United States Biochar Initiative 2018 Conference: “The Carbon Link in Watershed Ecosystem Services” Stories from Stockholm to Virginia

September 10, 2018

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by Bill Keba* (Advanced Biofuels USA) My wife checked my fishing gear upon learning that I was attending the Biochar 2018 Conference in Wilmington, Delaware. Why? She thought I made up “biochar” and the conference as a way escape to a few days of fishing on and off Cape Henlopen, Delaware. Smart lady. Despite her disbelief, biochar and the conference are 100% real.

What? You never heard of biochar? Me neither. Until a month ago. When I saw the Biochar 2018 Conference post on the Advanced Biofuels USA website.

The conference was held at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington, Delaware from August 20-23. The theme of the conference was “The Carbon Link in Watershed Ecosystem Services.” That could be interpreted a few ways. The intent was to point out the successes and potential for biochar.

You’ll have to read on to learn more.

What Is Biochar?

Before I get started, here is my ultra-simplistic definition. Biochar is a charcoal like substance created by heating biomass (wood, wood waste, crop residues, food wastes, manures, poultry litter, bone wastes, etc.) in a low to no oxygen environment. The heated biomass creates fuel gas used to continue the reaction and extra gas that may be used to fuel a generator. That’s called pyrolysis. It requires a special furnace in which all the gases, liquids and ash emissions are collected and used as fuel or as coproducts.

How Is Biochar Used?

To give you a clue, here are a few of the topics discussed at the conference: agriculture, building materials, stormwater management, environmental remediation, green agriculture, green cities, soil amendments, urban landscapes, animal husbandry, Chesapeake Bay clean up, forest management, mercury remediation, heavy metals removal. The list of potential uses goes on and on. I will write about a few.

Let’s begin

The conference began with several workshops. I attended Using and Making Biochar: The Whole Kit and Caboodle. The first part of the workshop was given by Dale Hendricks, a real earthy guy. He says biochar aids in “Planetary Gardening” being carbon friendly, water friendly and nutrient friendly. The second part, called Biochar 101 by Paul Taylor, a physicist, talked about everything biochar A-Z. My main takeaways? The methods of making biochar can be very simple, made in a backyard yet are scalable to industrial levels. Heat generated during biochar production can be used for cooking and drying. Pyrolyzing biomass can create fuels collected and used in many ways. On the molecular level, on the biochar, there is amazing activity.

Agricultural Uses

Let’s get into the dirt. Archeological records show that biochar was used for thousands of years as both a soil amendment and, when combined with nutrients, as a fertilizer. As explained and illustrated in a truly engaging keynote speech by Dr. David Montgomery, agricultural based civilizations, both historically and currently, lose topsoil at a rate higher than it can be replaced by natural means. Soil erodes, and organic matter is depleted. The remaining soil is more like plain old dirt, devoid of nutrients and requiring intervention. Need proof? Look to the past. How many advanced civilizations have become part of history due to poor soil management?

Today, in modern farming, the intervention is typically the addition of fossil fuel-based fertilizers and continuous irrigation. Think of the problems caused by those two! Adding biochar to the soil, just like the ancient Amazonians did, amends these characteristics: macro and micro pores in the biochar retain moisture, loosen the soil, increase gas exchange, permit important microbiological activity, convert and store minerals. Creating a more natural soil. Not enough for you? Biochar and all the accompanying earthy organic activity sequester atmospheric carbon at as high a rate as 3.6 to 1 by weight. Holy cow!

Animal Husbandry[1]

Speaking of cows: Do you know that biochar is being used as an additive in bovine feed in Europe? Why? Weight gain and better health. Ruminants, like cows, are natural anaerobic digestors. The byproducts? Manure and methane. A study indicates that methane is reduced by 10% when 1% biochar by weight is added as a feed supplement.[2] Too chicken to try that? Poultry litter may be carbonized to create a biochar bedding that reduces ammonia in poultry operations providing healthier environments for the workers and chickens.

Green Cities, Urban Landscapes, Soil Amendments, and Stormwater Management

In the Large Project Session, in a talk titled, City of Stockholm’s Biochar Project, horticulturist and Tree Officer, Bjorn Embren of Stockholm, reviewed the city’s dedication to a sustainable green environment and the goal of being fossil fuel free by 2040. He pointed out that Stockholm was the first European Green Capital City, winning that award in 2010, also winning the Bloomberg Philanthropies 2014 European Mayor’s Challenge.

Stockholm’s been planting urban trees as part of these initiatives. A few years after the tree plantings began, the trees began looking sick. Not doing well at all. An investigation discovered that the soil around the tree planting box was devoid of air, nutrients and very dry. The tree roots did not grow past the planting box. Simply stated, the trees were starving and dehydrated.

The city created a rescue plan: Without hurting the trees, they excavated compacted soils adjacent to the planting boxes, installed a mix of biochar and stone, (biochar filling in the voids between the stones), incorporating stormwater collection boxes near the trees. In one year, the trees with biochar were fuller and healthier, spreading their green crown over the city’s sidewalks and streets. This effort also reduced stormwater runoff to Lake Malaren. Dual success!

