below, shows their work in remediation of salt damage from the tsunami itself.
Fields Flourish Again;
http://www.jibtv.com/video/video6.html?n=0

At the recent ACS – Soil Science Conference over 100 Biochar presentations, Peer review studies are doubling every year,

Please review my Sonoma Biochar conference report for further developments, Home pyrolytic woodstoves, grassroots organizations spreading Biochar soil technology across the global South ;
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/b...y/message/3921
CoolPlanet Biofuels in particular seems, by all accounts, to have a game changing technology, carbon negative bio-gasoline.

The CEOs have already taken the lead sponsorship for the University of Massachusetts 2013, fourth, USBI Biochar Conference, October 13-16, 2013, Please consider attending, the whole conference wil be the first conference in history to be carbon negative as carbon credits from CoolPlanet Biofuels and WorldStove cover all carbon footprints. Local Biochar farmers are even catering with their "Cool Food" branded nutrient dense Biochar produce.
http://symposium2013.newsite.pvbiochar.org

Please take a look at this video by the CEO of CoolPlanet Biofuels, guided by Google's Ethos and funding, along with GE, BP and Conoco, they are now building the farm scale reactors that convert 1 ton of biomass to 75 gallons of bio–gasoline and 1/3 ton Biochar for soil carbon sequestration. The price of production, from field to tank is $1.25/gallon.
If it's good enough for Google… It's good enough for me;
https://youtube.com/watch?v=zkYVlZ9v_0o

A Carbon Farming Initiative, like the Aussies have, and Canada is contemplating, feeds in to a carbon labeling for all products, as WalMart is developing. A carbon label puts externalized cost right there for the public to understand, parsing out all that has gotten the product to their hands.

The Accounting of soil carbon as the base measurement of sustainability and aligning incentives to get a farmer paid for his good works, is where carbon markets should all grow from. The farmer will always have the lowest cost system for sequestration of carbon and it is about time that the carbon markets recognize that as it's very foundations.

A foundation far more secure than any other market. All political persuasions agree, Building soil carbon is good.


Cheers,
Erich

Erich J. Knight
Shenandoah Gardens
1047 Dave Berry Rd. McGaheysville, VA. 22840
540-289-9750

Policy & Community Committee Chair,
2013 North American Biochar Symposium
http://pvbiochar.org/2013-symposium/

[1]


Demonstration, Using quantitative 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy measurements, concluding that both Terra Preta Soils and Midwest dark soils contain 40% to 50%+ of their organic carbon (SOC) as pyrolytic carbon char, that this pyrolytic carbon can account for all CEC

Abundant and Stable Char Residues in Soils: Implications for Soil Fertility and Carbon Sequestration
J.-D. Mao, R. L. Johnson, J. Lehmann, D. C. Olk, E. G. Neves, M. L. Thompson and K. Schmidt-Rohr
Environ. Sci. Technol., Article ASAP
DOI: 10.1021/es301107c
Publication Date (Web): August 20, 2012
Copyright © 2012, American Chemical Society
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es301107c

(Potassium) Salt Seeds Clouds in the Amazon Rainforest; http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-st...azon-aerosols/

Fertile soil doesn't fall from the sky. The contribution of bacterial remnants to soil fertility has been underestimated until now
http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem...CultureCode=en

Biologists Unlock 'Black Box' to Underground World: How Tiny Microbes Make Life Easier for Humans,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...mber_201276911.

Cross-biome metagenomic analyses of soil microbial communities and their functional attributes,
http://www.pnas.org/content/109/52/21390

Re-Building the World's Soil: The Role of Soil Carbon Methodology for U.S. and Global Carbon Offset Projects,
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/12/prweb10185341.htm

[Dennis Leahy]

Erichj, I not only hit the "Thanks" button, I do it standing up - a standing ovation!

hahahhah you can take the thread over from here! I'm an enthusiastic biochar wanabee, I see the potential (well, I thought I saw the potential - some of your info raises it exponentially), but have zero experience. So, please, fell free to comandeer this thread and I'll switch to audience member.

