[Terrapreta] Large-scale experiment opportunities

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi Joe and All,

I read in a paper written in 2004 for the Encyclopedia of Energy and the Biomass Energy Research Association  which had an estimate for annual carbon yield from worldwide terrestrial plant growth.  The numbers presented in this paper were taken from 2002-2004 data developed by the International Energy Agency.

There is ~53 Gt (billion tons) of carbon fixed into ~132 Gt of terrestrial biomass every year.  If the average yield from carbonization of biomass were only 25% on a weight/weight basis carbon/biomass, then it would only require ~27 Gt of biomass to be converted into charcoal to offset the ~6.6 Gt flux of carbon into the atmosphere from human activity (due mostly to burning of fossil fuels).  It was interesting to note, too, that 0.46 Gt carbon equivalent of that ~6.6 Gt is from human respiration of carbon dioxide.

So, we need only convert ~20% of annual terrestrial biomass growth into charcoal each year to neutralize the crbon inputs to the atmosphere from burning of fossil fuels at current levels.  There is 829 Gt of standing carbon in terrestrial biomass (27 Gt is only ~3% of that).

This computation does not take into account the amount of energy which could be harvested for use, while pyrolizing/carbonizing 27 Gt of biomass, either.  This could reduce the amount of fossil fuel being used by a substantial amount.  

Currently, only ~10.5% (= ~45.1 EJ, exajoule, 10E18, one quintillion joules) of all worldwide energy consumption is supplied from biomass sources.  The average enrgy content in biomass is somewhere around ~19 MJ/kg or ~19 GJ/t, giga-Joules per metric ton.  So, ~45.1 EJ / 19 GJ/t = ~2.4 Gt.  We already convert (by complete combustion) 2.4 Gt of biomass into energy (and, again, this is ~10.5% of all the energy we use).

We start by carbonizing 27 Gt of biomass into charcoal, heat, and energetic gases (H2, CO, CH4).  If we left 60% of the energy in the charcoal, and harvested only half of the other energy in the heat and gases, then we would harvest about ~5.4 Gt worth of biomass as energy (100% - 60% = 40%, 40%/2 = 20%, 20% of 27 Gt = ~5.4 Gt).  This would amount to something like 5.4 Gt * 19 GJ/t = ~103 EJ.  That is another 25% of all the energy we consume worldwide!

So, energy harvested from ~27 Gt of biomass, which was being converted to charcoal, could supply another 25% of our current world consumption of energy.  This would reduce the use of fossil fuels for the supply of energy by at least 25%, if not more (we only get a fraction of our worldwide total energy consumption, a large one albeit, from fossil fuel energy sources).

I think my analysis above is fairly correct.  If anyone would like to discuss any of it, I surely would enjoy the rapport.  The paper I referred to mostly, I've attached.


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: joe ferguson<mailto:jferguson at nc.rr.com> 
  To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 2:48 PM
  Subject: [Terrapreta] Large-scale experiment opportunities


  Here are some ramblings on the topic.

  The recent wildfires in New Jersey (US) and still raging fires in the
  southeast US (Georgia and Florida) might serve as good sites to
  experiment on the nearby soils to see what an abundant local source of
  char would enable.  I visualize some of the large machines that I have
  seen at work grinding up storm debris going to work on charred snags and
  making hundreds of tons of char chips.  Perhaps the local agriculture
  officials and academic researchers could get involved, liberate
  necessary funding, and start getting answers to some of these questions.

  What level of charring is needed to get an impact?
  What level of application of char/unit area?
  What depth of mixing into the soil?
  What kinds of soil are improved by char treatment?
  Is the burned clay a critical element?
  What mineral mixture of said clay is required?

  I believe that the problem of CO2 accumulation is severe enough to have
  every avenue explored that might lead to reducing or even reversing the
  trend.  But it's necessary to get started, to obtain real data, and to
  have knowledgeable  experts from many disciplines  analyze the data. I
  visualize participation by a full gamut of agricultural scientists,
  biologists, geologists, mining engineers, economists, etc. (and you name
  your own lists.)

  The scope of the CO2 problem is mind-boggling.  My back-of-the-envelope
  calculations show that we couldn't keep up with CO2 released by fossil
  fuels even if the product of all cultivated land were sequestered in
  some manner as locked-up carbon or CO2.  But until humanity gets a
  handle on economically attractive sources of non-fossil energy, we have
  to do the best we can.  And the least we can do is to get started.

  Perhaps the carbon credits being discussed would provide a source of
  funding to defray some of the investment needed to create some
  large-scale demonstration projects.  We have certainly seen how some of
  the US energy programs can create some UNeconomic projects, like the
  "synfuels" programs that would collapse without tax credits and the
  ethanol-from-corn nonsense that can't unequivocally  be shown to break
  even on an energy basis.  And speaking of the ethanol programs, at least
  those operating the fermentation facilities should be required to
  capture the CO2 for sequestering.

  Joe Ferguson


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