The Big Biochar Experiment

Oxford Biochar is sponsoring a giant experiment to test the effectiveness of Biochar in standard garden plots all across Britain.

The Big Biochar Experiment

"The web site does a nice job of explaining what biochar is, and showing the benefits of adding it to your soil. Then it asks home gardeners to set up 2 plots, one a test, and one a control. Add the biochar, and record data about what types of things they added to both plots, the pest control needed and the yields from that plot are. It looks like it will do a nice job of seeing whether regular gardeners are likely to see results from biochar in the first year." Erin Rasmussen

It would be great if we could get this replicated in SEA to start building a knowledge base on tropical soils. One problem will be sourcing biochar in the region. There is still almost no commercial retail activity in SEA and importing retail products from overseas is not practical or beyond the means of many in the region. 


I hope to soon be able to confirm the importation of a container load of BlackEarth biochar into Singapore to support local & regional research activities. Maybe this product can be distributed to a team of volunteer researchers / gardeners.

EU-Asia Biomass Best Practices & Business Partnering Conference May 2012, Kuala Lumpur

Here is an opportunity to show-case regional biochar activities to a new audience. I have engaged with Biomass-SP and some of there funding agencies in the past. They are rather focused on biofuels... overly so from my perspective. We need to be waving the flag for a biochar and agronomic pathway for biomass.  Energy poverty in the region is also a big problem but we need to maintain a balance between future sustainable food production and future energy needs.  Pyrolysis offers this balance with a distribution of agriculture and energy benefits along with wide choices in scale and technology.

"EU-Asia Biomass Best Practices & Business Partnering Conference 2012

May 2012, Kuala Lumpur

Dear colleague,

We are pleased to announce the EU-Asia Biomass Best Practices & Business Partnering Conference 2012 – to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Conference is hosted by the EU SWITCH-Asia Biomass Sustainable Production Initiative (Biomass-SP), an EU-funded development cooperation project under the SWITCH-Asia programme led by Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT), supported by the Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) and Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (KeTTHA), in partnership with the European Biomass Industry Association (EUBIA) and Danish Technological Institute (DTI).

The 2012 Conference gives much focus on the sharing of best practices i.e. commercial, technologies, policies, investments & etc., in the biomass industry in Asia and Europe..."
============================

The Biomass-SP website does not currently include a link to the conference details or the 'call for papers' documentation. Please let me know if you want me to forward their email to you.

ADB agrees $4 mln grant to boost biomass use

"The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Monday it has approved a project that would help Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam scale up the use of biomass waste in agriculture to meet growing need for clean energy and food security for poor rural households"...

... "ADB said the project would fund pilot investment projects to scale up biomass technologies such as household biogas systems, biochar kilns, and improved cooking stoves. The project will also conduct studies, build human and institutional capacity on biomass investment, and promote regional exchange among the three countries." ...

http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/National/2011/7/94503/
 

Pinoy Biochar Initiative - Philippines

Ronald Rafer Villaluz has kicked off a Philippine language biochar facebook page ... http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_201894829853055

May 2011 IBI Newsletter - SEA reports

The May IBI newsletter features 3 reports that have been covered by BIG-SEA...

• BIOCHARM Report: Finding from Biochar Research in South and Southeast Asia (http://sea-biochar.blogspot.com/2011/01/biocharm-project-final-report-now.html)
• Mindinao Terra Preta-Biochar Initiative (http://sea-biochar.blogspot.com/2011/05/terra-preta-sanitation-biochar-tps-b.html and http://sea-biochar.blogspot.com/2011/01/terra-preta-sanitation-project-in.html)
• The first BEK Installed in Malaysia (http://sea-biochar.blogspot.com/2011/03/bek-arrives-in-malaysia.html)

Also featured is the setting up of large scale field trials in North Carolina (http://www.biochar-international.org/profiles/northcarolinafarmcenter). It is this scale of research that is badly needed in the tropical plantation setting, to rapidly develop our understanding on the agricultural benefits that are predicted in tropical SEA with the development of a biochar industry.

Large scale field trials are being discussed and planned but are constrained by the availability of suitable biochar.  This supply constraint is one of the issues I am currently focusing on.

Report from the May 2011 IBI newsletter...

"World Bank Study of Biochar Projects in Developing Countries Nearing Completion

IBI and Cornell University have been working since October 2010 on a study of developing country biochar projects for the World Bank. The IBI network has played a critical role in the study by providing information on projects in various stages of implementation through two surveys of IBI members and subscribers. IBI wishes to thank everyone who participated in the surveys and who submitted project information. Through these efforts we have learned a great deal of valuable information about biochar feedstocks, technologies, and applications. A follow-up survey helped identify potential barriers and incentives for implementing household and village scale biochar projects in the developing world.

