[Terrapreta] char vs. diatomaceous earth

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi Gerrit,

I read something about this in a paper talking about CEC; including diatomaceous earth in soil is known to increase the CEC.  It does have microorganisms leaving in its porous structure.  This does make some sense.  Perhaps Labatt's might explain to you why they use diatomaceous earth for their filtering operations.

Regards,

SKB

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Gerald Van Koeverden<mailto:vnkvrdn at yahoo.ca> 
  To: Terra Preta<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> 
  Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 10:53 PM
  Subject: [Terrapreta] char vs. diatomaceous earth


  If the value of char is mainly as a habitat for micro-organisms,  
  would another multi-porous material like diatomaceous earth have the  
  same effect?

  In looking for a cheap source of charcoal fines, I checked out the  
  local distillery - Labatt's.  I had understood that charcoal is what  
  was used to filter alcohol, just as it is used for filtering corn  
  starch.

  However, I discovered that Labatt's uses diatomaceous earth instead  
  in all their beer breweries.  Their waste management people recycle  
  it through compost.  I am guessing that the purpose of the composting  
  process is to 'clean up' all the gunk collected in its pores, since  
  this waste can become rather malodorous.  If added directly to the  
  soil and incorporated, the smell should be minimal.

  However, I can't find any research related to the effects of using it  
  as such.

  Anybody have any experience using it as such (as opposed to its use  
  as an organic pesticide)?

  If I can get some of it, I'll do a comparison test with char

  Gerrit

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