Biochar Workshop announcement - Malaysia

I am circulating this email from Dr Rob Bachmann. You can download the flyer from the MICET website link below or from the Biochar Malaysia google group. This workshop will have a soil remediation focus.

From: Robert Thomas Bachmann <bachmann@micet.unikl.edu.my>
Date: 18 February 2010 11:03
Subject: Biochar workshop 2010

Dear biochar enthusiasts and colleagues,

following the success of "Biochar Malaysia Workshop 2009" organised by UPM and MOSTI coupled with the steadily growing interest in this emerging field we are glad to announce that another opportunity to share knowledge and network is at hand. UniKL MICET is organising a 1-day workshop on the 25th of March and cordially invites you to join in. For more details refer to our flyer attached.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes, Rob.

(Dipl-Ing, MSc, PhD) 

Senior Lecturer 

Section of Environmental Engineering Technology
UniKL MICET
Lot 1988 Taboh Naning
78000 Alor Gajah
Melaka
MALAYSIA
Tel: + 6 (06) 551 2086
Fax: + 6 (06) 551 2001
E-mail: Bachmann@micet.unikl.edu.my
Website: www.micet.edu.my

New Zealand Biochar Research Centre - workshop program

Some interesting new papers being presented here.

I look forward to the day when you can sign up for a workshop or conference and participate through internet technology. I would happily pay the conference fees for this service (less a discount for my reduced carbon footprint!!).

SEA regional report to IBI for January

Academics from Universiti Kuala Lumpur; Universiti Putra Malaysia; Santo Tomas University, Philippines; Eritrea Institute of Technology, Eritrea; St. Peter's Engineering College, India; Sheffield University, UK; and Cornell University, USA have been working together in different constellations on various biochar-related projects since 2006. The group participated in the Mondialogo Engineering Award competition with projects titled "Biochar to enhance sustainability of crop production, reduce fertilizer usage and greenhouse effect" and "Application of Biotechnology for the Treatment of Dyehouse Effluents in India and Philippines". Recent research activities (2009) include the production of biochar from rubberwood sawdust and data modelling for optimum biochar production using DesignExpert software. For specific researchers and more information on these topics, please see: http://www.biocharinternational.org/regionalgroups/southeastasia.

The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAORAP) is planning to support a biochar related study in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS) under the GMS Economic Cooperation Program. The study methodology is based on conducting investigations into the potential for adapting biochar to existing agricultural and bioenergy systems. Further information will be available once the terms of reference have been finalized and project participants have been identified.

In conjunction with the University of Edinburgh's UK Biochar Research Centre (www.biochar.org.uk), there are two projects underway in India and Cambodia. The first, Biochar for Carbon Management, Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Management (BIOCHARM) involves field trials in India and Cambodia, as well as some analysis in the Philippines. This 12 month project funded through the Asia Pacific Network on Global Change (APN) includes partners from four countries, and it is led by the Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI) in India. The other partners are the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), SME Cambodia and the University of Edinburgh. The second, Participative Distributed Innovation Processes and Biochar: Smoke Reduction, Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Management received funding through the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). This project is led by the University of Edinburgh, working closely with ARTI to investigate the potential of gasification cook stoves which produce biochar.

Holy smoke (but within faithful emission limits)

The Terra Preta Prayer

Our Carbon who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name
By kingdom come, thy will be done, IN the Earth to make it Heaven.
It will give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our atmospheric trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against the Kyoto protocols
And lead us not into fossil fuel temptation, but deliver us from it's evil
low as we walk through the valley of the shadow of Global Warming,
I will feel no evil, your Bio-fuels and fertile microbes will comfort me,
For thine is the fungal kingdom,
and the microbe power,
and the Sequestration Glory,
For ever and ever (well at least 2000 years)
AMEN

Your Chartarian,
Erich J. Knight

New biochar study collaboration in Cambodia

MaD - Making a Difference for Good!: MaD Organic Farm is an Edinburgh University Biochar Experimental Farm!

