[Gasification] biochar to sequester carbon

Tue Oct 9 11:05:08 EDT 2007

Dear all,
here on the Balearic Islands not so long ago - and in some parts even today- 
people practised the " fumiger" technique.
It means smoker. People cover all kind of organic matter and even some old 
tyres with earth and set fire to it , much like in a charcoal kiln. Then 
they let it slowly consume the biomass and after cooling down, they spread 
the char /earth on the land and that was it !
I always scorned this technique and was more fond of compostation, but after 
many years of incorporating compost into our medium to heavy soil I 
recognized that against what I believed, it actually lost water retaining 
capacity !
It became too spongy and the water would rinse right through it and 
disappear beyond the shallow crops´ roots.
If char really behaves different, it  could have an edge over other methods 
in a dry climate.

Rolf

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Saastamoinen Jaakko" <Jaakko.Saastamoinen at vtt.fi>
To: "Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification" 
<gasification at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 12:05 PM
Subject: Re: [Gasification] biochar to sequester carbon

Dear List,

in Finland some some hundred years ago they used a slash-burning farming 
method ("kaskiviljely", in Finnish).
See artist's (Eero Järnefelt) view of this method, where wood was burned on 
ground to improve the fertility.

http://www.kerailypojat.com/kohde.php?skip=44&haku=&kategoria=9&jarkka=

The temperature was rather low.

Jaakko

-----Original Message-----
From: gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org 
[mailto:gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Energies 
Naturals
Sent: 9. lokakuuta 2007 12:25
To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification
Subject: Re: [Gasification] biochar to sequester carbon

Thanks Jan,

this is why we are thinking about a low temp way which makes charcoal 
similar to the old kilns but in a more controllable retort.
The condensables could be used for what they are worth in material to 
petrochemical users, not just as an energy source, the more volatile are 
used for energy and the charcoal remains at our disposition.
Here again it could be separated into comercial charcoal and sold (if we 
think about wood destillation) and the smaller particles used as soil 
improvers.
If we think about non-woody biomass such as stalks and shrubs the structure 
of the char particles is different.
I would like to know if anybody has experience with these kinds of biomass 
since I guess that they will be mor common in the long run.
Rolf

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Calvert" <renertech at xtra.co.nz>
To: "Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification"
<gasification at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 10:55 AM
Subject: Re: [Gasification] biochar to sequester carbon

> All O.K.on the biological side but what about the  cation exchange
> properties?  I thought that Tera preta was mainly about holding onto
> fertiliser molecules before they were leached out of the system?   Ken C.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Pels, J.R. (Jan)" <pels at ecn.nl>
> To: "Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification"
> <gasification at listserv.repp.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 9:46 PM
> Subject: Re: [Gasification] biochar to sequester carbon
>
>
>> Dear List,
>>
>> As far as I understand the Terra Preta issue, it is basically the
>> morphology of the char that is beneficial. The chemical composition of
>> the char is not relevant. After pyrolysis or degassing an open structure
>> is formed where microorganisms and fungi find a suitable place to live.
>> They are improving soil quality by retaining water and nutrients. When
>> made at low temperature the char retains much of its original biomass
>> structure.
>>
>> Unfortunately, in high-temperature gasification, this structure is lost.
>> Carbon-rich fly ash from gasification of biomass is composed of
>> non-porous graphite-like particles and thus not functional in Terra
>> Preta.
>>
>> Not all char is equal.
>>
>> Jan
>>
>>
>> ========================================
>> Dr. Jan R. Pels
>> ECN - Biomass, Coals and Environmental Research
>> P.O. Box 1, 1755 ZG Petten, The Netherlands
>> telephone: +31-224-564884; fax: +31-224-568487
>> mobile: +31-6-10923218
>> e-mail: pels at ecn.nl
>> ========================================
>>
>>
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org
>>> [mailto:gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Tom Miles
>>> Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 5:56 AM
>>> To: 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'
>>> Subject: Re: [Gasification] biochar to sequester carbon
>>>
>>> Reg,
>>>
>>> Your find discussions of this an related articles on the
>>> terra preta discussion list and website that we started in January.
>>> http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/
>>> http://bioenergylists.org/pipermail/terrapreta_bioenergylists.org/
>>>
>>> You will find links there for Cornell where Lehmann is and
>>> other charcoal research. Some people on the discussion list
>>> have started their own farm and garden tests of charcoal, on
>>> arid soils in Guinea and Australia, on alkaline soils in
>>> India, in China, "somewhere 20 miles south of Lake Erie,
>>> USA," in a nursery in Washington, etc.
>>>
>>> We're all learning what the agronomic value of the charcoal
>>> might be for different soils and plants. The results are not
>>> yet clear. At best it would be a good use for char from gasifiers.
>>>
>>> Tom
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org
>>> [mailto:gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of
>>> Reg Preston
>>> Sent: Monday, October 08, 2007 12:43 AM
>>> To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification
>>> Subject: [Gasification] biochar to sequester carbon
>>>
>>> http://www.biochar-international.org/images/Lehman_Handful_of_
>>> C_-_Nature_5.9
>>> .07.pdf
>>>
>>> I trust every one on the list has read this paper?  Comments
>>> would be appreciated.
>>>
>>> Reg Preston
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>
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>
>
>
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