[Terrapreta] Terra Preta Soils Technology To Master Wal-Mart's Carbon Cycle

[Shengar at aol.com]

Dear TP Listers,
 
Any help in posting to all _these  entities_ 
(http://ceosustainabilitysummit.com/exhibitors.aspx)  associated with Walmart's green efforts would be most  
appreciated.
Post me and we will divvy up this pie. ( Use my standard TP post &  links any 
way you want)
Thanks,
Erich
 
 
Lessons Learned on Display at Wal-Mart's Sustainability Summit 
_http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/reinsider/story?id=50450_ 
(http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/reinsider/story?id=50450) 
 
Here are the the entities;
_http://ceosustainabilitysummit.com/exhibitors.aspx_ 
(http://ceosustainabilitysummit.com/exhibitors.aspx) 
 
                     
 
 
 
                       Terra Preta Soils Technology To Master Wal-Mart's 
Carbon Cycle
 
 
I thought the current  news and links on Terra Preta (TP)soils and 
closed-loop pyrolysis of  Biomass would interest you. Carbon to the soil for a really 
long  time;
 
 
 

This  technology represents the most comprehensive, low cost, and productive  
approach to long term stewardship and sustainability.Terra Preta Soils a  
process for Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon sequestration,  1/3 Lower 
CH4 & N2O soil emissions, and 3X Fertility  Too. 





 
 
SCIAM Article May 15  07;
 
 
 
_http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=5670236C-E7F2-99DF-3E2163B9FB144E4
0_ 
(http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=5670236C-E7F2-99DF-3E2163B9FB144E40) 
 
After  many years of reviewing solutions to anthropogenic global warming 
(AGW) I  believe this technology can manage Carbon for  the greatest collective 
benefit at the lowest economic price, on vast scales. It  just needs to be seen 
by ethical globally minded  companies.
 
 
Could you  please consider looking for a champion for this orphaned Terra 
Preta Carbon Soil  Technology.
 
 
The main  hurtle now is to change the current perspective held by the IPCC 
that the  soil carbon cycle is a wash, to one in which soil can be used as a 
massive  and ubiquitous Carbon sink via Charcoal. Below are the first concrete 
steps  in that direction;
 
S.1884 – The Salazar Harvesting Energy Act of  2007 
A  Summary of Biochar Provisions in  S.1884: 
Carbon-Negative Biomass  Energy and Soil Quality Initiative 
for the 2007  Farm Bill  
_http://www.biochar-international.org/newinformationevents/newlegislation.html
_ 
(http://www.biochar-international.org/newinformationevents/newlegislation.html)  
(...PLEASE!!..........Contact your  Senators & Repps in Support of 
S.1884........NOW!!...) 
Tackling Climate Change in the  U.S.Potential Carbon  Emissions Reductions 
from Biomass by 2030by Ralph P. Overend,  Ph.D. and Anelia Milbrandt
National Renewable Energy  Laboratory  

 
 
_http://www.ases.org/climatechange/toc/07_biomass.pdf_ 
(http://www.ases.org/climatechange/toc/07_biomass.pdf) 
 
The  organization 25x25 (see _25x'25 - Home_ (http://www.25x25.org/) ) 
released it's  (first-ever, 55-page )"Action Plan" ; see; 
_http://www.25x25.org/storage/25x25/documents/IP%20Documents/ActionPlanFinalWEB_04-19-07.pdf_ 
(http://www.25x25.org/storage/25x25/documents/IP%20Documents/ActionPlanFinalWEB_04-19-07.
pdf) 
On  page 29 , as one of four foci for recommended RD&D, the plan lists: "The  
development of biochar, animal agriculture residues and other non-fossil fuel 
 based fertilizers, toward the end of integrating energy production with 
enhanced  soil quality and carbon sequestration."
and on p 32, recommended as part of  an expanded database aspect of 
infrastructure: "Information on the application  of carbon as fertilizer and existing 
carbon credit trading  systems."

I feel 25x25 is now the premier US advocacy organization  for all forms of 
renewable energy, but way out in front on biomass  topics. 

 
There are  24 billion tons of carbon controlled by man in his agriculture and 
waste  stream,  all that farm & cellulose waste which is now dumped to rot or 
 digested or combusted and ultimately returned to the atmosphere as GHG 
should be  returned to the Soil.   

Even with all the big corporations  coming to the GHG negotiation table, like 
Exxon, Alcoa, .etc, we still need to  keep watch as they try to influence how 
carbon management is legislated in  the USA. Carbon must have a fair price, 
that fair price and the changes in the  view of how the soil carbon cycle now 
can be used as a massive sink verses it  now being viewed as a wash, will be of 
particular value to farmers and a global  cool breath of fresh air for us 
all. 
 
