Aqueous Solutions for SEA

Video from their FaceBook page (https://www.facebook.com/AqueousSolutions/)

Hugh McLaughlin

Hugh McLaughlin does a great job here explaining to soils folk about biochar links between chemistry and biology. One important take is about water.

Hang on for the next youtube by him... more great viewing on "conditioning, charging and inoculating" biochar (...CCI).

Biochar for water treatment

Biochar and its importance in adsorption of antibiotic and heavy metals from aqueous solutions

Hesham M. Aly 

Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer, Ministry of Agriculture, China-New Zealand Joint Laboratory for Soil Molecular Ecology, Beijing 100081, China, 

e-mail: heshamtree@yahoo.com 

Department of Forestry, Horticulture Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Antoniadis Botanical Garden, Alexandria, 21554, Egypt 

Abstract

This short communication relates to carbon-rich material referred to as biochar. In the subsequent sections, the text presents old and modern methods of production, physiochemical characteristics and miscellaneous applications of biochar in environmental protection, e.g. treatment of contaminated soil and water, as well as in agriculture for soil fertilization. The final part of the text deals with further possible, more extensive use of biochar in these two economic sectors, particularly to create carbon sink for CO2 sequestration in land cultivation, and to remove heavy metals and pharmaceutical compounds from soil and water in environmental protection.

More on biochar for wastewater industry applications

This looks interesting for the wastewater industry... The full publication is available from the linked title.

Bioremediation of Wastewater by Iron Oxide-Biochar Nanocomposites Loaded with Photosynthetic Bacteria 

Shiying He1 , Linghao Zhong2 , Jingjing Duan1 , Yanfang Feng1 , Bei Yang1 and Linzhang Yang1 * 
1 Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China, 
2 Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, Mont Alto, PA, United States 

"It has been reported that bacteria-mediated degradation of contaminants is a practical and innocuous wastewater treatment. In addition, iron oxide nanoparticles (NP) are wastewater remediation agents with great potentials due to their strong adsorption capacity, chemical inertness and superparamagnetism. Therefore, a combination of NPs and microbes could produce a very desirable alternative to conventional wastewater treatment. For this purpose, we first prepared Fe3O4/biochar nano-composites, followed by loading photosynthetic bacteria (PSB) onto them. It was found that Fe3O4/biochar nano-composites exhibited a high adsorption capacity for PSB (5.45 × 109 cells/g). The efficiency of wastewater pollutants removal by this PSB/Fe3O4/biochar agent was then analyzed. Our results indicated that when loaded onto Fe3O4/biochar nano-composites, PSB’s nutrient removal capability was significantly enhanced (P < 0.05). This agent removed 83.1% of chemical oxygen demand, 87.5% of NH+ 4 , and 92.1% of PO3− 4 from the wastewater in our study. Our experiments also demonstrated that such composites are outstanding recyclable agents. Their nutrient removal capability remained effective even after five cycles. In conclusion, we found the PSB/Fe3O4/biochar composites as a very promising material for bioremediation in the wastewater treatment. "

Wastewater treatment and biochar

The following article is relevant to wastewater treatment throughout SEA...
http://soilcarbon.org.nz/waste-water-treatment-and-biochar/

Biochar and urban trees

The following link leads to my post to ABE website on a new article published by The Biochar Journal. The article is focused on temperate climate urban planting in Sweden but I think it is still highly relevant to urban tree planting in the tropics.

Click above to link: http://soilcarbon.org.nz/biochar-urban-trees/

Malaysia has some experience with urban biochar planting which has been highlighted in the past...
http://sea-biochar.blogspot.my/.../bandar-utama-history...

Singapore also has a strong history in urban tree research...
http://sea-biochar.blogspot.my/2016/01/biochar-gets-mention-in-singapore.html
http://sea-biochar.blogspot.my/2015/02/biochar-compost-and-tree-growth.html
http://sea-biochar.blogspot.my/2012/07/application-of-char-products-improves.html
http://sea-biochar.blogspot.my/2011/08/ibi-august-newletter-draft-big-sea.html

If you have any other stories related to urban biochar applications in the SEA region, then please get in touch. 

Biochar water treatment training in Thailand

Register by Oct 30 for a 10-day intensive training course in water treatment using biochar by Aqueous Solutions

Aqueous Solutions is offering a 10-day intensive training course in water treatment using biochar. The workshop will take place from January 3-12 2016, and will be held at Pun Pun Centre for Self Reliance, located in northern Thailand.
The workshop will provide participants with comprehensive practical training in the generation and application of biochar adsorbent for control of organic chemical contaminants in low cost household and community water treatment. The course will combine lecture/discussion sessions with a great deal of participatory hands-on activities. Participants will gain technical competence in generation of biochar adsorbent using common local materials and tools, as well as methods for integration of biochar adsorption in multi-barrier treatment systems that address both biological and chemical water contaminants.
See aqsolutions.org for more information including how to apply to the workshop.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: FRIDAY OCTOBER 30TH, 2015

Low cost Water Treatment with Biochar: 10 day training course in Thailand

JANUARY 3-12, 2016

LOCATION: PUN PUN CENTRE FOR SELF RELIANCE
CHIANG MAI PROVINCE, THAILAND

COST: US-$750 

This workshop will provide participants with comprehensive practical training in the generation and application of biochar adsorbent for control of organic chemical contaminants in low cost household and community water treatment.
The ten day English language course will combine lecture/discussion sessions with a great deal of participatory hands-on activities.
Participants will gain technical competence in generation of biochar adsorbent using common local materials and tools, as well as methods for integration of biochar adsorption in multi-barrier treatment systems that address both biological and chemical water contaminants.
Cost (US-$750 per person) covers food and housing during the workshop, along with all instruction and project materials. Participants are responsible for travel to and from Pun Pun Centre.

LINK to workshop details

Can biomass char remove toxic synthetic chemicals from drinking water?

Here's a campaign worthy of support. Josh Kearns has a long history of good work in Thailand. This is a very well presented pitch...
https://experiment.com/projects/can-biomass-char-remove-toxic-synthetic-chemicals-from-drinking-water

"Toxic synthetic chemicals such as pesticides and pharmaceutical residues are a major threat to drinking water safety worldwide. Low-cost, environmentally sustainable and locally managed treatment technologies are needed to protect human health in impoverished, rural and remote communities. This research project demonstrates the potential of char made from surplus biomass (biochar) as an effective sorbent for chemical toxins."

Sustainable Decentralized Water Treatment for Rural and Developing Communities Using Locally Generated Biochar Adsorbents

http://www.wcponline.com/pdf/October2012Kearns.pdf

A follow-up to previous post on Josh's work

Thailand: Sustainable Decentralized Water Treatment for Rural and Developing Communities Using Gasifier Biochar

For some years colleagues and I in Thailand and the US have been working on charcoal/biochar as low-cost locally derived sorbents for drinking water treatment targeting pesticides and other hazardous synthetic organic contaminants.

We've just published some instructional videos and documents available for public distribution on the web. In particular, I would draw your attention to our new handbook: Sustainable Decentralized Water Treatment for Rural and Developing Communities Using Gasifier Biochar. 

Please have a look, let me know what you think, and feel free to forward far and wide! We're hoping to get these materials into the hands of practitioners, as well as to invite feedback, modification, adaptation and advancement of the research and field applications.

Warm regards - Josh

--
Josh Kearns

PhD Candidate

Environmental Engineering

Engineering for Developing Communities

University of Colorado-Boulder

Mobile (Thailand): +66 082 764 2523

Skype: joshkearns

Ed............ and now also in Thai..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIkMFnH2RgY