[Terrapreta] manure biochar N-P-K question

[Jon C. Frank]

One additional point.  We have a customer who has access to large quantities
of charcoal powder that was used by industry as a filtration product for
syrup.  This product has pyrogenic characteristics so is difficult to
market.

To prove a point at how effective it is in soil restoration he bought an
extremely sandy field on the river bottom of the Mississippi River.  He
applied 15-20 tons of this product per acre and plowed it into the soil.  He
saw tremendous visual difference in the plants and in the root growth as
compared to his neighbor with whom he shared part of the pivot for
irrigation.  When looking at roots that encountered chunks of this charcoal
powder the roots would explode with massive growth inside the chunk of
charcoal powder.

The conclusion of this farmer was that adding large quantities of charcoal
powder increased the need for nitrogen on corn.  I suspect this might also
be the case with biochar, at least in the first year after application.  I
wonder if biochar made from manure would significantly slow the release of
NPK as compared to using the manure fresh.  I believe so but have no data to
back up my beliefs.  Kind of hard to get bio charred manure around our area.
:)

Jon C. Frank
www.aglabs.com

  -----Original Message-----
  From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org]On Behalf Of Adriana Downie
  Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 5:55 PM
  To: 'James Oliver'; terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] manure biochar N-P-K question


  Hi James,



  It very much depends on the temperature and processing conditions.
Generally the P and K will stay with the char, you will loose some nitrogen
but if you keep the temperature below 400C you will keep a significant
amount of it. The availability of the NPK in the char also changes
significantly with process conditions.



  Regards,



  Adriana Downie

  BEST Energies Australia



  -----Original Message-----
  From: James Oliver [mailto:jwogdn at yahoo.com]
  Sent: Monday, 10 September 2007 11:16 PM
  To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
  Subject: [Terrapreta] manure biochar N-P-K question



  I have seen discussion of turning manure into biochar.  Is the N-P-K
retained in the biochar if manure is used as feed stock?



  JW




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