BioEnergy2.0 Association BioEnergy Breakfast October 19th 2016 Telus World of Science Vancouver B.C. Canada The Sustainable Biochar System Terrestrial Carbon Harvesting for Green Energy Production, Soil Building, Environmental Remediation and Carbon Sequestration John Miedema, BioLogical Solutions Inc., Philomath, OR BioLogical Carbon,LLC., Philomath, OR
My pathway to Biochar Sitting on the back of a boat thinking about food production and climate change in 1990 Began investigation of on farm Biomethane production-- making energy from a waste stream while controlling and concentrating nutrients could lead to a robust and resilient agricultural system and environment Inefficiencies made the economics of the system difficult to overcome– ammonia build up, too much water in digestate for efficient distribution… so I pondered and read…
General Philosophy – for environmental and economic recovery “I am enthusiastic over humanity’s extraordinary and sometimes very timely ingenuities. If you are in a shipwreck and all the boats are gone, a piano top buoyant enough to keep you afloat …makes a fortuitous life preserver. But this is not to say that the best way to design a life preserver is in the form of a piano top. I think we are clinging to a great many piano tops in accepting yesterday’s fortuitous contriving as constituting the only means for solving a given problem.” • Buckminster Fuller, • Operation Manual For Spaceship Earth •Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science •General Systems Theory • Resilience of the integrated and the instability of the specialist
Overarching Goal- Resilient Sustainable Communities • Necessarily Local • Local Food-Local Energy-Local Employment—Local PEOPLE • A Technological Revolution Creating new pathways in resource management • • Involves integrated design science Co-Location of systems Requires New inventions machines and methodologies which can • reverse the destructive trends that current economic methodologies have brought about. • Turning Wastes into Resources , continually looking to improve the use efficiency of energy and materials • A shift in the economic emphasis of continual growth to an emphasis on the Economics of Permanence --- (E.F. Schumacher)
What is Biochar? Biochar is a fine-grained, highly porous charcoal that helps soils retain nutrients and water. IBI COLLINS
The Origin of Biochar: Amazonian Dark Earth (Terra Preta de Indio) Heavy clay soils on high bluffs above Amazon river low pH (3.5-4), high iron, high alumina, high leaching
Abundant Crops Grow on Enriched Soils No Char Hi Iron pH 3.6 Cacao Pod and Bean Char Only Terra Mulata pH 4.4 Papaya Biochar+ Fertilizer Char + Waste Terra Preta de Indio pH 5.3 ‐ 5.7 Cupuaçu Manioc root
IBI BIOCHAR AMENDED SOILS HAVE HIGH FERTILITY
Our Challenges in Agriculture 1. Improve productivity of our soils: There is limited potential for land expansion for cultivation; 85 per cent of future growth in food production must come from lands already under production. (Banowetz USDA-ARS) 2. Reduce the financial and environmental cost of production • Revive rural economies • Replace purchased inputs with locally-produced alternatives (energy, fertilizers, etc). 3. Create sustainable rural jobs and decentralized (integrated) power generation.
– Why biochar Research? The potential benefits of sustainable biochar production: Food Security Energy Security Job Creation W ater Clean-up Environm ental Revitalization Carbon Sequestration are so great, we would be remiss for not engaging wholly in rigorous study of the entire biochar system, to scientifically prove or disprove the validity of the system…
Research: Specific Goals 1.) Produce energy from biom ass, ensuring that no additional carbon is released into the atmosphere 2.) Rem ove CO 2 from the atm osphere by converting part of the feedstock not into energy, but into a “stable” form (= char) from which it will not return to the atmosphere for a long time 3.) I m prove soil and w ater resources by taking advantage of the unique physicochemical properties of artfully prepared chars to enhance fertility, modify physical properties, decontaminate soil and water resources
Production Pathways Slow Pyrolysis-- chars produced in absence of oxygen (often in presence of initial steam) at 350-700 C tend to be acidic to slightly basic (carboxylic acid groups activated) traditional (dirty, low char yields) m odern (clean, high char yields, wood vinegar, heavy Bio-oil ) Fast Pyrolysis– fine particulate biomass, fast thermal conversion chars produced in absence of oxygen or steam at ~ 500 C, tend to be basic, maximizes bio-oil production, low char yields Gasification and com bustion -- chars produced in presence of oxygen or steam at > 700 C tend to be very basic and make good liming agents maximizes gas production, minimizes bio-oil production, low char yields, highly recalcitrant half life 100-1000+ years and large surface area 300-500m 2 / gram
Biochar Is Made at Small and Large Scales BOILERS GASIFIERS Greenhouse scale heat and 3 MMBtuh Hot Water biochar NE Biochar 1 t/10h ICM 4 ‐ 8 tph 25% Char+Ash BioChar TLUD Cook Stove Mobile Pyrolysis Seachar.org Black is Green (BIG) AUS Burt’s Greenhouses Ontario, CAN
How biochar is made? REMOVE METAL SIZING GRIND BIOMASS GAS TO HEAT OR DRYING CARBONIZING POWER BIOCHAR SCREEN Pyrolysis: 3 DRY TON BIOMASS ‐‐ > 1 TON BIOCHAR + 16 MMBtu (1 MWhe) Gasification: 8 DRY TON BIOMASS ‐ >1 TON BIOCHAR + 100 MMBtu (6.3 MWhe) GRIND DENSIFY T R Miles Technical Consultants, Inc.
