[Terrapreta] Making Soil from Oil

[adkarve]

Dear Ron and others who admonished me,

It is not that I am opposed to the terra preta methodology. I agree with you that charcoal incorporated into the soil would enhance soil fertility and also act as a carbon sequestering mechanism. I have, in fact, developed and commercialised a process by which agricultural waste can be converted into charcoal. Farmers can earn a substantial income by selling this charcoal. The agronomists advise that organic matter should go back to the soil and that it should not be used as fuel. I have discovered a new method of agriculture, in which, by using non-composted, high calorie organic matter, I need to apply only about 25 kg dry organic matter to the field, once every two months. The rest of the organic matter can be used as fuel. If, as a farmer, I converted my agricultural waste into charcoal, I have the option either to incorporate it into my field or to sell it to urban users as fuel. The path to be chosen would be on economic considerations. If somebody pays me money for incorporating the charcoal into the field, I would not hesitate to do it, because it saves me the hassle of transporting the charcoal to the nearest city and finding customers for it.

Yours 

A.D.Karve 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Duane Pendergast 
  To: 'adkarve' ; Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org 
  Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 9:28 PM
  Subject: Making Soil from Oil


              Dear Dr. Karve,

   

  I'm not quite sure why you suggest that "growing forests is a better way of carbon sequestration".  If carbon dioxide in the atmosphere really is a problem, then we need to seek long term means to manage it. I understand that growing forests reach a sort of steady state where little if any additional carbon is sequestered. Nature tends to burn forests occasionally, probably converting some of the wood to charcoal. The regrowth of forests thus establishes a soil sink over generations of forests. The terra preta concept seems key to human enhancement of this process of growth, regrowth and carbon sequestration over generations of humans and forests to build soil and manage atmospheric CO2 content, although John Cowan's concerns about grand dreams are fully justified.

   

  Naturally, humans give high priority to events occurring in their own lifetime. Here in Alberta, Canada, the life time of forests is apparently similar to that of humans, as fires are fairly frequent. It would seem that would provide some additional incentive to investigate the potential of the terra preta concept here. Some commentary on my website is intended to stir some interest - unsuccessfully so far as I know.

   

  http://www.computare.org/commentary.htm   - second article "September 26, 2006 - Carbon sinks in northern Alberta"

   

  Many are concerned with the potential destruction of land in northern Alberta from the development of the oil sand deposits there. Indeed, Google shows a massive scar there, and the oil recovery has barely begun.  It seems there is great potential, with our fast growing forests, to undertake a grand terra preta research and development project funded by oil companies as a part of their land reclamation initiatives. The terra preta concept that we might be able to "make soil from oil" is no where more fitting than here.

   

  Sincerely,

   

  Duane Pendergast

   

     

   

  -----Original Message-----
  From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org [mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of adkarve
  Sent: April 18, 2007 6:41 PM
  To: Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
  Subject: [Terrapreta] John Cowan's comments

   

  Dear John,

  I am a hundred percent with you. Charcoal is a valuable fuel. A small quantity of charcoal added to the soil as an amendment would be acceptable, but making charcoal and burying it in the soil just as a means of carbon sequestration would not be acceptable. Growing forests is a better way of carbon sequestration. Charcoal is highly porous. It is my hunch that it not only offers extra surface for microbes to settle on, but also a place where they can survive in the dry season. I have also aired my view, that the microbes degraded soil minerals because they needed the mineral ions for their own metabolism. Plants learned the trick of feeding the microbes with organic matter, so that their numbers increased and they thus made more nutrients available to the plants. 

  Yours

  Dr.A.D.Karve, President,

  Appropriate Rural Technology Institute,

  Pune, India.

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