Finger Lakes Biochar

The topic of the precautionary principle came up in a recent email stream, not specifically about its use in soils, but still it got me thinking about the current dichotomy between academics and commercializers in the world of biochar.

The Precautionary Principle states that if something might be harmful to people or planet, it shouldn’t be done until research shows that it is not harmful. Better safe than sorry. Generally speaking this is an excellent way to live and many governments understandably make policy using this principle. However I would suggest that the precautionary principle should not be viewed in absolute terms, nor should it be viewed in a vacuum.

Absolute terms means that something is either known or it is not known. However in reality, there are degrees of certainty, or degrees of knowledge, by individuals, by cultures, by scientists, etc. There are also differing levels of comfort with risk. Scientists tend to be on the more conservative end of the risk spectrum while those in Commerce, especially entrepreneurs, tend to be on the opposite end of the risk tolerance scale. When it comes to biochar use in soils, a lot is known about it, yet a lot still has to be discovered. Many scientists are uneasy with how quickly biochar is being brought to market while at the same time many companies and entrepreneurs are frustrated by how slow it is to take off in the marketplace.

However, applying the notion of the precautionary principle regarding biochar use in soils without taking into consideration the bigger picture of what is happening in the world at this point in history is not exactly holistic thinking. The vast majority of climate scientists tell us we must rebalance atmospheric carbon very, very quickly or the future for humanity will be unpredictable, to say the least. Reducing emissions on a global scale will require, it has been said by others, an effort similar to the Apollo Program. And yet more than mere reductions in emissions will be needed to quickly and effectively rebalance CO2 levels. We need to sequester carbon. Safely. Quickly. And soon.

I certainly have no desire to see soils tainted by toxic biochars (yes there are some out there), but civilizations have been adding biochar to soils for millennia with mostly beneficial effects. Caution is definitely warranted but an overabundance of caution, could limit the chances of biochar being able to make a material impact on rebalancing carbon levels. Let’s keep that in mind when applying the precautionary principle to biochar.

Sharing the news about where biochar is not working or how to avoid making biochars that might have ill effects is never something that those selling biochar are comfortable with. But in the long run, it might be helpful so that we can improve the chances of achieving the longer term goal of carbon rebalancing and improved food security.

[Part II of a recent presentation I gave at the NE Biomass conference.

Given the emergent nature of markets for biochar at this point in time, my personal opinion is that in the short term it might be best to focus on closed loop scenarios where feedstock, heat and biochar are all provided and used within the same environment. As with my previous post on Biochar Markets, this graphic is not meant to be exhaustive but rather indicative of possible uses for heat, types of available biomass and potential CHAB markets.

Agriculture is one of the largest sources for underutilized biomass whether it is from perennial or annual crops or from livestock. Most of this biomass can be converted into biochar, although some is easier and cheaper to process than others and some biomass makes much better biochar than other feedstock. To take one example, albeit not a local one, coffee generates massive amounts of waste, most of which isn’t usable for many other purposes given high tanins and other content. Converting coffee pulp or tree prunings into biochar and using the heat to dry coffee cherries could allow farmers to sell their harvest as a higher value commodity. They could then use the char on-farm to improve soil resiliency and crop yield which reducing fertilizer costs.

For an example closer to home, maple sugar producers could use a customized CHAB unit as an evaporator for converting sap to syrup and then use the char around the trees to help them manage drought better and to counter-balance acidic soils, something which I’ve heard is a bit of a problem in parts of this region.

Poultry farms are another great closed loop example. While poultry litter does make a great natural fertilizer, often times there is an excessive amount and no nearby markets, especially during winter months when spreading is difficult or not allowed. Poultry litter can make an excellent feedstock for biochar as it has a relatively high nutrient content compared to other feedstocks. Heat can be used in hen houses and biochar can be used as part of the litter or used in wall structures to reduce odors related to ammonia.