If you  have any other questions please feel free to call me or visit the TP 
web site  I've been drafted to co-administer.  
_http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=node_ (http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=node) 
 
It has  been immensely gratifying to see all the major players join the mail 
list ,  Cornell folks, T. Beer of Kings Ford Charcoal (Clorox), Novozyne the  
M-Roots guys(fungus),  chemical engineers, Dr. Danny Day  of EPRIDA , Dr. 
Antal of U. of H., Virginia Tech folks   and probably many others who's back round 
I don't know have  joined.
 

 
 
Also Here  is the Latest BIG Terra Preta Soil news;  
The Honolulu Advertiser: “The nation's leading  manufacturer of charcoal has 
licensed a University of Hawai'i process for  turning green waste into 
barbecue briquets.”  
See: 
_http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007707280348_ 
(http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007707280348) 
 
 
ConocoPhillips  Establishes $22.5 Million Pyrolysis Program at Iowa  State    
_04/10/07_ 
(http://www.conocophillips.com/newsroom/news_releases/2007+News+Releases/041007.htm) 


            Glomalin, the recently  discovered soil protien, may be the 
secret to to TP soils  productivity;
 
           _http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2003/030205.htm_ 
(http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2003/030205.htm) 
 
Here is my current  Terra Preta posting which condenses the most important 
stories and  links; 
 
Terra Preta Soils  Technology To Master the Carbon Cycle 
 
 
Man has been  controlling the carbon cycle , and there for the weather, since 
the invention of  agriculture, all be it was as unintentional, as our current 
airliner contrails  are in affecting global dimming. This unintentional warm 
stability in climate  has over 10,000 years, allowed us to develop to the 
point that now we know what  we did,............ and that now......... we are over 
doing it. 
 
The prehistoric and  historic records gives a logical thrust for soil carbon 
sequestration. 
I  wonder what the soil biome carbon concentration was REALLY like before the 
 cutting and burning  of the world's forest, my guess is that now we  see a 
severely diminished community, and that only very recent Ag practices like  
no-till and reforestation have started to help rebuild it.  It makes  
implementing Terra Preta soil technology like an act of penitence, a returning  of the 
misplaced carbon to where it belongs. 
 
On the Scale of CO2  remediation:
 
It is my understanding  that atmospheric CO2 stands at 379 PPM, to stabilize 
the climate we need to  reduce it to 350 PPM by the removal of 230 Billion 
tons of  carbon.
 
The best estimates  I've found are that the total loss of forest and soil 
carbon (combined  
pre-industrial and industrial) has been about 200-240 billion tons.  Of  
that, the soils are estimated to account for about 1/3, and the vegetation  
the other 2/3. 
 
Since man controls 24  billion tons in his agriculture then it seems we have 
plenty to work with in  sequestering our fossil fuel CO2 emissions as stable 
charcoal in the  soil.
 
As Dr. Lehmann at  Cornell points out, "Closed-Loop Pyrolysis systems such as 
Dr. Danny Day's are  the only way to make a fuel that is actually carbon 
negative". and that " a  strategy combining biochar with biofuels could ultimately 
offset 9.5 billion  tons of carbon per year-an amount equal to the total 
current fossil fuel  emissions! " 
 
Terra Preta Soils  Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon sequestration, 
1/3 Lower CH4  & N2O soil emissions, and 3X  FertilityToo 


This some what  orphaned new soil technology speaks to so many different 
interests and  disciplines that it has not been embraced fully by any.  I'm sure 
you will  see both the potential of this system and the convergence needed for 
it's  implementation.

The integrated energy strategy offered by Charcoal  based Terra Preta Soil 
technology may
provide the only path to sustain our  agricultural and fossil fueled power
structure without climate degradation,  other than nuclear power.

The economics look good, and truly great  if we had CO2 cap & trade or a 
Carbon tax in  place. 


.Nature article, Aug 06: Putting the  carbon back Black is the new green:  
_http://bestenergies.com/downloads/naturemag_200604.pdf_ 
(http://bestenergies.com/downloads/naturemag_200604.pdf) 

Here's  the Cornell page for an over view:
_http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/biochar/Biochar_home.htm_ 
(http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/biochar/Biochar_home.htm) 
 
University of  Beyreuth TP Program, Germany 
_http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=taxonomy/term/118_ 
(http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=taxonomy/term/118) 
 
This Earth Science  Forum thread on these soils contains further links, and 
has been viewed by  19,000 self-selected folks. ( I post everything I find on 
Amazon Dark Soils, ADS  here):  
_http://forums.hypography.com/earth-science/3451-terra-preta.html_ 
(http://forums.hypography.com/earth-science/3451-terra-preta.html) 



There is an ecology  going on in these soils that is not completely 
understood, and if replicated and  applied at scale would have multiple benefits for 
farmers and environmentalist.  