:~)

Dennis

p.s. Very interesting about the folks making bio-gasoline plus biochar. I asked the head honcho at BioRootEnergy if their process of turning waste biomass (including sewer sludge!) into "higher mixed alcohol fuel"would also yield biochar, but he said their process leaves something closer to glass than charcoal. But, as a spokesperson, he's not as technical as some of the left-brained green chemists that came up with this, so I'm still curious if their process could be part of the "newfangled hydrocarbon cycle" that biochar is starring in. If you have time, please check into BioRootEnergy.com and their "Envirolene" fuel: http://www.biorootenergy.com/

[Erich]

Hello ErichJ,

I took a look at your website, "thebiocharcompany". I read that you have an "exclusive license" for making charcoal with a machine of some kind, an industrial process? Does this mean you will be giving away all of your wisdom and doing all of this fine work for free or do you sell something and do you sell something on a large scale?

Your website claims to process 5 to 50 tons per day. Where does all of that stuff go? At 50 tons a day you could fill all of our gardens in just a few months. Your company, soilbiochar, is promoting a "biochar industry". Does that mean charcoal is made in one big factory for sale to people to spread in their gardens or on their farm at a certain price?

Your prices are starting at around 40 dollars for a 5 gallon bucket. Wow, I wish people had that kind of money so we could save the planet and all.

[blufire]

Hello ErichJ,

I am very excited that you would make the effort to become a member here on Avalon and want to share your insights and first hand information on Biochar and especially the very complicated process and foundational reasons this technology has been initiated on a global scale.

I want to make clear on the onset that it is my understanding that there is a massive difference in how a small gardener or even small farmer of only a few acres would produces and utilize carbon charcoal and what the initiatives and technology you are promoting and are involved in are producing and utilizing carbon charcoal (Biochar). My discussion will only involve the technology being designed and executed on this massive global scale.

I also need to say my understanding of this technology is very limited and that I have concentrated more on research on the companies behind Biochar International and subsidiaries.

I want to openly and honestly lay my thoughts right on the table so we can get down to the real reasons why technology like Biochar are very quickly being implement and why companies like Monsanto are behind this technology and its implementation on a global scale. I also am highly aware that you may not even be aware of these reasons (or care) that Biochar is backed by Monsanto and that you ‘may’ only be involved because you see the value and possible good this technology can provide and that you are very wise in recognizing technology that is a valuable monetary investment.

You also should know that I seem to stand fairly alone on the forum in my opinion and understanding of companies like Monsanto and technology as Biochar. In order to understand what I feel are foundational extremely important reasons behind these issues I have become totally emotionally neutral (as possible).

I feel strongly that if we as a forum could have logical discussions from ‘the other side’ of the equation that we would have a huge pragmatic breakthrough in what is occurring on a global scale and how to adapt to what our very near future will hold for us.

So I guess my first question to you would be . . . .are you aware of the fact that companies like Monsanto are behind this technology and the reason(s) why?

A second question would be . . . . why is it nowhere discussed (clearly) in the websites and information provided by especially Biochar International where all this biomass is coming from to create these millions of tons of Biochar for the creation of (especially) third world countries ‘topsoil’ to attempt to grow food in? Why is not clearly stated specifically what ‘material’ is going to be put into these special high tech specialized ‘burners’ to create this ‘carbon charcoal’?

And again, I am very aware that you may not know or be privy to this information or have the answer to these questions.

[Delight]

Posted by blufire (here)
Hello ErichJ,

I am very excited that you would make the effort to become a member here on Avalon and want to share your insights and first hand information on Biochar and especially the very complicated process and foundational reasons this technology has been initiated on a global scale.

I want to make clear on the onset that it is my understanding that there is a massive difference in how a small gardener or even small farmer of only a few acres would produces and utilize carbon charcoal and what the initiatives and technology you are promoting and are involved in are producing and utilizing carbon charcoal (Biochar). My discussion will only involve the technology being designed and executed on this massive global scale.


A second question would be . . . . why is it nowhere discussed (clearly) in the websites and information provided by especially Biochar International where all this biomass is coming from to create these millions of tons of Biochar for the creation of (especially) third world countries ‘topsoil’ to attempt to grow food in? Why is not clearly stated specifically what ‘material’ is going to be put into these special high tech specialized ‘burners’ to create this ‘carbon charcoal’?

I am very interested in systems that accumulate value and energy.
In my region there is a net loss of farmers and gardeners. That is one of my interests...what activity will support more people growing gardens and farmers. I love supporting new livlihoods in agriculture here where I live.

What technologies can be attractive to changing practice? How may they be implemented wisely.
Small intensive efforts that do not use monoculture, use open pollination and thus create sustainable seed sources, apply help to create healthy soil show people what to do. They may then learn 'what is what" and change practices over time.