Integrated Systems : the key to sustainability (and profitability) On The Farm - energy production, process heat for food production, home, shop, green house and barn heating, vermiculite substitute, nutrient and environmental toxin control… In The Forest - fuel load reduction/ energy densification Nutrient and toxin control Green Industrial Parks - locations at former mill sites Greenhouse, boiler, biochar stirling engine (DK) utilization as thermal drive for industrial processes Co-Location with other renewable energy systems -In order to gain reliability – sun and wind intermittent, utilization of waste heat for process energy in biofuel production Biogas plant nutrient recovery Co-Location with biological waste streams -Inherent ability of to turn waste into energy, value added products
Sources of Feedstock Essentially all forms of biomass can be converted to biochar Preferable forms include: forest thinning, crop residues (e.g., corn stover, straw, grain husks), yard waste, clean urban wood waste (e.g. roadside clearing, pallets, sorted construction debris), manures…
Fossil Carbon Addition vs. Terrestrial Carbon Reduction Fossil fuels are carbon-positive – they add more carbon to the air. Ordinary biomass fuels are carbon neutral (at best)– the carbon captured in the biomass by photosynthesis would have eventually returned to the atmosphere through natural processes – burning plants for energy just speeds this process up. Biochar systems can be carbon reductive because they retain a substantial portion of the carbon fixed by plants-- 20%-35% The result is a net reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, due to the thermal conversion of the photosynthetic derived biomass Theoretical potential is 3.67 CO 2 = 1 biochar stabilized C Reality will be something less then this depending on project LCA
The positive feedback loop-- Utilization of low value material for energy production while creating a value added product . Sustainable biochar production based on sound integrated design science offers recurring economic, social, and environmental benefits in a positive feedback loop– •Marginal lands show dramatic gains in net primary productivity when biochar is added to the system . •Bioenergy co-product being utilized as a tool in nutrient control, storm water clean up and contaminated land remediation --- metal and organic toxin adsorption • Properly Designed Systems reduce atmospheric CO 2 while building environmental health
Evidence for a drawdown in the Americas 1500-1600 AD Factors contributing to Little Ice Age: 1) Pandemic followed by reforestation in the Americas (1500- 1600) 2) Eruption of Huaynaputina volcano in 1600 3) Lower Solar Radiation (Maunder Minimum, 1645-1715) JE Amonette 23Aug2016 Nevle and Bird, 2008
The aromatic ring is kinetically stable This is accounted for by delocalization . 1 5 4 pm C C The more the electrons are spread around (= delocalized) - the more stable a molecule 1 3 9 pm becomes. This extra stability is often referred to as "delocalization energy". 1 3 5 pm Long bonds = w eak ! C C Short bonds = strong !
How can aromatic carbon increase soil fertility? It turns out that aromatic carbon is not totally “stable” Aromatic carbon can be slowly oxidized (= partially decomposed) Oxidation adds oxygen containing functional groups to the aromatic rings Chunk of aromatic black Decomposition fragment carbon prior to oxidative with oxygen containing decomposition functional groups O O OH OH oxidative O decomposition OH
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