The final report will include a Life Cycle Assessment of four biochar projects. The report is scheduled for completion by the end of June 2011 and the World Bank plans to make it available to the public. Earlier this month, IBI presented the survey results to the World Bank at a review meeting in Washington DC, where IBI board chair, Johannes Lehmann, also presented a current summary of biochar research that will be included in the final report. Thea Whitman, from Cornell University, presented a system dynamics model used to evaluate the climate change impact of biochar cook stoves in Western Kenya, and Kelli Roberts, also from Cornell, presented preliminary results from the Life Cycle Assessment case studies that will appear in the final report. The survey data from 150 biochar projects located in 38 developing countries is available now on the IBI website at: http://www.biochar-international.org/sites/default/files/IBI_Survey_5-11-11_online.pdf."

My review of the SEA biochar related project development scorecard is...
Indonesia  12
Thailand     6
Vietnam     5
Philippines  4
Malaysia    4
Laos          2
Cambodia  2

The full report is due end of June - it will be very interesting to see more details about these projects & plans. 

Biochar - An Organic House for Soil Microbes

Bryan Hugill (Co-founder and Environmental Manager, Raitong Organics Farm, Sisaket Province, Thailand) has submitted the following linked article on biochar for ECHO Asia Notes publication. It is a general biochar introduction for ECHO Asia readers but also draws upon biochar field activities in Thailand.
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/ECHO-Asia-Notes.html?soid=1102506082274&aid=jhCpWH-CFdI

"The ECHO Asia Regional Office seeks to extend the services of ECHO to help those working with the poor in Asia to be more effective, especially in the area of agriculture. The ECHO Asia Regional Office functions primarily as a technical support organization helping community development organizations and workers operate more effectively."

The Terra Preta Sanitation – Biochar (TPS-B) Initiative of the WAND Foundation is given a Boost with an award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Grand Challenges Explorations

The Water, Agroforestry, Nutrition and Development (WAND) Foundation is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Elmer V. Sayre will pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled “Ecological Sanitation for the Base of the Pyramid”.

Elmer Sayre inspecting specialized dry toilet bowls

Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) funds scientists and researchers worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mold in how we solve persistent global health and development challenges. Dr. Elmer V. Sayre’s project is one of over 85 Grand Challenges Explorations Round 6 grants announced today by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:
http://www.grandchallenges.org/explorations/Pages/grantsawarded.aspx?Round=all&ProjectID=627

You can follow Dr Elmer V. Sayre's project activities in the Philippines at the Mindanao Terra Preta - Biochar Initiative website:
http://mindaterrapretabiochar.blogspot.com/2011/04/grand-challenges-explorations-winner.html


Please also note that Proposals are now open for Round 7 funding up until 19 May:
http://www.grandchallenges.org/Explorations/Pages/ApplicationInstructions.aspx

TEDxBerkeley - Lopa Brunjes - Biochar: An Ancient Solution to a Modern Problem

Click on title below to take you to YouTube, if you can't see all the screen...

Research looks at impact of biochar on water efficiency

EARLY results from Australian-first research at the Tamworth Agricultural Institute have found the use of biochar has the potential to improve water use efficiency in pastures.According to NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) Research Hydrologist, Dr Malem McLeod, this is the first time research has looked at how biochar affects plant water use in pastures."Along with reducing greenhouse gas emissions and boosting nutrient retention we now hope to add water efficiency to the long list of biochar benefits," Dr McLeod said."Our research is looking at the impact of poultry-litter biochar on both fertilizer and water use efficiency in tropical pastures." Every month, we measure profile soil water content in the trial plots which have varying fertilizer application rates with and without a poultry-litter biochar."We also estimate herbage mass and take plant samples to see how efficiently the pastures uses water and nitrogen."The initial results are pleasing and show the plots which incorporated biochar, at a rate of ten tonnes per hectare together with fertilizer, were up to 17 per cent more water efficient than those without biochar."

