Monday, August 8, 2011

What is BIOCHAR ?

In 2011 I saw the word "biochar" for the first time (or at least it was the first time I paid any attention to it). I could give you a sermon on it, but you will do better to look it up for yourself. Start with Wikipedia. There is a quick link up above. Strangely enough, your next stop may be YouTube. It will keep you fascinated for hours. I am not exaggerating when I say that this may be the most important information you have ever seen.
I have given my version on the website BioPreta SuperSoil

Note: The first comment is from a person who is well-known in the field and deserves your attention. He has included many valuable references for us.

1 comment:

Erich J. Knight said...

Biochars can be pelletted, pelleting the feed stock is simpler, but their are machines that extrude "green coal" bricks & pellets for combustion. The only time I have seen this done is to densify the char in order to sink onto sediments for bioremediation of heavy metals, and in formulated/blended bagged products.

Here are some leaders in both Formulation, composting & blending;

Mike Flynn mikethewormguy
Green Quest LLC http://www.greenquestllc.com/
BioSpecific LLC

Virginia Tech is in their 6 th year of field trials with the Carbon Char Group's "CharGrow" formulated bagged product.
http://www.carbonchar.com/plant-performance

Recent work by C. Steiner, at U of GA, 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 an organic nitrogen fertilizer. http://www.ibi2010.org/wp-content/uploads/BiocharPoultrySteiner.pdf


Maybe this company, but they may not have worked with char;
ProTerra
http://www.earthunlimited.net/
based in LA, I can't find anything about them other than their web site.
http://www.earthunlimited.net/proterra_info.html
Big claims at low application rates, is this liquid humus with some super surfactant for compaction, plus some oxygenation agent? Or some fancy, proprietary soil flocculation agent? Also, any thoughts about this products efficacy as an adjunct / symbiotic use conditioning for raw chars?

Both the Organic and Agricultural chemical schools of soil science recognize Biochar as a powerful tool to
foster biodiversity and nitrogen efficiency in soils.

Biochar effects on soil biota – A review
Soil Biology and Biochemistry journal, a review of international work by Lehmann & Janice Thies; http://www.biochar-international.org/node/2528

The NC Farm Center has large scale field application trials encompassing 16 acres on two farms in southeastern North Carolina.
http://www.biochar-international.org/profiles/northcarolinafarmcenter


Erich J. Knight
Chairman; Markets and Business Committee
2010 US BiocharConference, at Iowa State University
http://www.biorenew.iastate.edu/events/biochar2010/conference-agenda/agenda-overview.html

EcoTechnologies Group Technical Adviser
http://www.ecotechnologies.com/index.html
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