I wonder if small stove technology is appropriate in the Cambodian rural setting? I've been advised that fossil fuel distribution for cooking is not entrenched and that there is a charcoal industry for cooking.

Would the introduction of biochar producing stoves, such as those promoted by Worldstove,

http://worldstove.com/products/luciastove-for-developing-nations/ be a catalyst for change? If freely available waste biomass could replace charcoal as the fuel of choice, and at the same time biochar is identified as improving crop yields & reducing local fertilizer costs / inputs, then a virtuous circle can develop.

Biochar Malaysia Workshop 14 December 2009

University Putra Malaysia organised a one-day biochar workshop on 14 December 2009. Dr Johannes Lehmann was the keynote speaker.

Dr Lehmann also helped facilitate the afternoon workshop activities. Attendees broke into 6 groups to discuss specific biochar issues in relation to the local settings. The ideas and issues summarized from the group presentations are to be distilled and disseminated by the organisers. We now await the results which will hopefully include proposals for the formation of an Malaysian biochar interest group and the coordinated development of biochar research in Malaysia.

Boulder Conference Proceedings

A website dedicate to the August 2009 biochar conference at the University of Colorado has now been posted...

"Welcome to the website for the 2009 North American Biochar Conference, held in Boulder, Colorado from August 9 - 12, 2009. The purpose of this site is to provide visitors access to the papers, posters and presentations—as well as other related resources—from the conference."

http://cees.colorado.edu/northamericanbiochar.html

Biochar testing standards

The subject of biochar production has an extraordinary number of variables. The variables could be grouped as follows,

• biomass (wastes & process residues - plant/animal/human, dedicated crops/coppice, algae)
• scale: kg/day > tonnes/hr (cooking stove > gardener kiln/retort > farm/community > industrial production)
• conversion process: traditional/simple > future/complex; batch or continuous; gasification, pyrolysis, HTC, microwave; slow, fast or flash carbonization; high or low temperature
• process products: biochar, producer gas, heat, steam, CO2, electricity, bio-oil/wood vinegar, ash, refined products (charcoal, activated carbon, gas/liquid fuels/products, fertilizer)
• post-production inoculation (minerals, fertilizers, wood vinegar, compost, urine, humus, Mycorrhizae/microfauna)
• economic, environmental and social settings.

How do all these variables affect the safety and efficacy of biochar? does it matter? I keep reading that not all biochars are the same. From the list above, this is hardly surprising but I don't think safety will be an issue. The negative impacts of declining soil carbon due to industrial / contemporary farming practices seem to be well understood. The terra preta field trial has been running well for some time. The large and growing number of formal and informal soil trials around the world will be the ultimate arbiter but thats not going to produce a biochar industry any time soon.

These 'upstream' variables for biochar production are matched by 'downstream' application variables for climate, geography, soil type, land use (crop, grass, forest, plantation, organic, intensive, tillage), application rates/methods, utilisation goals/objectives (soil enhancement, remediation, fertilizer reduction/efficiency, carbon sequestration, emission/erosion control).

The decision to make/buy/use biochar may be relatively simple - optimizing the economic outcome based on the many variables will be the hard part. Having some standard assessment criteria between the upstream production and downstream application would aid the decision process. Help may soon be at hand with the development of biochar testing standards...

http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/content/all-biochars-are-not-created-equal-and-how-tell-them-apart

Regional progress report to IBI

The following is the first Far East biochar report. Just a quick snapshot on some of the current known activities in the region. A more complete picture will be available when the regional interest group has more structure and a platform for presenting information. A google-group structure is proposed as an interum platform.

Philippines
Jochen Binikowski has been working with biochar since February 2007. He is living in and reporting from the front line, on biochar experiments with farmers in the Philippines.
http://www.buddel.de/kft/biochar_production.htm

Indonesia
An ACIAR funded project "Building more profitable and resilient farming systems in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and New South Wales", is being lead by Dr. Peter Slavich (NSW DII) . Biochar experiments are underway in Aceh and Tamworth (NSW, Australia) on rice and dryland crops.

