International Biochar Symposium 28-29 May

This biochar conference in Germany has strong Malaysian links via UPM. It has an impressive lineup of speakers. Check out the website.

International Biochar Symposium 2015
Biochar – Contribution to Sustainable Agriculture
28 – 29 May 2015, Seminaris SeeHotel Potsdam, Germany

"During the last years the application of biochar to arable land has been suggested as a method to improve soil fertility and plant growth, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon for decades or centuries. But holistic scientific research to identify environmental as well as economic potentials of biochar in the tropics and especially in the temperate zones is limited and needs to be improved. Furthermore, biochars may differ substantially in their chemical, physical and biological properties and therefore in their fate after soil application depending on the biomass material and conversion technology used. Hence, the identification of biochar properties responsible for positive (and negative) impacts on soil fertility, greenhouse gases and carbon sequestration is needed, followed by the development of methods to optimize these biochar properties and soil improvement. The projects “Biochar in Agriculture – Perspectives for Germany and Malaysia” (www.atb-potsdam.de/biochar) and APECS (Anaerobic Pathways to Renewable Energies and Carbon Sinks) (www.atb-potsdam.de/apecs) focus on these research questions. Within this symposium the results of both projects and related research results by other scientists shall be presented and discussed."

This German-Malaysian research link was reported previously here...
http://sea-biochar.blogspot.com/2014/05/biochar-in-agriculture-perspectives-for.html

Climate change and biochar

I've recently posted to the NZ biochar interest group (AllBlackEarth) on 3 very interesting video presentations that tie biochar into climate change and other environmental issues. Do check them out if this subject is of interest to you...

• http://soilcarbon.org.nz/dave-montgomery-dirt-the-erosion-of-civilizations/
• http://soilcarbon.org.nz/climate-emergency-countdown/
• http://soilcarbon.org.nz/thomas-rippel-and-his-world-of-sht/

Malaysian PhD dissertation on Oz soils

5.6MB download

Hugh McLaughlin - Biochar: A Powerful Tool for Carbon Farming

Very informative 10min from Hugh McLaughlin on biochar production fundamentals. 



"Hugh McLaughlin, an engineer and expert in biochar and activated carbon, discusses the many applications of biochar for environmental improvement and its role in reversing global warming."

The presentation was part of "Biodiversity for a living climate" event. If you have trouble with the viewing frame size here, then look for it and connect via the link above (plenty of other great presentations to be found) or click on the YouTube link.

Biochar, compost and tree growth research from Singapore

 Dr Subhadip Ghosh from the Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology, National Parks Board, Singapore and two colleagues from the University of New England in NSW, Australia published the following paper early last year. The paper is listed with IBI but I managed to miss the release...

Influence of biochar and compost on soil properties and tree growth in a tropical urban environment

Abstract (<

Research relating to the use of organic amendments on soils has focused largely on agricultural soils, and there is a lack of information worldwide on their efficacy as amendments for urban soil management, especially in tropical urban environments. A pot experiment was conducted to assess the influence of biochar and organic compost on urban soil properties and on tree growth performance in Singapore. Biochar and compost were mixed with topsoil in different proportions, and two urban tree species commonly grown in Singapore (Samanea saman and Suregada multiflora) were used. There were significant additional height increments for both the tree species following application of biochar. S. saman exhibited greater stem elongation compared with S. multiflora in response to organic amendments. A significantly higher foliar N content was found in both tree species in biochar-amended treatments along with significant increases in P and K. Increases in soil nutrient concentrations were also observed in combined biochar–compost treatments for both species. Combined compost and biochar had the strongest effects on soils and growth of the two urban tree species examined and applications containing biochar resulted in the most significant soil improvements.

GreenGen TLUD / retort stoves from Vietnam

http://www.greengenstove.com/index.php/en/component/content/article/12-intro/48-intro-e2
GreenGen Stove: is a TLUD (top lit up-draft) can save 50%-70% wood compare to traditional stoves. 
GreenGen Stove: is designed to use with optional Biomass Boxes. Lose biomass such as rice husk, straw, garden leaves,... can be put in biomass box(es) for cooking. Depending on avalablity of the biomass, users can have flexible choice of using wood only or in combination with 1 or 2 biomass boxes.