Dr McLeod said the project is part of a larger international project in Australia and Aceh, Indonesia, led by Dr Peter Slavich, and funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. "The next two years of the project will confirm the extent of these initial findings," Dr McLeod said. "With one of the most variable rainfall climates in the world, Australian agricultural industries are always looking at ways to become more efficient and more adaptive. "Technological advances such as biochar helps our farmers do more with less and continue to find ways to adapt to our unpredictable climate." Biochar is a stable form of charcoal produced from heating organic materials (crop and other waste, woodchips, manure) in a high temperature, low oxygen process known as pyrolysis. Preliminary results of the Tamworth biochar study include:

• Plots which incorporated biochar together with fertilizer were up to 17 per cent more water efficient than those without biochar.
• Pasture biomass is higher on plots which incorporated biochar when nitrogen fertiliser is also applied.
• Poultry-litter biochar increased available phosphorus by around 50 per cent in the first year of application.

 http://theland.farmonline.com.au/news/state/agribusiness-and-general/general/research-looks-at-impact-of-biochar-on-water-efficiency/2135770.aspx

2nd Asia Pacific Biochar Conference

The following announcement is from Dr Lukas Van Zwieten:

Dear Colleagues,

Following on from a successful Asia Pacific Biochar Conference on the Gold Coast in 2009, the Japan Biochar Association (JBA), Japan Association for Human and Environmental Symbiosis, and Ritsumeikan University, in affiliation with: Australian New Zealand Biochar Researchers Network (ANZBRN) and International Biochar Initiative will be hosting the:

 2nd Asia Pacific Biochar Conference in Kyoto this September (2011).

I urge you all to visit the website for more information on this highly relevant regional conference. There has been a small extension for abstract submission, so I hope everyone is able to present their latest work and innovations at this conference. The conference hosts assure me that Kyoto is quite spectacular in Autumn, and Kyoto is largely unaffected by the recent difficulties in northern Japan.

http://apbc2011.com/

hope to see you all there!!

Lukas
Dr Lukas Van Zwieten | Principal Research Scientist | Climate in Primary Industries
Industry & Investment NSW | Wollongbar Primary Industries Institute | 1243 Bruxner Highway |  Wollongbar | NSW 2477
T: 02 6626 1126 | F: 02 6628 3264| M: 0428 628 847 | E: lukas.van.zwieten@industry.nsw.gov.au
W: www.industry.nsw.gov.au | www.dpi.nsw.gov.au

BEK arrives in Malaysia

On Friday and Saturday this week, I visited the team at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB... the research arm of the Malaysian palm oil industry) who were assembling the first BEK in Malaysia.  This may also be the first BEK in SEA but, as previously reported, GEK has arrived already in the Philippines.

This initiative is part of the biochar research collaboration between MPOB and UniKL MICET, as reported previously by Dr Robert Bachmann (BIG-SEA, 18Jan11).

"The BEK (Biochar Experimenter’s Kit) is a reconfiguration of GEK components to create a multi-mode pyrolysis machine for characterized biochar and bio-oil making.  The BEK supports multiple pyrolysis process modes in direct combustion (updraft, TLUD and stratified downdraft), indirect combustion retort, and sweep gas through bed heat transfer." (BEK website)

1st run on palm kernel shell

Jay from  ALL Power Labs in Berkeley, California was on hand to guide the assembly process and provide some initial training. The first solids consumed by the BEK were palm kernel shell, one of the more easily digestible biomass waste feed-stocks from the PO industry. More difficult wastes such as EFB will be targeted for production research and soil trials. More on this in the future, as BEK develops an appetite for a high fibre diet (the baby currently does not have any teeth).

Envergent Technologies Designing Plant to Convert Palm Biomass to Renewable Fuels

"DES PLAINES, Ill., Mar. 10, 2011 – Envergent Technologies LLC, a Honeywell (NYSE:HON) company, announced today that it has been selected by Premium Renewable Energy (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. to perform the engineering design for a project that will use Envergent’s RTP® Rapid Thermal Processing technology to convert palm biomass to renewable heat and electricity. The initial Premium RTP facility, to be initiated in late 2011 and completed in early 2013, will be Malaysia’s first plant to use RTP for the production of a clean-burning liquid biofuel derived from biomass. The RTP liquid fuels will be used to generate renewable electricity and heat."

This press release made the local papers here in Malaysia today. This is a 'flash pyrolysis' technology... probably similar to Dynamotive in Canada (and a number of other technology providers in various stages of commercial development). The business model for flash pyrolysis is very much focused on biomass to energy - principally bio-oils and liquid fuels.  Residual carbon from the process is being identified as a source of biochar. Dynamotive have been supporting biochar soil trials by BlueLeaf over the last few years with exciting results. A search on the Energent website for biochar pulls no results so it does not look like they have the supply of biochar in their immediate plans.


