[Stoves] [biochar] Re: Report on APBC - first two days

[rongretlarson at comcast.net]

Lloyd. Biochar and stoves lists: 

This to provide a final recap of the fourth and last day of the Asian Pacific Biochar Conference (APBC2011).  Attendance down to less than 25. 



   There were five AM plenary talks (out of six? scheduled).  The first was somewhat related – a PhD level talk by an Indonesian getting his degree in Japan – giving a highly mathematical talk (Hamiltonians).  That ended up indicating they could use the technique to figure out how many trees to cut (for jobs for poorest).  Nothing we can use yet.  This might have been an award winner picked by the second group sponsoring/sharing the venue.  A group called JAHES.  Not much over lap with Biochar, but some. 



Next two talks were on the Cool Vege project being run by the JBA  Erich has given leads to similar work by Steve McGreevy.  General agreement that this was welcome – to see strong commercial activity.  This was topic of a tour in PM that I didn't attend.  Maybe someone can add more. 



Next was Stephen Joseph who went through lots of good Biochar lists of different types  (Markets,  high value targets, integrating with RE, constraints,. This talk not on Australia.   Then Joey talked of an IBI Roadmap and its needs.  Started with recommendation to read recent paper by Melissa Leach. 



Debbie Reed was final speaker.  Quite different from anything earlier – by going through her concerns that recent marketing trends by groups like Walmart for environmental compliance could adversely impact small farmers – and this could apply as well to Biochar products and their use.  Only a problem statement – not solutions.  But something for all in Biochar interested in helping small farmers to start trying to solve. 



After lunch、ｔｗo buses (about 25 each?) went for 50 + km trips. Others may be able to talk on the Cool Vege trip based on bamboo.  I went with Tom Miles and family and 25? others to a rice husk charring operation.  At least three from Australia including Adriana Downie.  Tom took lots of pictures (after 4 days of most slides also).  This has been in operation by a city owned recycling operation in Shiga prefecture for about 8 years.  Heat captured and used for processing canola oil for diesel operation.  Char in large bags available at (I think) 700 Yen (little less than $10) for 10 kg.  Saw production at the rate of about 1 bag each 20 minutes.  We could all get up real close – even to touch (water-jacket cooled) char coming out.  Pyrolyzer manufactured by the Kansai company – with about 2000 similar around Japan  (maybe handling 10% of all Japanese rice husks), with some appreciably larger than this one.  This being mentioned to emphasize long history of commercial Biochar operations in Japanese – whereas very recent US GAO report has Biochar listed as meriting a “2” on a scale of 1 to 9.  I put anything at 10% of a market at an 8 at least.  



   The recycling center might be the most advanced in Japan.  A major tourist attraction, with lots of small gimmicks /trinkets/food for sale.   The whole process started (in '80s??) with detergent-caused algae bloom in nearby largest lake in Japan  (we could see in distance from their observation deck – along with mostly rice fields on all directions).  The group started manufacturing their own soap as phosphorous-based detergents soon thereafter disappeared from the market.  When better detergents reappeared (we need some in US now) they switched to making bio-diesel.  Rice husks needed for part of still on-going biodiesel production.  Hey use both waste oil and virgin canola oil, I believe. 



  All of Japan apparently now separates household waste into 11 different categories.  To save on pickup fuel expenses, this prefecture is organized such that the waste is brought in by local neighborhoods and here separated into more than 11 categories.  We didn't see that – only long description of biodiesel history and then the Biochar part.  We got also to walk into field where biochar vs compost test was going on. - with soy bean plants. 



   I shared bus ride with one of two (?)  Chinese at conference.  I learned that there are five separate Biochar organizations in China.  IBI lists 2 I think.  Possibility that Robert Flanagan may today be in a different “Asian country”  Anyone know?  



  I predict great things for Biochar out of China – and my seatmate didn't deny the possibility.  They have the skills, the available biomass and needy farmers (whose government is trying to help, the need for carbon negativity, and they have lots of “spare” money.  He said the Chinese farmers he works with are ready – as long as they can be shown good economics. 





  I am having difficulties with web access – and so will add here responses to Lloyd Helferty's questions: 



1) No mention of Canadian biochar companies – but also none from US.  Stephen's job was only to give a country report for Australia.  The obvious question is how many worldwide and my guess is that we are over fifty by now – but maybe someone like Kelpie can give a better count from IBI perspective.  This again emphasizing that the US GAO didn't do a good job when it gives Biochar a “2” out of 9 on commercial readiness as a geoengineering technology. 



2) I missed most of the Thai report (after a break) – and so apologize.  Tom Miles have anything? The main APBC handout did not list the names of the country presenters.  We received a one page handout – which I now can't find.  Maybe others can help. 



3)   Same for your question on the speaker from Taiwan.  There was some indication that the third APBC meeting will be in Taiwan. 



4) See comment on Flanagan above.  I think there was just a communication glitch re China.  My seatmate led me to believe that China is making good progress.  He did not know Robert. F. 

