[Terrapreta] Charcoal Specification

[Tom Miles]

Sean,

 

Establishing standards and specifications are different than
characterization of charcoals and uses.

 

It doesn't have to be complicated. It just takes time and informed manpower.
You need an information  broker. A good literature search will show you many
laboratory and field trials with carefully documented results. There are
many very good examples of information required and documented. These can be
organized according to categories into a database. Entry forms for
contributed information can also be provided. Information can go into a
queue and be reviewed by the information manager before publishing it.
Information that is owned by a publisher or proprietary must be presented in
abstract form and linked to the owner.

 

The task is more one of drawing information together and establishing a
common index. We started a database on the Terra Preta website with articles
and appropriate terms that identify the investigators, organizations,
materials, soils, plants, treatments, watering regime, charcoal quality,
etc. The (MySQL) database that we run on the website can be used. Danny Day
maintains a database at EPRIDA as does Cornell and I am there are others.
The heroic part is the amount of time and financial resources it takes to
put it all together. If Christelle has the budget and time to do it then we
will all benefit from the effort. 

 

In the meantime we can benefit from studying and supporting current work,
identifying the soils, crops and water regimes and understanding the
mechanisms of the results so they can be applied in similar circumstances.
Specific applications of charcoal and results should be the heart of this
discussion. 

 

Tom

 

 

 

 

From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Sean K. Barry
Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 11:25 AM
To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org; ch braun
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Charcoal Specification

 

Hi Christelle,

 

In principle, I like this idea of having an "open-source" online databases
of experimental results with biochar.  I think there are a few others in
this group, perhaps, who would agree.  Still others might agree and
contribute data, consultation, or management services for the database.

 

I think there are some issues regarding "pride of authorship", where someone
might submit data, and force the issue of posting it in the public database,
even though other participants in the "data-sharing" arrangement might not
want this.  The problem is not for the other reviewers who also have
knowledge and maybe have made contributions.  They can discern "good
experimental data" versus "bad experimental data" for themselves.  Or, this
could be monitored by a database content editor, maybe?  It could be a
concern for the public lay persons interpretation of the data, though.

 

Otherwise, there is the issue of "proprietary" information.  Sometimes, if
the experimental data is very compelling, there is an economic advantage to
not sharing that information, but rather retaining that "nugget" and
developing it yourself.  This really then can effect the content and the
quality of the data, which is being put in such a database.  It can end up
lacking any real "leading edge" information.

 

I don't know the solution to this kind of uncooperativeness.  When we are
all operating independently, collaboration and cooperation, peer reviews,
data sharing, and critical acceptance all become hard topics between us at
times.

 

I think I would suggest that this be a "closed list", at least at first.
Member/contributors only for a time.  Any contributions should be put for
review by the group before it is allowed to be contributed.  When there are
concerns over proprietary information being disclosed, then the contributor
can decide to disclose all or part of the information, or not, themselves.
They can request NON-DISCLOSURE documents be signed, if they wish, to
protect any information they disclose to anyone.

 

I think this sort of thing has been tried before, even for 'biochar'.  I'd
guess that the lack of contributions is partly to do with these above stated
issues.  Although I don't know.  I think you may find this a very
interesting exercise, to evoke contributions to a "shared experimental test
database" from this disparate group.

 

Regards,

 

SKB

----- Original Message ----- 

From: ch braun <mailto:brauncch at gmail.com>  

To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org 

Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 4:35 AM

Subject: [Terrapreta] Charcoal Specification

 

Hello,

I have been trying to get an overview on the current stand of the research
on biochar in the world and have been following the TP list discussions for
a little while now. 

My feeling is that a lot of work/discussions/questions could be spared if
all the various experiments performed by biochar adepts all around the world
could be registered in some central repository which could be publicly
consulted anytime by people who would like to have quick answers to
questions as "easy" as e.g.: has already somebody made charcoal with
feedstock X ? Where ? How ? What were the results ? Any publication/project
about that ? and so on...

All these pieces of information should actually not only be collected
together, but also in a uniformed format, a kind of "biochar standard" which
would, on one hand, simplify the description of the experiments and their
results for people who perform them and, on the other hand, improve the
efficiency of the search for infos concerning a precise trial. 

Storing these infos in the form of a "formal specification" has also the
advantage of allowing the use of tools for data processing in order, for
instance, to retrieve statistical analysis or to find interesting
correlations between parameters. 

I have started a list of the different parameters I could find in the
literature or discussions about charcoal, which could be part of such a
"charcoal specification". I also tried to classify them, but since my
knowledge in chemistry and experience in the field are quite limited, there
are probably inconsistencies, errors or redundancies. And a lot is still
missing. So I would really appreciate help for developing this
specification! 

I have no idea how many people would be, like me, interested in such a
project... I principally see 2 steps before it can be really useful:
1. Formalization: completion/correction of the draft, to get a proper model
(possibly as soon as possible, with maybe additional changes later on) 
2. Instantiation: registration of experiments according to this model (of
course not limited in time!)

The best method for step 2 is probably to set up a database whose schema
corresponds to 1 and that people can easily populate with their data online.


So I put the current draft here:
http://bionecho.org/terrapreta/charcoalspec.txt

Anyone is welcome to contribute! Maybe the easiest way to proceed is to
discuss the changes and additions here and I merge them and update the draft
gradually? 

I am really curious to know what you all think of this idea...

Sincerely yours,
Christelle 

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