[Terrapreta] alkaline soils

[Ron Larson]

AD (cc "terrapreta")

    Re your question today,  I think a good start at a definition/description is at http://www.dynamotive.com/en/biooil/index.html#what

    This company specializes in producing what they call bio-oil.  But I think almost all pyrolysis processes allow some collection of liquids that can be called "bio-oil".  The volatiles left in any lower temperature char probably contain a high percentage of something(s) that can be called "bio-oil".  The fast pyrolysis process used by Dynamotive is optimized for liquids production.  No doubt, there are dozens or hundreds of different liquid components in "bio-oil".

    But there is still a (relatively smaller) char component with the Dynamotive process.  Its use was described by Desmond Radlein of Dynamotive - as covered in the recent Scientific American article covering the Australian IAI conference - see the first paragraph of:
http://sciam.com/article.cfm?articleid=5670236C-E7F2-99DF-3E2163B9FB144E40.

    I think we will see an interesting future competition between char suppliers using the slow and fast pyrolysis approaches.

Ron
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: adkarve 
  To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 11:47 PM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] alkaline soils


  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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