5) I had hoped to reconnect with the forester from Mongolia, but he was not present on last day.  He is a PhD and appeared very concerned – and looking for help.  I believe Karl Frogner is limiting his Mongolian liaisons to NGOs, but the forester showed some of Karl's work, so there may be some interaction.. 


  I have googled for forestry in Mpngolia and found that the country is listed by FAO as 17% forest.  This is among the least densely populated countries – so that 17% might be plenty..  With Ulanbaatar being so heavily polluted by coal stoves, this could be a place with much potential for making char.  I think he may have been saying so the previous day.  He also described huge piles of sheep manure.  Biochar could be a big help in reforestation/afforestation.  Forestry is an export item – although dwarfed by the country's coal resources – which we have to find a way to keep in the ground. 



6) Cool Vege char seems to only/mainly be associated with bamboo.  It is a weed throughout Japan and felt needs to be harvested to preserve (not diminish) biodiversity.  Problem is that the rural villages are now mostly populated by elderly and bamboo harvesting is not easy work.  This is not yet a panacea – but lots of interest in this first attempt worldwide to tie Char closely to climate topics.through a commercial ad campaign.  At least 4-5 talks on this topic..  Key seems to be a 20 Yen (28 cent) label that is attached to any produce packge– with half going back to the farmers for the extra “climate” effort. 



 7)  Thanks to Erich for giving leads to McGreevy's work.  Stephen was a part of the organizing team and personally helpful to me (with no credit card capability and little cash), so thanks again to those who helped me get to Vietnam with a little cash in my pocket. 



Ron 



----- 元のメッセージ -----


差出人: "Lloyd Helferty" <lhelferty at sympatico.ca> 
To: biochar at yahoogroups.com 
Cc: rongretlarson at comcast.net, "biochar-policy" <biochar-policy at yahoogroups.com>, "Discussion of biomass" <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>, "Biochar-Ontario" <biochar-ontario at googlegroups.com> 
送信済み: 2011年9月19日, 月曜日 午前 1:48:28 
件名: Re: [biochar] Re: Report on　APBC - first two days 

Thanks again, Ron. 
I'll be looking for more detail about some of the points you brought up, namely: 

1) Of the " 10 companies getting some mention" from Stephen Joseph, were any Canadian ? 

2) P.S. Interesting note about " a lot of activity in Thailand ".  The first time I heard about Biochar activities in Thailand was through correspondence with Bryan Hugill , who is also a member of Biochar Ontario . 

2a) ... Although, the work in Thailand might also be the result of collaboration with the Japanese . 
 I noted that Professor Kaneyuki Nakane in the Graduate School of Biosphere Sciences, Hiroshima University (within the Division of Environmental Dynamics and Management) was " making a lot of ongoing projects in Thailand " with "bamboo charcoal"... 
 Professor Nakane is the guy who did the fantastic Rooftop Garden project(s) with Biochar (in collaboration with the Banks, which use greenroofs to keep the buildings that house ATMs cooler , and therefore reduce energy requirements ). 
  http://www.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/en/top/research_HU/researchnow/no12/ 
See also the section starting about half way down the page about " The Hilltribe People of Thailand and Burma..." 

2b)  I believe that the people of Thailand could probably teach us a thing or two about Biochar by now also... 
I read once that the King of Thailand had ordered rescue workers to "spray the bodies with (powdered) Biochar" after Thailand experienced a tsunami -- "because the Biochar will 'deodorize' the decaying bodies in minutes" -- and also because the Biochar "invites Beneficial microorganisms as decomposters" (once the bodies are buried). 

3) I would love to see that report from Taiwan . (As you know, I have 'close ties' to Taiwan... and had not really heard much of anything from that island nation about any Biochar research ~ although I read once that Dynamotive was at one point supposedly “developing two plants in Taiwan", in cooperation with a company called Marketech International Corporation .) 

4) I find it very interesting that there are no reports coming out of China, considering that Rob Flanagan had helped a Chinese company create one of the very first " NPK-C Biochar Fertilizers "... 

5) Very interesting that "a Governmental forester " reported from Mongolia. (I didn't think that there were enough trees in Mongolia for the government to actually hire a "forester"... perhaps his job title should be "reforester" or "afforester".  ;-) 
 -- just kidding 

6) What is "the Cool-Vege concept" from Japan? 

Lloyd Helferty, Engineering Technologist
  Principal, Biochar Consulting (Canada) www.biochar-consulting.ca 603-48 Suncrest Blvd, Thornhill, ON, Canada
  905-707-8754; 647-886-8754 (cell)
     Skype: lloyd.helferty
  Steering Committee member, Canadian Biochar Initiative
  President, Co-founder & CBI Liaison, Biochar-Ontario
    Advisory Committee Member, IBI http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1404717 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42237506675 http://groups.google.com/group/biochar-ontario http://www.meetup.com/biocharontario/ http://grassrootsintelligence.blogspot.com www.biochar.ca Biochar Offsets Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2446475 "Necessity may be the mother of invention, but innovators need to address problems before they become absolute necessities..." 
On 2011-09-17 7:14 PM, rongretlarson at comcast.net wrote: 

  





Biochar and stoves lists: 

  This to provide a short recap of the third day of the Asian Pacific Biochar Conference (APBC2011). 