One of the main problems with corporate farming is the loss of soil health in monoculture.
I don't appreciate Monsanto at all but if there is value in something, a smart corporation will take it if it is a way to make their product more attractive.
From the little I know, GMO seed technology is not working out as expected.
I invision the corporation and all defunct systems based on ignorance collapsing under a weight of failure.

In my region, there are quite a few large poultry operations. I do not appreciate the industrial chicken farms. But I do support changing practices that make treasure from waste.

Here is an example of pros and cons for poultry litter biochar production.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=yR7-_7ZL7ik

[778 neighbour of some guy]

Posted by Erichj (here)
Prease review my opening presentation at the fourth USBI Biochar Conference in Sonoma California;
Carbon Conservation for Home, Health, Energy & Climate
http://2012.biochar.us.com/299/2012-...-presentations

Complementary to my focus on animal feed supplements as practiced by the European and Japanese companies, here is this latest in vivo study by Dr.Leng in Australia. This Black Revolution for agriculture could be fermented by our livestock. In the EU, 90% of the Biochar produced is passed through livestock before composting and field application. On Swiss Farms they have eliminated manure odor and closed the nutrient loop by retaining N in the Char/Compost. Dr. Ron Leng have shown cattle fed char reduced enteric methane emissions (40%), enhancing feed conversion (25%!), this has to be one the greatest advances in bovine nutrition in the last few decades.
http://www.lrrd.org/public-lrrd/proo.../leng24199.htm

A New discovery from the Advanced Light Source at Berkeley about fungal potassium salts being the primary nucleating catalyst for clouds & rain. That vision of how life itself calls the rain is another unaccounted for ecological service provided by a healthy soil. Several other findings concerning soil microbiology and Soil Carbon are extremely supportive to Carbon Farming initiatives & Soil Carbon Standards [1].

Also;
In situ Toxic remediation
The DuPont/Oak Ridge lab remediation on Hg with Dr. Richard Landis and Dr. Palumbo, head of Bio-Science at Oak Ridge are showing a Hg reduction of 60% traveling up the food chain.
The Iwamoto company (SuperStoneClean Biochar) has been doing soil remediation in Fukushima Japan, concentrating the cesium to magnetic ash. Additionally, the video below, shows their work in remediation of salt damage from the tsunami itself.
Fields Flourish Again;
http://www.jibtv.com/video/video6.html?n=0

At the recent ACS – Soil Science Conference over 100 Biochar presentations, Peer review studies are doubling every year,

Please review my Sonoma Biochar conference report for further developments, Home pyrolytic woodstoves, grassroots organizations spreading Biochar soil technology across the global South ;
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/b...y/message/3921
CoolPlanet Biofuels in particular seems, by all accounts, to have a game changing technology, carbon negative bio-gasoline.

The CEOs have already taken the lead sponsorship for the University of Massachusetts 2013, fourth, USBI Biochar Conference, October 13-16, 2013, Please consider attending, the whole conference wil be the first conference in history to be carbon negative as carbon credits from CoolPlanet Biofuels and WorldStove cover all carbon footprints. Local Biochar farmers are even catering with their "Cool Food" branded nutrient dense Biochar produce.
http://symposium2013.newsite.pvbiochar.org

Please take a look at this video by the CEO of CoolPlanet Biofuels, guided by Google's Ethos and funding, along with GE, BP and Conoco, they are now building the farm scale reactors that convert 1 ton of biomass to 75 gallons of bio–gasoline and 1/3 ton Biochar for soil carbon sequestration. The price of production, from field to tank is $1.25/gallon.
If it's good enough for Google… It's good enough for me;
https://youtube.com/watch?v=zkYVlZ9v_0o

A Carbon Farming Initiative, like the Aussies have, and Canada is contemplating, feeds in to a carbon labeling for all products, as WalMart is developing. A carbon label puts externalized cost right there for the public to understand, parsing out all that has gotten the product to their hands.

The Accounting of soil carbon as the base measurement of sustainability and aligning incentives to get a farmer paid for his good works, is where carbon markets should all grow from. The farmer will always have the lowest cost system for sequestration of carbon and it is about time that the carbon markets recognize that as it's very foundations.

A foundation far more secure than any other market. All political persuasions agree, Building soil carbon is good.


