[Terrapreta] Strong warning against "simple" charcoal kilns

[Biopact]

It has been repeated here a few times. We should be careful not to ruin the potential of Terra Preta by coupling it to inefficient, GHG emitting charcoal devices.

Many of these simple devices are 10 to 20% efficient at best. Biochar's only way to make a difference is by using highly efficient pyrolyser units that maximally exploit the energy content in the biomass and that minimize GHG emissions. Syngas, heat, pyrolysis oil - all these he byproducts must be explicitly used to offset fossil fuels. 

So I urge all of us to limit references to "simple" charcoal kilns, and then only in the context of biochar trials that look at the effects of char in soils. For the rest, I think we should continuously stress that one of the most urgent needs is the development of highly efficient pyrolysis units.

Else, we could be ruining the entire Terra Preta venture. Remember, there are many people reading these texts, and they may spread amongst journalists. If they get the impression that we are a bunch of people who just pyrolyse our way through this concept, then the initial potency of the very concept may get lost. 

Cheers, 
Lorenzo
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