As oil prices rise, so will the intrinsic value of waste biomass, such as EFB (the likely target of Energent for biomass feed-stock).  Supply currently exceeds demand so EFB probably has a disposal cost rather than an income - particularly for independent palm oil mills (with no access to plantation disposal). This is set to change in the future and I am predicting competition between slow and fast pyrolysis technologies for the attention of the big plantation companies and their biomass wastes.  The two technologies vary in a number of ways: 

Flash pyrolysis

• Flash pyrolysis is focused on liquid biofuels but could also provide CHP integration into the palm oil mill. Some high temperature biochar may be available depending on the technology but this will be a minor component.
• The technology is often more complex and expensive than slow pyrolysis so will demand larger project scales with a more centralized model (maybe a bold assumption!). This may work well for POM integration but not so well for the massive plantation replanting program that is required in the industry (and currently being deferred by high palm oil prices!).
• The biomass and carbon is removed from the agricultural system. Additional inputs will be required to replace these losses. This will carry an additional cost to the plantation or to soil / crop productivity, if not replaced.

Slow pyrolysis

• Slow pyrolysis technologies can also produce bio-oils and energy gases for CHP and power production but must sacrifice some on the potential energy value when locking it up as recalcitrant carbon. This 'charcoal', when applied to the soil as biochar, has multiple benefits... principally related to soil enhancement, environmental management and carbon sequestration.
• Slow pyrolysis will generally be smaller, simpler, cheaper and may be much more variable in scale and efficiency. It may offer a more 'distributed energy' solution that will lower biomass handling costs. It can offer mobile solutions to capture biomass that may otherwise be lost as co2 to hungry bacteria (replanting of palm requires chipping of old palms to control beetle infestation... a great opportunity for mobile pyrolysis).
• Slow pyrolysis biochar has different properties than flash/fast. It remains to be seen which product has greater benefits under specific agriculture conditions. And this may depend on soil type / condition, agriculture and environmental considerations.
• Slow pyrolysis may have greater control over process conditions for the manufacture of designer biochars. Mainly because biochar is likely to be the focused product.

The competition for this biomass will be based on hard-nosed economic decisions by plantation companies.  Personally, I'm punting on biochar and slow pyrolysis... but it looks like the flashy guys have got the lead! If market devices are allowed to drive this, then biochar must prove its self in the 'field'. It will have to have a higher economic value as a soil / crop enhancer and carbon sequestration tool than as a combustion fuel. The plantation companies are only likely to factor in the environmental benefits if they can be quantified and converted to an economic value (or environmental marketing opportunities?).  Bring on the soil trials! 

I am currently aware of four separate groups planning biochar soil trials and targeting the palm oil industry. Other project proposals are looking for funding.

Promoting climate friendly bioenergy and food security in the Greater Mekong Sub-region

"Promoting climate friendly bioenergy and food security in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (assessing the possibilities for 2011)"

This was the title of the FAO and ADB sponsored  workshop at which I presented on biochar and the output from the Yunnan Biochar Study on 11 February at the ADB Thailand Resident Mission, Bangkok. As well as FAO and ADB the audience included representatives from EEP Mekong, UNDP, government agency reps from Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, France, Japan and USA. Mae Fah Luang University, AIT and other independent agencies were also represented at this small, informal forum (~30 participants).

 The program included 6 presentations:

• GMS partnership, activities on bioenergy and proposed program – Climate friendly bioenergy and food security (ADB) 
• Bioenergy & Food Security – A regional perspective (FAO)
• Possibilities for using microfinance for farm/household level bioenergy technologies (AIT)
• Developing and testing standards for biomass energy in ASEAN (JGSEE)
• Developing opportunities for public private partnerships in rural bioenergy (ECO-Asia)
• Potential for biochar in the GMS (BSL-SaafConsult).

Please get in touch if you are interested in seeing any of these presentations. Please also refer to the earlier postings on the Yunnan biochar study.

Golden Agri adopts no deforestation policy

Singapore-listed Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) yesterday announced a new forest conservation policy that will ensure its palm oil operations will minimize its impact on forests. 

SE Asia's palm oil industry struggles on path to sustainability. Photo: www.greatmirror.com

GAR is the world’s second-largest palm oil producer and the largest in Indonesia with annual revenues of US$2.3 billion. Its move was seen widely as a response to intense pressure and lobbying by environmental groups such as Greenpeace recently over allegations of illegal forest clearing.

The firm yesterday signed an agreement in Jakarta with The Forest Trust (TFT), a Geneva-based non profit organisation, which will commence work immediately to work with GAR to identify high carbon stock forests, high conservation value (HCV) areas and peat lands.

http://www.eco-business.com/news/2011/feb/09/golden-agri-adopts-no-deforestation-policy/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EB+newsletter+Feb+2011&utm_content=EB+newsletter+Feb+2011+CID_95c0a29fe1ce662a5d319d23be08ef6e&utm_source=Campaign+Monitor&utm_term=Full+story+here