GreenGen Stove create Biochar: the biomass boxes create biochar as a byproduct at the end of the cooking process. The harvested Biochar can be used as soil enrichment or to make char briquette to cook again.

Biochar demonstration projects in Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam

This job advertisement identifies existing biochar demonstration projects in Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam. Closing date is 23Feb so still time to get your CV in! It is not clear what organisation is running this program. If you have some idea, please let us know - it would be nice to know more about these SEA projects.

Project Director - Sustainable Land Management

Job Summary

This innovative not-for-profit organisation has a proven record in supporting regional sustainability throughout Australia and beyond.  They are excited to be working on their largest initiative to date and seeking to appoint a passionate, capable and suitably qualified Project Director to lead this important global project. 

The purpose of the project is to demonstrate and promote the adoption of sustainable land management practices involving the use of innovative organic amendments, based on biochar. Funded by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Global Environment Fund (GEF), the project's duration will be 2.5 - 3 years commencing early 2015.

Reporting to the Executive Director with accountability to a Technical Steering Committee, you will lead the project working with six existing biochar demonstration projects in the developing world locations of:  Peru, Myanmar, Aceh, China (Henan, Hunan, Anhui and Jiangsu), Kenya, Ethiopia and Vietnam.  Your responsibilities will include evaluation of the role and potential of biochar in SLM; building awareness, knowledge and improved understanding and establishing knowledge management dissemination systems – particularly for small landholders and farming groups; establishing local and international networks of demonstration sites and farming groups and providing training in the use of bochar.  Further aiding your success will be your strengths in coordinating and delivering in a complex project arena and establishing strong relationships and working effectively with a broad range of stakeholders including the six in-country partner organisations, the UNEP and GEF, agricultural landholders and farming groups.

 

UTAR Agricluture Science Journal: Biochar - reversing the flow of carbon

HERE is a link to an article on biochar that I've had published in the inaugural issue of the above journal (click on image above for link to the journal).


This is a general introduction to biochar with a focus on history, applications, climate change and carbon sequestration. I hope to say more about biochar production and industry development in SEA in a followup article.

Campfire Lessons: Breaking Down the Combustion Process to Understand Biochar Production

This new article from The Biochar Journal is another great introduction to biochar production and application...

By Mark R. Fuchs, M. Garcia-Perez, P. Small and G. Flora

“Campfires were the first step in the evolution of slow pyrolysis reactors. Observing the play of the flames while sitting around a campfire is still one of the best possible lessons to understand the main principles of pyrolysis. Mark Fuchs and colleagues bring the different natural phenomenon of the fire into context of modern pyrolysis.” …

Reviewer comment

Catherine Brewer:
One of the frequent challenges experienced by members of the biochar community is figuring out how to explain biochar and biomass thermochemical processes to friends and family members. The authors’ use of the campfire illustration is so helpful because it is familiar to a wide audience and scientifically accurate at the same time. After hearing this illustration the first time myself, I remember thinking, “I will never again see just a campfire.”

Albert Bates' Year in Review 2014

Albert Bates has done a great job here summarizing 2014 from a climate perspective. Very depressing but hope starts at 24mins.

Estero clean-up project in UP community - Philippines

I assume estero is estuary but I've not had luck finding a translation...
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/01/03/estero-clean-up-project-in-up-community/

"The estero running through Block 5 in Daang Tubo (a community inside the UP Campus) is on its way to being clean.

GMA Network and its partners, the Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association, the Philippine Biochar Association and the Sagip Ilog Pilipinas, collaborated on the Clean River Zone Biochar Community initiative.
The Kapuso Network and its partners signed a Memorandum of Agreement in early 2014 to clean up the said estero using bokashi balls (bokashi balls are made from dried mud and other organic materials, including biochar, and are used to clean bodies of water that have high concentrations of sludge and slime)." ...