Leaves fall, branches break, and trees must be trimmed. Add garden waste to that and you have lots of biomass. Easily enough to operate a modern pyrolizer. In 2016 Stockholm, as part of its fossil-free goal, installed just such a unit. It turns the city’s renewable waste into heat for apartments through a district heating system, and biochar for soil amendment for gardens, urban tree plantings producing biomass for more renewable energy. Talk about a circular sustainable economy! Mattias Gustafsson of EcoTopic led the Stockholm Biochar Project and spoke about how other cities can emulate their success.

Remediation

Mercury remediation of the South River in Virginia was discussed at length by Mike Liberati, Principal

Project Director of the DuPont Corporate Remediation Group and James Gaspard, CEO of Biochar Now, LLC. After an extensive technology evaluation by DuPont, biochar was selected as the active material for remediation. Biochar Now created a specially engineered biochar capable of immobilizing mercury in the soil by securely binding with it. DuPont reported excellent results and is hoping to continue rolling out this biochar-based solution.

I can’t understand the scientific reasons for this despite attending many of conference sessions regarding the laws of chemistry and physics that govern these processes. I’ll simply say there is reason. Physicists love to talk about it. It is a magnet and steel kind of situation, but at a molecular level. Biochar is the high-power magnet; mercury and other elements like a piece of steel. Unlike magnet and steel, you can’t separate them easily.

Mr. Gaspard, said little but dispensed a warning to other biochar producers, “Know what your ‘char will do. You can and will be tested.” I heard remarks like this from many other producers and industry representatives. Their concerns? Overmarketing and underperforming. Major pitfalls for this relatively new industry.

Biochar is not simply biochar. Meaning that the source biomass and the types of production and parameters all matter in the repeatability of the end results. Some biochar producers and marketers claim their biochar can perform all the benefits touted by researchers. This, in fact, is not the case.

Agricultural runoff and fuel

Mercury remediation not impress you? More concerned with excess nutrients in your agricultural runoff? Can’t spread manure or poultry litter? Too much NPK in your fields already? There is potential to pyrolyze your agricultural waste into fuel with biochar as a byproduct. Use the fuel for heat or to run an electric generator. Use the biochar as a soil amendment: “Nutrient leaching from agricultural land decreases because biochar adsorbs and binds it into the soil.”[3] #3 It can also reduce for need for fossil fuel-based fertilizers and irrigation. Another renewable energy source and another circular economy.

Conference Overall

My favorite talk was titled, Arguments Against Biochar: True or False, by Suzanne Allaire, PhD. Dr. Allaire is on the board of the International Biochar Initiative and is a biochar and pyrolysis consultant. It was a riveting and informative 25-minute presentation, discussing the pros and cons, facts and figures, and “snake-oil” marketing concerns that the industry faces.

Mr. Tom Miles, Chairman of the International Biochar Initiative and the U.S. Biochar Initiative in his closing remarks said, “Better products, better research and better production come from fully understanding the customer’s needs.”

This event was attended by engineers, economists, educators, and environmental stewards from the US EPA, USDA and US Forest Service as well as farmers, greenhouse owners, machine manufacturers, producers, and researchers. Individuals diverse in every sense of the word. More importantly: Gritty. Passionate. Dedicated.

Why? Biochar. This remarkable carbon sequestering product, practically hidden in plain sight, produced from renewable sources, has great environmental potential.

The conference theme was “The Carbon Link in Watershed Ecosystem Services.” The South River, Virginia remediation project illustrates this perfectly. It is a keystone project, successfully and visibly demonstrating just one of biochar’s uses. It’s a milestone in the development, production, delivery and use of specialty biochar requiring the cooperation and collaboration of producers, users, environmental stewards, and the public. DuPont left no stone unturned in its search for a solution; they found it in biochar.

The event organizer, Mr. Charles Hegberg and his staff were creative in the design and organization of the intensely interesting workshops, abstract presentations, poster speed-talks, plenary sessions, and networking sessions, ending the conference with panel discussions and questions submitted through the BIOCHAR 2018 app. Very fitting.

Mr. Hegberg, told me, “It’s time to upcycle carbon waste streams into the environment. “Judging by the attendees, quality of presentations, and overall interests in using biochar in remediation, stormwater management and nutrient controls, he’s right. He hit the bullseye. Well done.

[1] In the United States biochar is not allowed to be fed to any animal entering the food chain.

[2] Pyrolysis for Heat Production, Mattias Gustafsson, 2013 quoting Inthapanya et al., 2012

[3] Pyrolysis for Heat Production, Mattias Gustafsson, 2013 quoting Kihlberg et al., 2013

*Bill Keba, an executive in transition to the renewable energy sector, is serving as a volunteer correspondent for Advanced Biofuels USA.

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United States Biochar Initiative 2018 Conference: “The Carbon Link in Watershed Ecosystem Services” Stories from Stockholm to Virginia

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