[Terrapreta] Can Terra Preta Compete?

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi David,

You can make fertilizer from fossil fuels like coal (to syngas, to ammonia, to ammonium nitrate, ammonium bicarbonate, ammonium sulfate, etc.)
That is how industrial fertilizers are made.  Fossil fuel feedstocks for industrially produced fertilizers do currently support agriculture worldwide.  These fertilizers have lead to the greatest degradations and threats to agricultural land so far and there is no sign that there use will stop, not even with the demise of fossil fuels.  Yes, other uses of biomass carbon do exist and will compete strongly against burying it into the soil.

Regards,

SKB
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: David Yarrow<mailto:dyarrow at nycap.rr.com> 
  To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> 
  Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 2:20 PM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Can Terra Preta Compete?


  i'm not sure gerry (and too many others) grasps what we are dealing with here.  the idea terra preta must compete with other uses for biocarbon ignores a stark, uncompromising reality: you can't eat coal, and you can't drink gasoline.  or money.  we're talking about soil fertility and food supply.

  the real challenge here is if we as a society finally become wise enough to realize how precious fertile, productive, food-growing soil is -- community by community, nation by nation, and worldwide.  and make a commitment to do whatever must be done to preserve this precious, irreplacable resource, and assure abundance for endless ages and generations.  

  lots of folk -- including political and business leaders -- are waking up to this simple choice: food, or energy?  corn, or ethanol?  already we are seeing food riots and strikes in many nations as poor communities scramble to find food, or affordable food, or nutritious, healthy food.

  but if this essential value of feeding our communities isn't sufficient to distinguish terra preta as a top priority use for biocarbon, terra preta offers several bonuses not offered by other purely industrial uses, including: 
  1) soil microbes function as a global flywheel to stabilize earth's composition of gases
  2) soils with abundant microbial food webs and organic carbon filter, purify and conserve groundwater
  3) terra preta creates nutrient dense soils able to grow nutrient dense foods to mitigate our epidemic of degenerative diseases

  so, i suggest we think more deeply about certain biological and moral imperatives that underlie our work: food, and the allocation of resources to produce enough food to feed our communities when oil hits $150/barrel, and climate and weather get extreme, unpredictable and unstable.  the question should be reframed  from "can terra preta compete?" to "what priority must we place on agricultural uses of char?" and "how to we enforce this priority for food-producing soil?"

  this leads us to other critical questions:
  "how do we incentivize and encourage farmers to produce biomass for biochar & biofuel?"
  and also "how to we enlist farmers to become biochar producers?"
  and third "how do we get growers to recycle a percent of annual biochar produced back into local soils?"

  when we start answering these questions, i'll believe i'm living in a society that is successfully making enough sense to assure its survival in the challenges ahead.  currently, i have deep doubts and mistrust that humans have enough common sense and ecological intelligence to make it through the next century.

  but things are changing, and many voters are looking for leaders for those changes....

  for a green & peaceful planet,
  David Yarrow
  44 Gilligan Rd, E Greenbush, NY 12061
  www.championtrees.org<http://www.championtrees.org/>
  www.OnondagaLakePeaceFestival.org<http://www.onondagalakepeacefestival.org/>
  www.farmandfood.org<http://www.farmandfood.org/>
  www.SeaAgri.com<http://www.seaagri.com/>
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Gerry Kutney<mailto:gkutney at all-woodfibre.com> 
    To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> 
    Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 10:51 AM
    Subject: [Terrapreta] Can Terra Preta Compete?


    BIOCARBON:  Can Terra Preta Compete?

    Those of us in the biocarbon industry (i.e., those that have manufacturing facilities for biocarbon and are marketing the material) watch with great interest the countless articles on terra preta.  We are concerned, though, about the misunderstanding of the value of biocarbon.  The biocarbon, itself, is discussed as almost a waste product that is worth a few dollars per ton.  Biocarbon has inherent value as a renewable energy pellet, with an energy content of 30 GJ/te, which is similar to coal and almost double that of a wood pellet.  Recently, a Korean steel manufacturer was reported to be paying over $300 per tonne for coking coal.  If coal can be valued so highly, how much higher in price should be a renewable (GHG neutral) replacement for coal, i.e. biocarbon?  An even higher valued market opens when the biocarbon is activated.  An important environmental role for activated biocarbon is to remove mercury contamination from flew gas in coal-fired power plants.  While costs increase to activate the material, selling prices are often in excess of $1,000 per tonne.

     

    This wonder of nature appears to have amazing impact on plant growth and has a significant carbon negative footprint.  However, studies in someone's backyard or flower garden, do not supply the rigour that government agencies demand to prove the agricultural benefits of new products.  Extensive field trials are required to prove and quantify the benefits of TP.  The issue is especially important for terra preta since it does not fit the standard mold of an agricultural product.  It is not a fertilizer or nutrient, yet it stimulates plant growth.  This agricultural catalyst will likely be thus put under even closer regulatory scrutiny; more reason to get proper field trials under way.

     

    We, at Alterna Energy (www.alternaenergy.ca), are investigating carrying out such field trials on terra preta in Australia, and we will shortly be promoting such trials in Canada.  These trials will only begin to quantify the benefits of terra preta.  For the terra preta genii to be released from its carbon bottle, many soils in varying climatic conditions must be tested.  In the meantime, Alterna Energy continues to market its biocarbon as carbon-neutral, bioenergy pellets.  We eagerly await the opportunity to build plants around the world to supply a future agricultural market.  

     

    In the end, the success of terra preta will depend on demonstrated agricultural and environmental benefits, and competing market demand.  Biocarbon is an amazing substance; so much so that various industries will be vying for its almost magical abilities.  We will have to see if terra preta can compete?  In other words, will the field trials demonstrate to the agricultural community and related government agencies that terra preta is worth, at least, what competing industries are willing to pay for it.  Of course, we all hope that it can.

     

     

     

    Gerry Kutney

    Chief Operating Officer



    1-250-649-2459

     



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