[Terrapreta] alkaline soils

[adkarve]

would somebody explain to me what bio-oil is? What is it chemically? Is is a tri-glyceride, or is it called oil only because of its viscosity?

Yours

A.D.Karve

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John G. Flottvik 
  To: Michael Bailes ; Randy Black 
  Cc: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org 
  Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2007 8:55 AM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] alkaline soils


  Michael.
   
  Do know of anyone having tried bio-oil as a soil amendment?
   
  If no has, and if its of interest to the list, I have the bio-oil made from softwood and the time to put together a new experiment.
  Any comments or suggestions on this.

  Regards
  John. 
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Michael Bailes 
    To: Randy Black 
    Cc: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org 
    Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 7:32 PM
    Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] alkaline soils


    Interesting experiment and observations Randy thanks.
    I think I am now even more confused :)

    There was a Canadian guy at the IAI conference who was just making liquid bio-oils for fuel.(I think it gets cold in Canada) He said this was one of the easiest and cheapest ways of transporting bio-energy as you could use tankers. 
    I suggested to him that he try experimenting with the bio-oil as a soil amendment.
    My suggestion may have fell on deaf ears; but it would be fascinating to see what different concentrations of "pure" bio-oils would have on soil. 
    m



    On 17/05/07, Randy Black <rblack at hillcity.k12.sd.us> wrote: 

      For the acid loving plants you may need that or some other source
      material that was acidic to start with. From my research the more
      bio-oil you have in the char the more acidic 

     


      Also the more partial the pine needle char the higher the
      acidic effects.

      Discussion
      The results in Experiment 1 show that the acidic effects of pine needles
      rest mainly in the volatile oil/acids contained in pine needles as seen 
      in the partial char and bio-oil results bringing the ph levels down to
      below 7. However pine needle char will bring the ph level of water down
      to towards the neutral level of ph 7 as seen in Experiments 2 and 3 with 
      longer exposure. 

     


      The difference between the ph affects of bio-oil and 
      charred pine needle may be due to a chemical process versus and
      physical-chemical process as low temperature biochar does contain some
      of the parent materials properties as impurities with the char. More
      investigations are needed to identify what affects the high surface 
      area, adsorption properties, and impurities in low temperature pine
      needle biochar have on modifying ph. Dry ground uncharred pine needles
      also lower the ph of water but take much more processing time and energy 
      and do not have the adsorption properties or increased cation exchange

     


      capacity of char.

      The results of Experiment 4 show that a small amount of pine needle
      bio-oil can significantly reduce the ph of large amounts of water. 


      What affects partial char, char, and bio-oil would have on high ph soils 
      would need to be field tested with a variety of soil under various
      condition and with differing percentages of pine needle biochar/bio-oil.
      Reducing the ph of water and reducing the ph of soils are two different 
      processes and long term field testing is needed. Most likely the
      acidifying affects of the bio-oil and partial pine needle biochar would
      be temporary but due to the recalcitrance of charcoal, its high surface
      area, and adsorption properties, charred pine needles may be able to
      maintain soil at a ph level of 7 for much longer.



      Summary
      The implications of pine needle biochar for Terra Preta research and
      charcoal enhanced soils are tremendous. First, we now have the ability 
      to add char to soil that will reduce the ph level instead of increase it
      but still contribute the benefits of charcoal in soil using a common
      readily available material. This has implications for alkaline soils and 
      to create soils for crops that need acidic conditions. Second, this
      demonstrates that we can tailor one of the chemical properties of
      biochar to match soil conditions based on the chemistry of the parent
      material. This means that Terra Preta science can be applied to a wide 
      variety of soils and has the potential to be individualized to match
      soil ph conditions and crop ph ranges. Third, if we can do this with ph
      levels can Terra Preta science be applied to doing this with trace
      minerals for crop nutrients or for a chemical/mineral balance that may
      be selective in establishing a desirable specific microbial community.
      The physics and chemistry of pine needle biochar's ph affects are
      entirely different from what would be needed to add specific
      minerals/chemicals to soil but demonstrates that Terra Preta technology
      is much more than just adding charcoal to the soil and could
      revolutionize our ideas on soil and crop management. 








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