[Stoves] [biochar-production] Re: Stoves Digest, Vol 14, Issue 17

[Frank Shields]

Dear Paul,

 

The way I look at it; 

Biochar is not needed by the plant anymore than peat moss, perlite, sand,
lime, gypsum etc. These are all materials used to change the texture of the
soil. Better drainage, hold more water, make water more available, adjust pH
that changes availability of nutrients, added porosity, add microbes that
regulate the nutrients etc. If the biochar product adjusts one of these
components to make the required constituents (water, nutrients, temperature
etc) more optimum for the plant you will see a benefit. A lot of silica (as
in rice hulls) may very well be the component that makes the change and the
carbon fraction has nothing to do with it. Or it could all be from the
carbon fraction or mixture of both. IMO it is important to determine the
condition change that has created the increase in plant response. And the
constituent of the biochar that has done it. Then we can determine the
biochar quality that should be used on that specific site. 

 

But I think we can agree that it's the carbon component we regard as
important when talking biochar. If it's the silica in rice hulls making the
difference we could just add something like sand. Being carbon as the
important fraction biochar quality should be rated based on the carbon
component. Not only carbon concentration but also the carbon structure (or
we could just as well add organic matter).  Carbon comes in a range of
biological activity. Very reactive like green grass, sugars, oils,
vegetative materials. Semi-reactive materials like wood chips, stabilized
compost, biosolids and organics from aeration ponds, finished septic systems
etc and very stabilized like plastic, biochar.  Available carbon increases
microbes. That in turn uses a lot of oxygen making soils anaerobic creating
lots of problems.  The reason we compost and have septic systems before
letting high reactive organics into the environment.  Because biochar claim
to have a very stabilized carbon (non-available to microbes and oxidation)
we need to measure to the degree the carbon is stabilized in addition to the
concentration to rate and compare biochar products. Rice biochar has low
carbon (not good) but likely high stability (good). And a unique structure,
that in the right locations and soil type, could make all the difference. 

 

It's the test methods that work best to determine the carbon concentration
and properties that we need to sort out.  Not an easy task thanks to people
wanting to use coal testing methods for biochar.  We need our own methods
manual.

 

 

Regards

Frank

 

 

 

 

 

Frank Shields

Control Laboratories, Inc.

42 Hangar Way

Watsonville, CA  95076

(831) 724-5422 tel

(831) 724-3188 fax

frank at compostlab.com

www.compostlab.com

 

 

  _____  

From: stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Crispin
Pemberton-Pigott
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2011 6:56 AM
To: 'Discussion of biomass cooking stoves'
Subject: Re: [Stoves] [biochar-production] Re: Stoves Digest, Vol 14,Issue
17

 

Dear Paul

 

Do you know if the char has been characterised well, or is it from the smoky
stacks you described earlier?

 

Thanks

Crispin

 

++++++

 

Frank,

Rice hulls biochar makes as excellent soil amendment, as numerous test have
shown.
Yields on rice, water spinach and other plants have increased roughly 3-fold
in the trials that were done in Vietnam and Cambodia.
If it is not the best biochar, I would be truly exciting to find something
better.

Paul Olivier

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