[Terrapreta] Present and Future Benefits of TP

[Chuck Yokota]

Hi Lou and Sean,

 

Does the Biochar Fund actually have the technology developed to actually
provide a pyrolysis plant/electric generator as described?  If so, I
want one; but if they expect to develop one, they will run into those
technical hurdles, as the folks on the gasifier list know well.

 

Chuck

 

________________________________

From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Sean K.
Barry
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 10:49 AM
To: lou gold
Cc: terrapreta
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Present and Future Benefits of TP

 

Hi Lou,

 

This is a fantastic site you've referred me to.  I don't mean to imply
that considerations for Methane-CH4 emissions should prevent
"slash-and-char" as opposed to wider scale "slash-and-burn".  From that
site http://biocharfund.com site ...

 

What is more, the production of biochar in village-scale pyrolysis
plants is coupled to the generation of carbon-negative electricity,
making renewable, low-carbon and decentralised energy services available
to rural communities currently without access to modern energy.

 

The site speaks of the kind of pyrolysis plants, that I think are needed
to make charcoal cleanly (sans Methane-CH4 emissions).  The site
mentions many of the things I have been talking about.  There are
several technical hurdles to implement these types of systems.  It has
to be realized, too, that even biomass is finite and we can harvest only
so much charcoal and/or energy from it.  Without significant amounts of
biomass, there will be neither charcoal, nor energy to be had.

 

Regards,

 

SKB

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

	From: lou gold <mailto:lou.gold at gmail.com>  

	To: Sean K. Barry <mailto:sean.barry at juno.com>  

	Cc: Richard Haard <mailto:richrd at nas.com>  ; terrapreta
<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org>  

	Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 10:24 AM

	Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Present and Future Benefits of TP

	 

	Hi Sean,
	
	I'm jumping into this in the middle without carefully following
the thread. Apologies if I am missing your point.
	
	The emphasis on "slash and char" is in the context of replacing
the "slash and burn" techniques used by millions of subsistence farmers
who live along the frontiers of tropical deforestation and in other
poverty-stricken and soil-depleted  areas. I don't know how appropriate
a term this would be in the modern industrial farming scene. With regard
to the frontiers of tropical deforestation it could have a HUGE impact. 
	
	This is why http://biocharfund.com//index.php
<http://biocharfund.com/index.php>  was created.
	
	Again, apologies if I've missed your meanings.
	
	lou

	On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 11:56 AM, Sean K. Barry
<sean.barry at juno.com> wrote:

	Hi Richard,

	 

	Perhaps I have not mentioned "slash-and-char" directly in those
terms.  My concept of "in-situ" pyrolysis is the closest I would be to
that, I think.  Open field "slash-and-char" is not exactly what is
needed to combat the atmospheric problems.  Emissions from open field
"slash-and-char" are the problem.

	 

	There were some things I wanted to ask you about.  How does
charcoal (+ pottery?) help soil hold nutrients better?  To see how TP
soils work, shouldn't we be looking at that more?  If anyone makes
charcoal on and applies it on one site, then this is "in-situ".  If
instead anyone makes charcoal on one and more sites, all applied to
another site, then the latter site receives the concentration of
nutrients (in-the-charcoal) from the other sites.  Might  concentrating
it on another site might be the important part of what the Amazonians
did when making their Terra Preta?  

	 

	Importing and concentrating nutrients from a large area onto a
smaller one must clearly bring more nutrients into that soil bank?
Does/would the build up of microorganisms and the increase in nutrient
holding/delivering capacity (CEC) take time to develop in the soil?
Does/would it involve certain crop rotations or a continued annual
series of inputs?  There is a real kind of "investment" quality to
attempting to form Terra Preta soils, I think.  It also seems like it
requires continued investments to really work.  We're trying to bank the
stores of carbon, nutrients, and microorganisms (containing carbon).
All of this, to build on the kinds of agricultural productivity we can
get out of these TP plots/banks (our interests and dividends).

	 

	Lastly, the problem of rising GHG in the atmosphere means being
very careful about GHG emissions.  We DO NEED to pyrolize GIGATONS
biomass, making charcoal, and put it into the ground, ASAP.  We cannot
let ~3-10% of the original carbon in that biomass escape into the
atmosphere as Methane-CH4 and sequester less than 50% of the carbon when
we pyrolyze the biomass (as happens in an open pit).  That will not work
in the grand scale, to fix the problems in the atmosphere, even if we
buried all of the GIGATONS of charcoal we made.

	 

	I know I am beating the crap out of this point.  But it is
critical to any plan that uses Terra Preta for climate amelioration
needs to take it into account.  Others methods just don't hunt.  The
slash-and-char concept seems strictly "in-situ" to me.  Does or will
transport of charcoal from site to site become important in the
formation of Terra Preta soils?

	 

	Regards,

	 

	SKB

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

		From: Richard Haard <mailto:richrd at nas.com>  

		To: Sean K. Barry <mailto:sean.barry at juno.com>  

		Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 1:06 AM

		Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Present and Future Benefits of
TP

		 

		...

		 

		Target atmospheric CO2: Where should humanity aim?

		 

		 

	
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