[Terrapreta] General questions about biochar

[Tom Miles]

Welcome Christelle,

 

We started the Terra Preta listserv to discuss just the topics you have
raised. 

 

As yet there are no standards specific to bio-char. People working on the
agronomic side use different measures than people on the carbonization
processes. Companies and researchers tend to be advocates for their
processes so you will see some information that is generalized but really
relates to specific processes. 

 

On the Terra Preta website http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/  you will
find quick-links to many of the principal organization involved in terra
preta. You will also find, under the Organizations tab, links to information
and stories from many organizations that are active. Among them you will
find that Cornell, EPRIDA, University of Beyreuth, and EMBRAPA are
prominent. The International Agrichar Initiative held in Australia in April
is an attempt to coordinate activities international.
http://www.iaiconference.org Some organizers and attendees of that
conference are members of this list. Eventually there will be an
organization and list that will evolve from that conference. See the
conference proceedings that are online. There is no central database. As you
look through the links and references on the Terra Preta site you will find
that there are about a dozen publishers that are carrying publications on
biochar. 

 

Africa should be a site with good potential use of biochar. As yet there is
little published information. Cornell ( Johannes Lehmann) has done some work
in Kenya and Zambia.
http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/biochar/Biochar_projects.htm

We have a list participant in Guinea that has started some trials. 

 

So it is very much evolving. 

 

Kind regards,

 

Tom Miles

http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org

www.bioenergylists.org

tmiles at trmiles.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of ch braun
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 9:40 AM
To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
Subject: [Terrapreta] General questions about biochar

 

Hello,

My name is Christelle, I am a French PhD student currently doing some
by-side research on biochar and I have a few questions concerning that
exciting topic:

1. Are there already standards and models for the properties of biochar
which are relevant for research and which have to be defined when doing some
experiment involving biochar ? 

2. Is there some unity/cooperation between the different research groups
working on this topic, for instance in form of an international organization
(or a serious project thereof) ? Is there some central point, database where
the results/docs which are already available are collected ( e.g. in the art
of Medline...) ? 

3. I am actually particularly interested in strategies for sustainable
energy in Africa, but I found almost nothing on biochar projects on this
continent, although I guess this should theoretically also be possible there
with an appropriate pyrolyzer. South Africa was sometimes mentioned in the
literature, but there was no concrete reference. Do you know of any such
project in Africa ? 

I would greatly appreciate any help! Thanks a lot...

Sincerely yours,
Christelle 

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