[Terrapreta] New memberto the Terra Preta group

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi Dave,

Welcome to our group.  I hope you will enjoy the blog and the rapport we have here, in this group.

To try and answer the request in the your post, I would say that much is NOT known, YET.  The best research I think I've seen was done by a guy, who lived in Brazil (the home of the original Terra Preta).  His name is Dr. Christoph Steiner.  I've attached one of the latest of his research papers.  It's a technical soil scientists read, but I have found his experimental procedures solid and his analysis and summaries insightful.  Christoph is a member of this group.

Now, I have shameless plug for my company, Troposphere Energy, LLC.  I will be making charcoal soon with either of two wood/biomass gasification systems, which I am now building.  You could buy some charcoal from me?  I will give you the fairest price I can.  You could use as much as you want in any kind of "Neo Terra Preta" research, that you can think of or want to do.  If you want to, you can specify to me the feedstock and the characteristics you want the charcoal from me to have.  I will work with you on making charcoal any way you want.  You could also buy from me any kind of gasification system/charcoal pyrolysis reactor or kiln (which we could design together, even?), which I am confident I can build, and then make all the charcoal you want out of whatever you want.

I will be setting maximum production temperatures for the charcoal process, residence times, and getting proximate analysis and pH measurements done on all of the charcoal I make, at minimum.  I will probably start with 3rd party lab analysis.  Eventually, I will follow on with doing the ASTM test procedures and characterizing the charcoal myself.  I will be trying to use as many different biomass resources as I can get my hands on.

I want to research the options of inoculating charcoal (and/or soil) with beneficial soil microorganisms.  I want to research composting with charcoal.  I want to research growing gardens and landscapes with charcoal on my own property and I want others to do it with my charcoal on their property.  I want to research ways to make charcoal production for sequestration in agriculture earn money.  I want research partners who will do this kind of stuff with me, in gardens and plots and pots, with charcoal I and they make.

I think, that if you do anything with "Neo Terra Preta" forming, then you should stay in communication with this group and tell us all about your experiences.

I hope to hear from you again in here.

Best Regards,


Sean K. Barry
Principal Engineer/Owner
Troposphere Energy, LLC
11170 142nd St. N.
Stillwater, MN 55082
(651) 351-0711 (Home/Fax)
(651) 285-0904 (Cell)
sean.barry at juno.com<mailto:sean.barry at juno.com>


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: code suidae<mailto:codesuidae at gmail.com> 
  To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> 
  Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 5:52 PM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Terra Preta and the Global Carbon Cycle


  On 6/1/07, Duane Pendergast <still.thinking at computare.org<mailto:still.thinking at computare.org>> wrote: 
    This site is really intended for people getting their hands dirty – probably literally very dirty in some cases - learning how to make charcoal in an environmentally friendly manner and to test their ideas on how it might play a role in building and enriching soil.


  Since this has come up, I have a couple of questions on that subject. First though, I'll introduce myself, since this is my first post to this list. 

  I'm a computer programmer in Omaha Nebraska and have been following the environmental concerns for many years. I've been trying to keep my impact low but without a lot of conviction. Over the past year or so I've realized how bad the problem is and so am making more concerted efforts to do something. This spring I've started my first garden, very small this year, 60 square feet, with the intent to expand it as I learn to not kill all the poor plants. The soil here looks pretty poor for gardening to me (though the cornfield next door seems to do ok). It's mostly clay, which is good for experimenting with cob construction, but no so good for growing potatoes. I refuse to use a commercial fossil fuel based improvement method, so I'm looking into sustainable ways to do the job. I intend to start composting and worm bins for soil amendments for next season, but recent articles about bio-char in the news lead me to read about Amazonian terra preta (truly, a remarkable story) and, eventually, this list. I'd like to experiment with charcoal amendments, both because I'm simply curious about it, and also because I want to make my garden as productive as I can without dumping fossil fuel derived products into it.

  So, I wonder if someone could direct me to the newbie page that explains why the obvious things don't work and maybe some of the basic techniques?

  I'm assuming that while directly adding charcoal to the soil helps, it does not reach the full potential of biologically active TP-like soil. I suspect that it is necessary to add the charcoal to pre-composted material so that it can integrate properly with the biologicals in the soil, and I suppose that there is a post-compost process of some sort as well. Does anyone have any pet theories about getting a better-than-just-charcoal-and-dirt soil going, or if that is documented somewhere, a reference to such? 


  Thanks!
  Dave

  _______________________________________________
  Terrapreta mailing list
  Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
  http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biochar/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/terrapreta_bioenergylists.org/attachments/20070601/b791a0c0/attachment.html