  

  The day was again partly (mostly) in English and partly in Japanese (with translations and headsets).  Very good translators. Most of the Asian countries gave a talk.  The starter was Stephen Joseph for Australia.  His was unusual in that it concentrated on corporate activity – at least 10 companies getting some mention.  There were many research papers earlier and few earlier on the privates sector (exception being Adriana Downie and PacPyro mentioned yesterday).  I asked Stephen about organized opposition to Biochar and he said none/little.  He responded partly in terms of early strong support from former PM Malcolm Turnbull – and new government has not changed that. 

  

   I won't go through each (my notes are not so good), but I remember being surprised at a lot of activity in Thailand, and good work in the Philippines.  ( I was surprised that there was no report from Vietnam (where I will be for next three weeks), as Australian Peter Slavich (working full time in Aid project in Vietnam) in earlier private conversation said there was a long history of using spent charred rice husks – and he knew of work of Paul Olivier (who I will be visiting).  

  

   Good report sfrom Taiwan and New Zealand;  none from China.  Report from Mongolia by a Governmental forester, not from Karl Frogner and his UBI group  (Karl had a paper). 

  

   The last two country talks were for Japan.  First was entirely on the Cool-Vege concept. 

  Later Prof Ogawa gave excellent Plenary talk - entirely on the extensive Biochar history in Japan. 

  

  Prof.  Johannes gave his usual great talk.  Said he was delighted with progress and optimistic.  That Biochar unknowns are like for any other ag area. 

  

  I have run out of time.  More later. 

  

Ron 



----- 元のメッセージ -----


差出人: rongretlarson at comcast.net 
To: "biochar-policy" <biochar-policy at yahoogroups.com> , "biochar" <biochar at yahoogroups.com> , "Discussion of biomass" <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org> 
送信済み: 2011年9月17日, 土曜日 午前 7:48:44 
件名: Report on　APBC - first two days 




Biochar and stoves lists: 

  This to provide a short recap of the first two days of the Asian Pacific Biochar Conference (APBC2011) 

  Maybe 100 persons here – maybe 75 to 80 percent Japanese..   

  

  Regular contributors to these two lists who are here include Tom Miles (and wife and son),  John Miedema,  and Karl Frogner.  Apologies to other list members I don't recognize.  At least 10 other people I judge from Australia (Stephen Joseph, Lukas van Zwieten, Adraian Downie, and Annett Cowie being some I knew previously).   The final Plenary speaker of first day was Evelyn Krull  who gave a wonderful description of the great Biochar work going on in Australia (all or mostly CSIRO??).   They are working with 104 different chars – and identifying what makes each unique  (temperature, species, etc) 

  

    I know two here from Europe – maybe a few more.   Others from US (not or rarely writing to these lists are IBI's Debbie Reed and Johannes Lehmann).  The names of presenters are available at the APBC site.  Two stoves/Biochar list contributors who are in program but couldn't make it are Kelpie Wilson and Jason Aramburo  (and who are missed). 

  

   The first day,  Thursday, was in both Japanese and English – with everyone having earphones for the alternating translation need.  The outstanding talk for me was by IBI's Debbie Reed – giving an exciting summary of the growth of IBI.  About 11,000 hits on the website per month now - and 50% are new first time users each month.  Still plenty of growth in Biochar technical literature, etc.  Debbie gave more background and status on the forthcoming IBI draft standards.  Last night, I attended part of an ad hoc meeting on the standards – which should be available within weeks at the IBI site (for four weeks comment period).    Obviously a lot of work has gone into these standards – but a lot more still to be done. 

  

   Yesterday was all in 20 minute presentations in three parallel tracks.  The majority of the papers seemed to be soil-production related.  Unfortunately (my giving a talk) I missed several coming from Lukas van Zwieten's NSW group on success with N20 capture, but he says that is showing continued importance.  Quite a few talks that relate to the Science article by Dr. Wardle;  no firm answers yet – but conversely I heard nothing that supports the Wardle contention that Biochar causes excess CO2 release.   Adriana Downie gave several talks on her progress towards a new “PacPyro” firm that has just received a major multi-million grant and is going public.  I enjoyed a talk on LCA given by CSIRO's Annette Cowie. 

  

   Today I expect to learn a lot more about Japanese Biochar work as we get back to a single Plenary format and translation. Much evidence of Japan having done Biochar work for a long time – with a government-sanctioned program since the 1980's.   Also Johannes is scheduled for 40 minutes.  

  

   Many new people to meet.  Have enjoyed especially two potential funders from the ADB and FAO and researchers from the Philippines, Korea, and Uganda.  And of course many from Japan.  

  

    The city of Kyoto is exceptionally modern and well maintained – a major tourist town.  Prices seem close to double those I am used to.  A cash economy – with my having major difficulties with no (presently valid) ATM card!  Thanks to three listed above who could take my check in exchange for Yen!    

  

    Questions? 

  

Ron 

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