Cheers,
Erich

Erich J. Knight
Shenandoah Gardens
1047 Dave Berry Rd. McGaheysville, VA. 22840
540-289-9750

Policy & Community Committee Chair,
2013 North American Biochar Symposium
http://pvbiochar.org/2013-symposium/

[1]


Demonstration, Using quantitative 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy measurements, concluding that both Terra Preta Soils and Midwest dark soils contain 40% to 50%+ of their organic carbon (SOC) as pyrolytic carbon char, that this pyrolytic carbon can account for all CEC

Abundant and Stable Char Residues in Soils: Implications for Soil Fertility and Carbon Sequestration
J.-D. Mao, R. L. Johnson, J. Lehmann, D. C. Olk, E. G. Neves, M. L. Thompson and K. Schmidt-Rohr
Environ. Sci. Technol., Article ASAP
DOI: 10.1021/es301107c
Publication Date (Web): August 20, 2012
Copyright © 2012, American Chemical Society
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es301107c

(Potassium) Salt Seeds Clouds in the Amazon Rainforest; http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-st...azon-aerosols/

Fertile soil doesn't fall from the sky. The contribution of bacterial remnants to soil fertility has been underestimated until now
http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem...CultureCode=en

Biologists Unlock 'Black Box' to Underground World: How Tiny Microbes Make Life Easier for Humans,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...mber_201276911.

Cross-biome metagenomic analyses of soil microbial communities and their functional attributes,
http://www.pnas.org/content/109/52/21390

Re-Building the World's Soil: The Role of Soil Carbon Methodology for U.S. and Global Carbon Offset Projects,
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/12/prweb10185341.htm

WOW, thank you Erich, this post is a real treasure.

And welcome to Avalon.

[blufire]

Delight posted . . . I am very interested in systems that accumulate value and energy.
In my region there is a net loss of farmers and gardeners. That is one of my interests...what activity will support more people growing gardens and farmers. I love supporting new livlihoods in agriculture here where I live

I am with you 100% on this sentiment. I am an organic farmer and eco-system balanced homesteader. I also support any technology to support local communities and families to have and live abundant lifestyles.

What technologies can be attractive to changing practice? How may they be implemented wisely. Small intensive efforts that do not use monoculture, use open pollination and thus create sustainable seed sources, apply help to create healthy soil show people what to do. They may then learn 'what is what" and change practices over time

Gardening and homesteading on the small scale often gets confused with what technologies are used to produce food and resources on a massive scale . . . corporate farming and Biochar is a perfect example.

Humans and Mother Nature have been using carbon charcoal as soil amendments for tens of thousands of years and requires absolutely NO TECHNOLOGY of any type. The biomass that is naturally generated on a family farm on a daily basis is used, as in the videos you and others have provided Delight. We have to stop comparing the two . . . . small scale farming /gardening and why Biochar is being promoted globally.

It is night and day difference in what is required in ‘burning’ the biomass that Biochar Initiatives are burning (for lack of better word). The expensive complex equipment and technology is essential to make sure no volatile gasses or carbons or other products are released into the atmosphere and therefore polluting our air and environment.

One of the main problems with corporate farming is the loss of soil health in monoculture. I don't appreciate Monsanto at all but if there is value in something, a smart corporation will take it if it is a way to make their product more attractive. From the little I know, GMO seed technology is not working out as expected. I invision the corporation and all defunct systems based on ignorance collapsing under a weight of failure.

I do not nor will I ever use gmo seeds or farming techniques promoted by corporations like Monsanto . . . nor do I eat food that is genetically modified.

Monsanto is not ‘taking’ Biochar technology . . . . Monsanto created the technology. Obviously they did not create the ‘technique’ of burning general land and natural biomass produced on a working homestead because this common practice dates back thousands of years. But, Monsanto certainly did create and is manufacturing the complex technology and equipment to burn the ‘material’ that this technology will and is being used to ‘burn’ and turn into carbon charcoal.

Monsanto and subsidiaries acknowledged and have addressed very thoroughly the very near future need for seeds and production of food under possible extreme hostile growing environments. We are seeing these types of hostile growing environments NOW with our rapidly changing climate. GMO seed and plant technology has been very successful and they have and will continue (I feel) to work out the ‘bugs’ in the ability to produce food using this technology. Is the food produced this way food I would want my family to eat? Of course not. But if it were the only food available as it is for billions of people currently I would.