Malaysia -->
Funding has just been released for the first biochar soil trial in Malaysia. The study is being led by Theeba Manickam, a researcher with MARDI (govt. horticulture agency). A number of other researchers, universities and agriculture organisations are expressing interest in biochar research. Overseas collaborations and funding options are being investigated. Some local and regionally specific research opportunities include soil rehabilitation (tin mining, bris) and the annual haze issue (slash&char).

Information on future, current and historical biochar work is being accumulated for reference on a future website. Any contribution to this would be welcome.

Microfinance and biochar

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microfinance if you are not familar with the concept. I think this is an ideal vehicle for promoting biochar in the developing world. It could also be an avenue for distribution of stoves.

Some concepts & issues:

1. This will allow targeted lending to biochar development.
2. Loan repayment may have to be structured to follow increased harvest / production.
3. Lender takes the risk associated with increase in production?
4. If borrowing was for purchase of biochar for soil enhancement, then it may create a increased demand for charcoal?
5. This may create local demand & markets for waste biomass.
6. Could help develop local retort technology, pyrolysis entrepreurs & local energy production.
7. A structure may be provided for better feed-back on soil enhancement outcomes.
8. A structure may be provided for carbon credit value distribution (loan repayment?)
9. How can stove distribution be integrated?

A proposal would need to be prepared to educate/lobby the MF organisations. Maybe a subject for IBI to support or lead in the future.

IBI support for South East Asian biochar interest group

IBI have kindly included a red dot on their world map in support of a South East Asian biochar interest group (http://www.biochar-international.org/regionalgroups/far/east). Dialogue is underway with various international groups seeking support for this work. Your participation and support would be welcome.

Dr Francis Ng makes some interesting observations on his Tropical Garden blog related to the annual regional haze problem in SEA. Forests have been cleared by settlers to gain informal title over the land. They annually slash&burn this land to hold title and in the hope of selling land for future palm oil expansion. Christoph Steiner has studied and written on similar issues in the Amazon proposing a slash&char alternative. Could a future biochar industry help solve the intractable haze problem in SEA? What sort of structures would need to be in place to protect the remaining natural forest?

Asia-Pacific conference proceedings

The proceedings from the 17-20 May Gold Coast conference are now available from http://www.anzbiochar.org/newsandevents.html#one

I have had some positive feed-back from Japan, Singapore and within Malaysia for the establishment of a South East Asia biochar group. I am still hopeful about getting some online discussion underway. Please also contact me separately by email if you wish.

IBI South East Asia

I have created this blog with the specific goal of establishing a South East Asian biochar interest group similar to others that are show-cased on the International Biochar Initiative (IBI) website.

I recently attended the first Asia-Pacific Biochar Conference and noted that groups are currently active in Japan, Australia and New Zealand only (in the SEA region). I foresee that groups will eventually be formed in many SEA countries. I hope to gather interest for a group here in Malaysia, but as a first step, I propose that a regional group be formed. I suggest this because there are many countries in the region at various stages of economic development that may struggle to get a group underway. Also, regional activity on biochar currently ranges from minor to almost nil.

I have contacted IBI and received their support for a SEA biochar group. They will be able to offer a webpage on their new site which will be released mid-June.

I suggest that a small management team be tasked with activities leading to the formal establishment of the SEA group. These activities might be,

1. communication with IBI & existing regional groups (Japan, Australia, NZ)
2. planning for a management team meeting
3. discussion on the structure of a regional group
4. regional biochar initiatives
5. investigation of local, regional & international funding avenues for the above activities.

I don't think that a management team or biochar group needs formal structure yet. This could happen as and when activity grows.

If you have an opinion on this proposal, then I would welcome your posting to this blog.

Kind regards,
Trevor