[Terrapreta] [Bioenergy] Bio-Char Sequestration in Terrestrial Ecosystems - - AReview

Sat Feb 10 13:17:50 CST 2007

Hello Tom and All -- 

I tried a few months back to settle some aspects of Tallahassee's and many other southern U. S. states need for runoff and water treatment control -- and now the City of Tallahassee has found it necessary to get the 'job done' by 'conventionally' adding -- at a projected cost of $160 million -- to the wastewater system -- what nonsense!

This time -- I'm certain it's satisfying some developers' needs -- let the City take care of 'wastewater' and transfer the costs to all of Tallahassee's residents!  Nonsense.

There are many more cost effective solutions -- let the developers take care of their problem -- and I've indicated -- in the past -- some solutions.

The most important -- don't cut trees when developing -- don't have lawns -- don't asphalt parking surfaces -- and have pond capture of runoff -- Chuck Mitchell's development of Blair Stone Forrest is the model -- and St. Joes -- Southwood -- the negative extreme.  I'll add some more assisting things later.

And now, again, my suggestion for planting on water treatment plant, spray feeding areas.  The biomass is called Arundo -- It grows like mad (with both pros and cons), and can be converted to a valuable product -- what the Brazilian's call "Terra Preta de Indio" (Amazonian Dark Earths; earlier also called "Terra Preta do Indio" or Indian Black Earth).   

Suggesting that the Florida A&M University's Agricultural College -- take the lead and benefit from the sale of 'Terra Preta' and following references in the literature:
  Recent efforts stimulated by Terra Preta research included the investigation of bio-char (biomass-derived black carbon or charcoal) as a soil amendment to enhance nutrient availability and retention. Charcoal amendments were shown to significantly decrease nutrient leaching and increase crop growth (Lehmann et al., 2003), and the tests of slash-and-char systems were suggested as an alternative to slash-and-burn (Lehmann et al., 2002). 
Biomass char can be made from Arundo on slow pyrolysis -- the resulting char can then be prepared to be added to composts to offer the essentials of a valuable soil amendment.

With Arundo -- under controlled conditions on spray fields -- the movement of any pollution to the water table seems virtually impossible.

And -- if not Terra Preta -- harvest the fast growing Arundo -- combine the harvested biomass and the sediments from the waste water treatment plant -- methanogenicanaerobic fermention pf the combination and use the renewable methane for power production -- this generally is part of the armamentaria of many wastewater treatment facilities -- but with the Arundo addition -- significant quantities of renewable methane can be produced as well as a fine fertilizer -- one example of this is Milorganite -- http://www.milorganite.com/home/

Best, Dick 
Dick Glick, PhD
President
Corporation for Future Resources
1909 Chowkeebin Court
Tallahassee, Florida 32301
Phone: 850-942-2022
Fax: 850-942-1967
Email: dglickd at pipeline.com
URL: http://CorpFutRes.com
http://wire0.ises.org/entry.nsf/E?Open&project&00031306
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tom Miles 
  To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org ; bioenergy at listserv.repp.org ; 'A Gasification' 
  Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 2:06 PM
  Subject: [Bioenergy] Bio-Char Sequestration in Terrestrial Ecosystems - - AReview

  Here's an argument for making char through pyrolysis.

  Bio-Char Sequestration in Terrestrial Ecosystems - - A Review, Johannes Lehmann, John Gaunt, Marco Rondon, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Issue 11, p.403–42, (2006)

  See link:
  http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/lehmanbiochar

  Abstract:
  The application of bio-char (charcoal or biomass-derived black carbon (C)) to soil is proposed as a novel approach to establish a significant, long-term, sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide in terrestrial ecosystems. Apart from positive effects in both reducing emissions and increasing the sequestration of greenhouse gases, the production of bio-char and its application to soil will deliver immediate benefits through improved soil fertility and increased crop production. Conversion of biomass C to bio-char C leads to sequestration of about 50% of the initial C compared to the low amounts retained after burning (3%) and biological decomposition (<10–20% after 5–10 years), therefore yielding more stable soil C than burning or direct land application of biomass. This efficiency of C conversion of biomass to bio-char is highly dependent on the type of feedstock, but is not significantly affected by the pyrolysis temperature (within 350–500 ◦C common for pyrolysis). Existing slash-andburn systems cause significant degradation of soil and release of greenhouse gases and opportunies may exist to enhance this system by conversion to slash-and-char systems. Our global analysis revealed that up to 12% of the total anthropogenic C emissions by land use change (0.21 Pg C) can be off-set annually in soil, if slash-and-burn is replaced by slash-and-char. Agricultural and forestry wastes such as forest residues, mill residues, field crop residues, or urban wastes add a conservatively estimated 0.16 PgCyr−1. Biofuel production using modern biomass can produce a bio-char by-product through pyrolysis which results in 30.6 kgC sequestration for each GJ of energy produced. Using published projections of the use of renewable fuels in the year 2100, bio-char sequestration could amount to 5.5–9.5 PgCyr−1 if this demand for energy was met through pyrolysis, which would exceed current emissions from fossil fuels (5.4 PgC yr−1). Bio-char soil management systems can deliver tradable C emissions reduction, and C sequestered is easily accountable, and verifiable. 

  Terra Preta website: http://www.terrapreta.bioenergylists.org

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