At the municipal level, many towns and cities are desperately looking for ways to reduce the amount of organics sent to landfills. Yard waste and the like could be chipped for CHAB systems and the heat used at recycling centers while the biochar could be used by Parks & Recreation departments or provided to taxpayers. An example of this model will soon be found in Stockholm, Sweden as the project won funding from the 2014 Mayors Challenge. Mobile CHAB units which could be shared within a region would be very helpful in handling storm debris and providing heat which could be used for melting snow or used in emergency shelters if needed.

There are countless examples where CHAB technology makes a lot of sense in the commercial realm. Many golf courses tend to have a lot of tree debris and could definitely use the biochar to reduce compaction and improve water management especially out west. Or they could use the char to reduce nutrient leaching into surrounding water bodies. The heat could be used, at least in the cooler months, to heat club houses. Systems that can convert heat to electricity would be especially useful for golf courses.

Another example is related to milling operations. To take coffee again as an example, often this waste is either dumped or burned at the mill level. Converting this into heat and biochar would provide heat for additional drying processes and char which could be used to filter waste water, used in the fermentation process, or used in cement mixes to create drying pavements or storage warehouses or sold as an additional revenue stream.

Sugar cane mills also provide another closed loop possibility. In one operation down in Costa Rica the fibrous leftovers, called bagasse, are converted into biochar while the heat is used to make steam which is used for the boiling process. The biochar is used on sugar cane fields and also sold to plant nurseries.

These are but a few examples where combined heat & biochar technologies could be used. Once a market for biochar is more established, there are likely to be even more potential customers for CHAB technologies. However since selling biochar is unlikely to be part of the core business for some of these customers, they are likely to be more interested if off-take agreements can be established for any biochar produced.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting at the NE Biomass Conference in Portland, ME – which is simply a gorgeous place. [A major hat tip to all the good folks at ClearStak that are really helping to bring biochar to the attention of those within this industry!] My talk had two components: markets for biochar and markets for combined heat & biochar (CHAB) technology. Below is a modified version of the part where I discussed biochar markets.

The Biochar Markets graphic outlines current & potential biochar markets using 3 different attributes for each market segment:

1. Volume of char that could be sold
2. Value or potential price point that biochar could be sold within these markets
3. Market Readiness – is it a current or future market for biochar

Agriculture has to-date garnered by far the most attention in terms of research and market focus. In part this is due to the multiple benefits associated with biochar such as improved plant yield and reduced fertilizer needs. But it is also partly due to the sheer volume of char that this market could represent. That said though, it is not without its challenges. Different soils and different crops respond differently to biochar making site specific recommendations for use and application techniques difficult. Low value crops that generate less than $1K per acre in revenues such as corn or soybean are unlikely candidates for biochar right now as the price point for char is simply too expensive for it to make economic sense. The best ag markets for biochar at the moment seem to be high value specialty crops (e.g. marijuana is a big one!) or in geographies that are suffering from droughts where biochar can improve water management.

I suspect another key ag market to keep an eye on might be crops grown in soils contaminated from a build-up of metals commonly found in pesticides or livestock manure or other sources. Crops such as rice or apples have been found to have significant issues with arsenic and cocoa beans have been found to have high amounts of lead and cadmium in some regions. Certain biochars can render these metals to be plant unavailable. So in these situations using biochar could mean the difference between being able to harvest and sell crops sown in tainted soils or having to let the land go fallow.

The gardener market has been one that many initial biochar producers seemed to target probably because char can be sold for much higher prices. Prices of $30 – $50 per 5 gallon, or $1 per pound are still common for this category although the market is getting much more competitive as biochar production capacity increases. The challenges in the market are at least twofold: low market awareness and a low potential for repeat sales. The latter is due to the fact that biochar tends to be a once and done kind of product. This obviously has a huge impact on customer acquisition costs.

The remediation market seems to be slowly gaining traction and I think could be a very interesting market. Where there is money for brownfield remediation biochar could be a lower cost alternative than some other options. In some demonstration plots biochar was left in situ and found to promote plant growth which leads to less erosion and less groundwater contamination. I’ve heard some murmurings about using biochar on fracking sites but I don’t have any specifics on that.