Terra Preta creates a terrestrial carbon reef at a microscopic  level. These 
nanoscale structures provide safe haven to the microbes and fungus  that 
facilitate fertile soil creation, while sequestering carbon for many  hundred if 
not thousands of years. The combination of these two forms of  sequestration 
would also increase the growth rate and natural sequestration  effort of growing 
plants.


The reason TP has  elicited such interest on the Agricultural/horticultural 
side of it's benefits  is this one static:

One gram of charcoal cooked to 650 C Has a  surface area of 400 m2 (for soil 
microbes & fungus to live on), now for  conversion fun:

One ton of charcoal has a surface area  of  400,000 Acres!!  which is equal 
to 625 square miles!!  Rockingham Co.  VA. , where I live, is only 851 Sq. 
miles 

Now at a middle of the  road application rate of 2 lbs/sq ft (which equals 
1000 sqft/ton) or 43  tons/acre yields 26,000 Sq miles of surface area per Acre. 
 VA is 39,594 Sq  miles.

What  this suggest to me is a potential of sequestering  virgin forest 
amounts of carbon just in the soil alone, without counting the  forest on top.

To take just one fairly representative example, in  the classic Rothampstead 
experiments in England where arable land was allowed to  revert to deciduous 
temperate woodland, soil organic carbon increased 300-400%  from around 20 t/ha 
to 60-80 t/ha (or about 20-40 tons per acre) in less  than a century 
(Jenkinson & Rayner 1977). The rapidity with which organic  carbon can build up in 
soils is also indicated by examples of buried steppe  soils formed during 
short-lived interstadial phases in Russia and Ukraine. Even  though such warm, 
relatively moist phases usually lasted only a few hundred  years, and started out 
from the skeletal loess desert/semi-desert soils of  glacial conditions (with 
which they are inter-leaved), these buried steppe soils  have all the rich 
organic content of a present-day chernozem soil that has had  many thousands of 
years to build up its carbon (E. Zelikson, Russian Academy of  Sciences, pers. 
comm., May 1994).  _http://www.esd.ornl.gov/projects/qen/carbon1.html_ 
(http://www.esd.ornl.gov/projects/qen/carbon1.html) 


All the Bio-Char  Companies and equipment manufactures  I've found:

Carbon  Diversion
_http://www.carbondiversion.com/_ (http://www.carbondiversion.com/) 
Eprida: Sustainable  Solutions for Global Concerns
_http://www.eprida.com/home/index.php4_ 
(http://www.eprida.com/home/index.php4) 
 
BEST Pyrolysis, Inc. |  Slow Pyrolysis - Biomass - Clean Energy - Renewable 
Ene
_http://www.bestenergies.com/companies/bestpyrolysis.html_ 
(http://www.bestenergies.com/companies/bestpyrolysis.html) 
Dynamotive Energy  Systems | The Evolution of Energy
_http://www.dynamotive.com/_ (http://www.dynamotive.com/) 
 
Ensyn -  Environmentally Friendly Energy and Chemicals
_http://www.ensyn.com/who/ensyn.htm_ (http://www.ensyn.com/who/ensyn.htm) 
 
Agri-Therm, developing  bio oils from agricultural waste
_http://www.agri-therm.com/_ (http://www.agri-therm.com/) 
 
Advanced BioRefinery  Inc.
_http://www.advbiorefineryinc.ca/_ (http://www.advbiorefineryinc.ca/) 
 
Technology Review:  Turning Slash into Cash
_http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/17298/_ 
(http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/17298/) 


3R Environmental  Technologies Ltd. (Edward Someus) 
WEB:  _http://www.terrenum.net/_ (http://www.terrenum.net/) 

The company  has Swedish origin and developing/designing medium and large 
scale carbonization  units. The company is the licensor and technology provider 
to NviroClean Tech  Ltd British American organization WEB: 
http://www.nvirocleantech.com and VERTUS  Ltd.
http://www.vertustechnologies.com 
The International  Agrichar Initiative (IAI) conference  held at Terrigal, 
NSW, Australia in  2007. (  _http://iaiconference.org/home.html_ 
(http://iaiconference.org/home.html)    ) ( The papers from this conference are now being 
posted at their home  page)
.
 
If pre-Columbian  Kayopo Indians could produce these soils up to 6 feet deep 
over 15% of the  Amazon basin using "Slash & CHAR" verses  "Slash & Burn", it  
seems that our energy and agricultural industries could also product them at  
scale. 

Harnessing the work of this vast number of microbes and  fungi changes the 
whole equation of energy return over energy input (EROEI) for  food and Bio 
fuels. I see this as the only sustainable agricultural strategy if  we no longer 
have cheap fossil fuels for fertilizer.

We need this  super community of wee beasties to work in concert with us by 
populating them  into their proper Soil horizon Carbon Condos.

Erich J.  Knight
Shenandoah Gardens
1047 Dave Berry Rd.
McGaheysville, VA.  22840
(540)  289-9750
shengar at aol.com










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