Biochar defended
(First published in Carbon News, www.
carbonnews.
co.
nz 11ix08)
The International Biochar Initiative met 8th
-10th
Sept in Newcastle (on Tyne) to
advance the scientific understanding and policy role of this new boy on the block.
And it’s...
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Biochar defended
(First published in Carbon News, www.
carbonnews.
co.
nz 11ix08)
The International Biochar Initiative met 8th
-10th
Sept in Newcastle (on Tyne) to
advance the scientific understanding and policy role of this new boy on the block.
And it’s under attack, even though it has a key role to play in addressing the threat of
abrupt climatic change, such as a sudden, possibly several meter, rise in sea levels
sometime this century.
But first, what’s biochar? It’s finely divided pyrolyzed biomass prepared for soil
improvement – any sort of biomass such as wood chips, lawn mowings, sewage
sludge, kitchen waste, animal husbandry effluents, corn stover and other crop wastes,
etc.
– that is heated with little or no oxygen (pyrolyzed) till volatile components are
driven off (and available for processing to sustainable biofuels) with the remaining
porous and carbon-rich material subsequently loaded with nutrients e.
g.
through
exposure to compost or nutrient-rich boiler flue gases
Less