These three categories are all effectively single use markets – which is great for the consumer, but not so great for biochar producers. Most of the rest of the markets I will cover tend to be repeat markets, which is obviously critically important for sustained biochar production.

Filtration could be another very interesting market for biochar on many different levels. Activated carbon is often used for filtration and biochar can be designed to perform nearly as well as activated carbon and generally will cost a lot less. In addition biochar has a much lower carbon footprint than AC. Low cost filtration in the developing world is another big opportunity for biochar in everything from food processing to sewage treatment.

The use of biochar in livestock feed is one market that has been attracting a lot of interest especially over in Europe where a large percentage of the biochar being sold is for this purpose. Biochar acts as a binding agent in feed and has been shown to have multiple benefits to animal health as well as improved weight gain. Many large scale poultry and livestock operations use antibiotics and/or arsenic to stave off health issues but this has proven to be a public health issue and sustainable alternatives such as biochar are likely to be much more attractive moving forward. Reduced odors related to manure have also been documented. Initial research has also indicated that it could help reduce methane emissions related to cattle but this still needs more research to be fully validated. I recently heard that the first US biochar producer has received approval to market their biochar as a feed additive and I think we will see a lot more of this moving forward.

Biochar building materials has the potential to be a huge market within the next 5 – 10 years. Initial demonstrations of using biochar plaster in a wine cellar in Switzerland proved the concept had merit as it helped to significantly control humidity. Based on the positive results, the Ithaka headquarters was retrofitted with biochar plaster showing further benefits which included improved insulation, sound and odor reduction. Further testing has been going on to determine the best types of chars and the best recipes for mixing biochar with cement, lime and other additives to optimize different cement or plaster properties.

Biochar use in packaging materials is at the very beginning of development but could also prove to be a strong recurring market. Based on a small prototype of biochar made from coffee chaff and pulp we created what we’ve dubbed as ‘chardboard’. Chardboard may have an advantage over biodegradable packaging which is quickly gaining market share, in that it is actually ‘bioUPgradable’ meaning that even if sent to a landfill it can have positive impacts such as sorbing toxins and sequestering carbon as opposed to biodegrading and off-gassing methane.

The world of 3D printing materials is changing by the day. Filament materials are no longer limited to just plastics or metals, 3D printing materials include ceramics, paper, sugar, even seaweed! We’re (by this I mean the Ithaka Institute) convinced that biochar will be not only a viable material for 3D printers, but a very versatile and sustainable one moving forward.

Another fascinating area of research for biochar use is in microbial fuel cell technology. MFC is a renewable form of energy that leverages microorganisms to generate electricity while they degrade organic matter. The use of biochar has shown promise in this arena due to its chemical stability and good electrical conductivity. We are definitely a few years or more away from seeing this kind of thing commercialized but this could be an excellent recurring market for biochar.

For some carbon offsets represent the holy grail of biochar markets. However this is really a big unknown at this stage as markets for offsets are still tenuous, prices for offsets fluctuate like penny stocks and biochar has yet to gain approval as an offset product. But this could all change in the not too distant future as there are many folks working on getting biochar on the radar of various carbon markets.

Possible items for a Biochar Based Bounce Back kit

The recent devastation in Vanuatu and the availability of low cost biochar producing kilns has spawned some more serious and targeted conversations amongst some of my favorite biochar people in the land down under. Many organizations play critical roles in disaster recovery. One that is especially adept, from what I have recently learned, is Rotary International.  They have partnered with Shelterbox to provide temporary housing and other emergency supplies to victims of disaster. Building on the concept of a readymade kit for disaster scenarios, my down under biochar buddy Frank and I pondered what kind of biochar kit would best help victims to convert downed biomass into biochar to be used in different ways. [I’ve previously blogged about this Disaster Recovery and biochar and biochar should be a prepper’s best friend]. Here are some initial thoughts for suitable items.

