Biochar

[bazman]

Sounds like it would be a perfect fit to slip inside a 44 gallon drum, what's it from? does it have intact ends? Would you be up for a trade? I have a custom biochar/biological blend that I have been brewing for the last 4 months which is ready for direct application which I could trade. I have to drop up an order to Yandina in the next week or so if you are interested that could be a good swap time. You are also always welcome to come down for a look around too.

Baz

[permasculptor]

It looks like a XXL flue outer one end is convoluted I got it from the tip shop as a set of three 14,18 +20 inch . It has not been used.no ends just the tube. Yes I would be up for a swap as it is going to a worthy cause. I'm going to straddie next week so will be away untill the 11th I can drop It at Yandina on the 12th if it suits your needs.
https://picasaweb.google.com/permasc...48542646527778
I just found a better option ? hope the photos work.

[bazman]

I have just started a post with a link to plans and photos of my latest $20 biochar making system. =)
http://forums.permaculture.org.au/sh...9396#post79396

[Michaelangelica]

Supporting best practice in soil carbon
. . .
Methods such as generating carbon-heavy biochar from crop residues and adding it to weathered Australian soils are increasing the amount of stored carbon. These methods can also improve soil fertility. Increasing soil carbon has a proven flowthrough to improved soil structure and productivity, increased filtration and organic activity in the soil, and reduced runoff and erosion
. . .

Under the $1.7 billion land sector component of Clean Energy Future plan, the government intends to do just this – by expanding Carbon Farming Futures to a fully fledged $429 million program.

Under this program, $201 million is set to target cutting-edge soil carbon science and management practice. The funding will be used to look at the viability of recent approaches to carbon abatement, and examine the best way to roll out skills and information to the wider farming community.

Also on the radar are new forms of carbon land management, such as the use of biochar in weathered soils, wide-scale sowing of new carbon-friendly crop and pasture species, and biofuel production.

Without focused research in areas like these, Australia risks missing out on low-cost sequestration opportunities as the world moves to tackle climate change.

Once the soil research is settled, the next step is to turn the science into on-the-ground practice. To properly tackle carbon loss, Australian farmers need to have viable soil carbon tools ready to go. Even when landholders have usable options, they also need certainty to confidently put process into practice. Without this confidence, landholders will miss out on a chance to diversify their land-based income by earning commercial carbon credits under the new Carbon Farming Initiative and Clean Energy legislation.

To help fix this problem, the program will provide assistance in turning viable abatement science into on-the-ground programs, with $20 million available for grants to support the conversion.

The Carbon Farming Initiative also includes a ‘positive list’, which will allow landholders to easily assess their soil carbon activities against a list of activity options that have been formally recognised as offering additional emissions abatement.
http://www.ecosmagazine.com/paper/EC11086.htm
Carbon Farming Futures
http://www.cleanenergyfuture.gov.au/...rming-futures/

[Michaelangelica]

This just out. A virtual issue of Plant and Soil on Biochar.
http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/plant+sciences/journal/11104?cm_mmc=ISI-_-Journal-_-BIO15311_V2-_-0

Plant and Soil - incl. option to publish open access - Free Access Available
www.springer.com
Plant and Soil publishes original papers and review articles exploring the interface of plant biology and soil sciences, and offering a clear mechanistic component. This includes both fundamental and applied aspects of mineral ...
http://www.springer.com/life+science...IO15311_V2-_-0

[eco4560]

http://permaculture.org.au/2012/03/1...bage-into-gas/

If this is pyrolysis, does that mean that biochar is a byproduct of this process?

[bazman]

Hi Eco

No. This is an incinerator that runs at 2000+ degC it destroys everything and you would be left with only a tiny amount of ash I would say. Looks like a pretty smart design but I would wonder what type of gases would be produced and if any toxic elements from plastics would survive the process.

Pyrolysis used for the production of Biochar is generally in the order of 500-550 degC and is developed to remove the volatile elements leaving just carbon, with my case it is low ash high porous Biochar.

[eco4560]

Thanks Baz - I knew you'd know the answer...

[Michaelangelica]

http://www.journals.elsevier.com/soi...ue-on-biochar/
Virtual Special Issue on Biochar
Compiled by: Richard Burns, The University of Queensland, Australia and Karl Ritz, Cranfield University, UK

Over the past few years, the impact of adding pyrolysed organic carbon (or biochar as we usually call it) to agricultural soils has received much attention from biologists because of the possible benefits arising to soil quality and crop yields. A further impetus has been the potential to gain carbon credits by carbon sequestration. There are many different forms of biochar, determined according to such factors as nature of source material and pyrolysis temperature. Some studies have shown that biochars can apparently improve a number of soil chemical and physical properties, including exchange capacity and nutrient retention, as well as structure, water relations and nutrient availability. Others have concentrated on the impacts of biochar on soil organisms and the attendant processes that they regulate.

The 29 papers presented in this Virtual Special Issue are a selection of those exploring this biochar theme and which have been published in Soil Biology & Biochemistry since 2009. They illustrate the diversity of such research as well as some of the warmly debated, but as yet equivocal, benefits. The subjects of these communications range from: impacts on community composition and C dynamics including the priming effect, nitrogen cycling processes, enzyme activities and the C cycle, to the impacts of biochar on earthworms and their activities, and, of course, effects on plant growth and yield.

We hope that collating these publications under one virtual roof will stimulate informed debate and accelerate the arrival at a consensus regarding whether biochar is an important addition to our much-needed agricultural armoury or a passing trend with no lasting value or consequences for environmental management.

Papers included in this virtual special issue:

[Michaelangelica]

http://why.knovel.com/all-engineerin...udy-shows.html
Significant to biochar: "Bacteria bolster their ability to grow by sharing electrons with the conductive materials in their environment"

Graphene, an important component of biochar, is a semiconductor: the surface is highly conductive, the interior is an insulator. Biochar can be expected to help bacterial communities thrive in the same way they thrive in the presence of conductive minerals, like magnetite and hematite.

When researchers introduced magnetite, a conducting, iron-based mineral known for its magnetic properties, the bacteria thrived as they worked together to share electrons. "We think [such electron swapping] must be quite common"