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

[Tom Miles]

Dick,
 
Think of all the (Arundo bonax) clarinet reeds you could produce as a byproduct. You'd flood the market. 
 
If terra preta is going to be implemented the processing needs to be paid for in some way. It is not likely that the agronomic value of incorporating charcoal will be apreciated by the market for some time. Integrating it into wastewater treatment by conversion of the solids to char or cycling though a crop like arundo makes sense. I'm sure that Danny Day (http://www.eprida.com ) and others have promoted this solution but it would be nice to see a city like Tallahassee try it.
 
Tom     


  _____  

From: Dick Glick [mailto:dglickd at pipeline.com] 
Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 11:18 AM
To: Tom Miles; terrapreta at bioenergylists.org; bioenergy at listserv.repp.org
Subject: Re: [Bioenergy] Bio-Char Sequestration in Terrestrial Ecosystems - - AReview


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  <http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/biochar/Biochar_home.htm> 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 ( <http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/publ/PlantSoil%20249,%20343-357,%202003%20Lehmann.pdf> Lehmann et al., 2003), and the tests of slash-and-char systems were suggested as an alternative to slash-and-burn ( <http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/publ/Lehmann%20et%20al.,%202002,%20WCSS%20Bangkok,%20paper%20no.0449.pdf> 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 <mailto:tmiles at trmiles.com>  
To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org ; bioenergy at listserv.repp.org ; 'A Gasification' <mailto:gasification at listserv.repp.org>  
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://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org
 



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/terrapreta_bioenergylists.org/attachments/20070210/1e4e1abf/attachment-0001.html