Just as more than a year ago I predicted we would see a reduction in chemtrail activity we will see a reduction in extreme gmo food production . . . unless the weather and climate the seed was altered to grow in occurs. They have been experimenting to be ‘ready’ for many possible scenarios we will be facing in the very near future since the late 70’s and early 80’s . . . . of this I am very grateful, because if ‘they had not done this who would??? Us??

I will wait to see if ErichJ engages in conversation and discussion about Biochar and why this technology is being implemented. It has nothing (very little) to do with the small scale farmer and gardener and everything to do with addressing a very major problem we are facing right now. Biochar seems to be a very smart way to deal with this problem . . . it is the ‘use’ of the carbon charcoal that will be the ‘bugs’ the scientist will have to deal with . . . . if the charcoal is to be used economically and beneficially to communities and the people who live in them for growing healthy and nutrient dense food.

[Delight]

[QUOTE=blufire;641905]

I do not nor will I ever use gmo seeds or farming techniques promoted by corporations like Monsanto . . . nor do I eat food that is genetically modified.

Monsanto is not ‘taking’ Biochar technology . . . . Monsanto created the technology. Obviously they did not create the ‘technique’ of burning general land and natural biomass produced on a working homestead because this common practice dates back thousands of years. But, Monsanto certainly did create and is manufacturing the complex technology and equipment to burn the ‘material’ that this technology will and is being used to ‘burn’ and turn into carbon charcoal.

No, I will not use GMO either and I would like to see Monsanto as a goad and that people will start to value what I value (because I am self interested). So far I find that I am able to access organic, Non GMO food.

Doug Beitler who is one small voice in agriculture technology has reported that when farmers realize that biochar+effective microbes+ ORMUS (his focus of combinations) make light work, they will have to find new ways to spend their time.

Doug Beitler also contends that seeds may be remediated in ideal soil conditions (including inclusion of biochar as home to water nutrients and microbes)...He insists that even GMO seeds may heal their genetic "defects" and become the ideal pattern of the particulart plant. Interesting ideas.....

Here is a report on using this combination in the Dubai dessert with salt reducing microbes
http://www.fractalfield.com/bloomthedesert/

A couple of pictures of desert plants they supported in a project in Dubai
cauliflower


eggplant





Wouldn't that be amazing, easy cultivation of sturdy, weather change enduring ( extremes of heat and cold and wet and dry) plants. This is due to being sited in the conditions of thriving!

I think you Blufire live in the Appalachian region too but farther north. You may have heard the program "Mayans in America". The researcher who discovered a city site in North Georgia very akin to Mayan town layouts is Richard Thornton. He is a proponent of the indigenous techniques that were brought to North Georgia.terracing and biochar help to grow crops in mountain conditions.

Here is a link to an article based on his experimentation near me.

A technique for dramatically increasing the fertility of soil that was developed by the indigenous peoples of the Upper Amazon Basin and the Itza Mayas of southern Mexico enables members of the cabbage family to thrive in frigid wintertime conditions. Plants in the cabbage family were probably not grown by Native American farmers until after the arrival of Europeans. Substantial evidence of biochar agriculture in the terraces at Track Rock Gap, Georgia was one of the strongest links to the former presence of Itza Maya farmers and possibly, also South Americans.

The opening scenes of the premier of the History Channel’s “America Unearthed” provided viewers glimpses of an agricultural experiment that is mimicking the growing conditions of the Track Rock Gap terraces. Both the Track Rock Terraces and the experimental garden face the southwest, which exposes them to the hottest growing conditions in the afternoon. Normally, this orientation is undesirable in the Sunbelt. The location’s suitability for agricultural is worsened by the shade of a 4,700 feet (1432 m) mountain immediately to the east blocks the morning sun.

http://www.examiner.com/article/bioc...race-structure

[Dennis Leahy]

Posted by blufire (here)
... my first question .. would be . . . .are you aware of the fact that companies like Monsanto are behind this technology and the reason(s) why?

A second question would be . . . . why is it nowhere discussed (clearly) in the websites and information provided by especially Biochar International where all this biomass is coming from to create these millions of tons of Biochar for the creation of (especially) third world countries ‘topsoil’ to attempt to grow food in? Why is not clearly stated specifically what ‘material’ is going to be put into these special high tech specialized ‘burners’ to create this ‘carbon charcoal’?

Hi blufire,

What, in your understanding, is the answer to these questions?

Dennis