The core of the kit is a kiln to convert biomass into biochar. While there are many different technologies that could be used to convert downed biomass, I am a big fan of the Kon-Tiki Kiln for several reasons. [Full disclosure, although the development has been open source, it was driven by the Ithaka Institute of which I am a part.] The kiln is low cost (various sizes available but all under <$4K), has low emissions, can handle relatively high moisture feedstock and produces very good biochar as per testing done in Europe. The ability for heat recovery is being tested and will soon be available as well.

Although the kiln doesn’t require biomass to be chipped, trees and limbs do need to fit into the kiln so hatchets and pruning shears are a necessary part of the ‘kaboodle’. Thermoelectric conversion technologies such as the Power Pot X could enable victims and disaster relief workers to not only boil water for both sanitary and cooking purposes but they can also charge phones and other USB accessories. A solar pump will help get the quench water from the tote to the kiln. If the biochar is going to be used as a soil amendment, human urine could be used instead of water so having a few 5 gallon buckets with ‘luggable loo’ tops to divert this ‘waste’ for use as a quenching liquid would be ideal. Another use for the buckets, which could be filled with other emergency supplies to optimize shipping space, is for water filtration. Biochar could make an excellent, locally producible filtration media for emergency relief locations. Cooking accessories such as grills or spit roasts would also make a nice addition to the kit.

Depending on the situation, additional items (e.g. trowels, mixing equipment, brick molds, etc.) could be included that enable different end uses for the biochar such as building materials.

Training on biochar production and various end uses would obviously be required, but once trained, local residents would have the tools to enable their communities and their soils to bounce back.

Perhaps, in honor of the ancient cultures who figured out how to convert their ‘waste’ into highly fertile soils called Terra Preta, we ought to dub the process of converting disaster debris into tools for healing soil and water  ‘Disaster Terra P’!

Recently Justin, an uber green urban planner I know that is optimizing his new homes’ footprint, asked me about the possible benefits of using biochar to improve the longevity and efficiency of a septic system. Great question! I’m not actually aware of anyone that has dipped their biochar toe into this particular area but it definitely got me pondering possibilities. I’ve already blogged about biochar in French Drains but septic systems offer even more possible opportunities for biochar.

Nearly 30% of American households are reliant on residential septic tanks and surrounding leach fields to process their own wastewater. Before breaking ground to build a house in an area not connected to a municipal wastewater system, a percolation or ‘perc’ test needs to be done to see if soil drainage is sufficient or if a leach field needs to be installed. If you are planning to build on heavy clay soils, expect to fork out plenty of cash to improve drainage. If you need to head in that direction, adding biochar to a leach field could be a great way to filter water before it heads down into the groundwater zone or local water bodies. It could also provide quite a nice carbon sink opportunity if you are looking to build a net zero footprint home especially if the char was made on-sight using some of the trees or other biomass uprooted to make way for the leach field!

Septic tanks themselves might benefit from the introduction of biochar as well (heck maybe they could even be built using biochar concrete!). Septic tanks are anaerobic environments meant to hold solids while allowing most liquids to pass through into the leach field. A few studies (not nearly enough!) have shown that introducing char to an anaerobic environment can have beneficial impacts such as boosting methane generation. But since septic tanks aren’t built for methane capture (no doubt some enterprising engineer is hard at work to come up with a mini generator from septic tanks?), boosting methane isn’t a desired outcome for these systems. However getting rid of some of the grease and fats that clog up the system could potentially extend the period between getting tanks pumped out as well as the overall life of the septic system. By proving housing for beneficial microbes that feed on just such a diet, biochar may be just what the septic system doctor ordered.

There is though, the challenge of how to get the char into the tank. Not to worry, this is not as challenging as it might appear at first flush, er blush! There are at least three easy ways to do it:

1. For those ingesting char for health purposes as I do on occasion to keep my tummy in good running order, char will go down the tubes (first yours, then the septic systems).
2. For those using biochar in body care products (e.g. soap), char will swirl down the drain in the bath water
3. For those with a garbage disposal, a handful of char tossed down the gullet will keep odors at bay while charging the septic tank.

If none of the above is relevant, you can always toss a handful of char into the toilet and watch it swirl away.