Report: Biochar on acidic agricultural lands in Indonesia and Malaysia

I've been aware of a collaborative biochar research program that has been running over a number of years, led by Gerard Cornelissen from the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute with participation from researchers in Malaysia and Indonesia. I have now discovered that this work has been extensively documented here and the final report from the Malaysia / Indonesia component of this research was released earlier this year...
http://www.ngi.no/en/Project-pages/Biochar/Publications/

Summary
"Biochar is the charcoal product obtained when biomass (preferably organic waste, not wood) is heated without access to oxygen (pyrolysis). Most of the biochar matrix is likely stable when mixed into soils, and thus represents carbon that is actively removed from the short-lived carbon cycle and thus contributes to climate change mitigation. Biochar combines a number of important “wins” such as: i) climate change mitigation: carbon sequestration and reduction of other GHG emissions (mainly N 2 O), ii) soil fertility improvement, iii) pollutant immobilization, iv) waste management and v) energy production. In this project we investigated two of these “wins” in an Indonesian /Malaysian context: soil fertility improvement and biochar technology /energy production. In addition, physical and chemical properties of biochar were evaluated.

General findings: Co-synthesis of toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) during biochar production has oft en been reported as a potential impediment to biochar implementation. We found however, that for 60 biochars, PAH contents were low and so strongly bound that they were almost unavailable for uptake in plants and soil organisms. We also investigated potential undesired co-effects of biochar on soil biota in a biochar-soil system, and found that these were modest. In addition, earthworms preferred biochar over other soil amendments (activated carbon and an iron-based metal sorbent) in avoidance tests. 

Soil fertility improvement: In pot trials in Kalimantan, (Indonesia) hardly any biochar eff ect on rice and maize growth was found for acid sulphate and peat soils. In contrast, positive biochar eff ects were seen for clay soil in West-Timor and oxisol in Sulawesi (both Indonesia). 

Biochar technology: An upscale Belonio top-lit updraft gasifier was developed and used to prepare biochar for field trial applications in Malaysia. In Sulawesi clean cooking stoves run on biochar generated by improved retort kilns were implemented.

Life-cycle and cost-benefit analysis: these analyses were centered around our case study in the village of Ngata Toro in Sulawesi. The most important finding of both these analyses was that soil amendment for improved soil fertility is a better way to use biochar than burning it as briquettes for cooking purposes. The main reasons are that i) polluting gases generated during biochar production are not off set by carbon sequestration in the briquetting alternative, and ii) briquetting is much more labor-intensive than applying biochar to agricultural soil. 

This research project has paved the way for large-scale implementation of biochar in Indonesia. The biochar will be prepared using environmentally-friendly retort kilns, and mainly applied to degraded lands where yield increases can be expected.

In addition, this project has led to several spinoff projects in other countries: Nepal (biochar from an ubiquitous weed, spontaneous farmer adoption), Zambia (maize biochar in conservation farming), Tanzania (rice husk biochar used as soil amendment, made in retort kilns where energy is used for bread baking by housewife groups) and Uganda (village electrifi cation by gasification with biochar as by-product)."

Bandar Utama — a history of biochar application in Malaysia

The December issue of the IBI monthly newsletter has now been released. It profiles an article that I've written with Dr Francis Ng, on his biochar work at Bandar Utama township, KL, Malaysia over the past 12 years.

A direct link to the profile on the IBI website is here.

This is a slightly edited version of the original article. If you like to read the original, then please scroll down to my earlier release via google docs.

Symphony of the Soil

"The 68th UN General Assembly declared 2015 the International Year of Soils. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has been nominated to implement the International Year of the Soils (IYS) 2015, within the framework of the Global Soil Partnership and in collaboration with Governments and the secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

To help celebrate the International Year of the Soils, we will be streaming the full feature film, Symphony of the Soil, for FREE for the week of December 5 – 12, 2014. You can help us spread the word by linking to or embedding the film on your site with a link to the Symphony of the Soil website and to the International Year of the Soils."
 

Bandar Utama - a history of biochar application in Malaysia (pre-publication)

The link below is to an article that has been submitted to IBI for publication in their monthly newsletter.
I am hoping it will appear in the December issue.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y5kdek-1dAEe-BYJTN5oRZK8B_TQJ8b4scKE_ulKqzo/edit?usp=sharing

The link is to a google document. Please let me know if you are not able to access... I can send as a PDF.