[Stoves] [biochar-policy] Re: [biochar] Re: Report on APBC - first two days
Lloyd Helferty
lhelferty at sympatico.ca
Mon Sep 19 12:27:15 CDT 2011
Thanks Ron and Tom for the additional information.
If the *third APBC meeting* will be in Taiwan, I will definitely want
to be there! :-)
I have been asked to give a presentation in two [2] weeks about our
proposed /*"5ive-Planets" project*/** in Japan at the /*University of
Toronto*/ as part of the *Science for Peace*
(http://www.scienceforpeace.ca/) "/*Human Security Lecture*/" series.
I need to gather as much information about the current situation in
Japan for this two [2] hour lecture as I can get my hands on, so I can
understand and accurately communicate the capabilities of the *Japanese
Biochar producers*.
** The "/*5ive-Planets*/" Japan project is right now exploring the idea
of possibly using Biochar to help "Decontaminate" the soils around the
crippled Nuclear reactors in Fukushima, Japan by stimulating soil fungi,
which may be able to "bio-accumulate" radionuclides.
(If we harvest and destroy/sequester the resulting mushrooms, one
could begin to physically remove the radioactivity from the soils and
allow for future farming in a compressed timeframe. -- It is our hope
that Biochar will help to stimulate the formation of various
"hyper-accumulating mycorrhizae / mushrooms" that would be harvested by
Robots, thus eliminating most of the human interaction with the highly
radioactive mushrooms as they are harvested and disposed of... ~ the
Japanese expertise with Robots would come in handy here).
It is an idea that began with Dr. Paul Stamets "Nuclear Forest
Recovery Zone" project, and is based on some fairly well-known
Phyto-remediaton techniques that were applied elsewhere.
see:
http://sierrapermaculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/stamets-fallout-mycoremediation.pdf
We may even be able to utilize the wood debris from the destroyed
buildings and trees in the disaster zone -- chipped, of course. I am
also curious to see if it might be preferable to */Pyrolyze/* the
mushrooms instead of "Burning the mushrooms" down to "radioactive ash"
(before [safely] disposing of them). I would expect that the heavy
radioisotopes would not vaporize into the exhaust if /pyrolysis/ was
used, as they might be if the biomass were "incinerated".
The /*5ive-Planets Foundation*/ (registered in Canada) is also
attempting to raise money so that we can study whether biochar may be
able to prevent radionuclides from getting from the soil and into the
roots of plants [and thus the food chain].
We expect that because of Biochar's overall "inert" characteristics,
most heavy metals that are bound to the Biochar should help to keep them
in the soil so they would also not get into the plants via the roots. (I
do not think that this has conclusively been shown to be the case for
all radionuclides, however, and thus would likely require some study.)
In addition to Biochar, the /5ive-Planets/ projects also includes
/*Aquaponics*/ demonstration projects and other activities related to
/*helping the people of the Tohoku area*/ (see map of the area of Japan
affected by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear contamination, below).
5ive-Planets will also undertake some studies of a /*biochar/Humic
acid*/*** compound on the *salt-contamined* lowland soils of Tohoku that
were flooded by the tsunami (~ possibly using "lignin Biochar" ~ or some
other locally produced Biochar that can be sourced/produced in Japan. We
might possibly use the "3R Agrocarbon"**** processes developed in
Hungary if the existing Biochar production industry in Japan cannot
produce sufficient quantities, as required).
*** Note: /*bio-oils*/ from *Fast Pyrolysis* also contain /*Humate
Precursors*/ may possibly be able to prevent these non-soluble
radionuclides from being transported from the soil and into roots -- and
ultimately into the plants [and food chain].
**** Edward Someus noted that his *animal bone charcoal biochar* is
"/the most efficient adsorber of radionuclides/" of any other Biochar
(he has tested). (Edward has worked on projects for Chernobyl.)
*"Sunflower Project"*
Another proposal has been to use Biochar-embedded "seedballs*" to get
millions of sunflower seeds into the contaminated areas around the
crippled Nuclear power stations.
*("Seedballs" are an idea of /*Masanobu Fukuoka*/ of Japan:
http://www.onestrawrevolution.net/MasanobuFukuoka.htm)
Scientists at the /*Centre for Pesticides and Environmental
Research*/ in Yugoslavia had studied the growth and uranium uptake in
sunflowers, soybeans and maize crops. The sunflowers were found to have
the fastest growth rate and highest concentration of uranium, making
them an excellent and fast "soil-cleaning" crop.
There has been a proposition that we place the seeds into "clay
projectiles". These balls could then be fired into the "radioactive
zone" using "air guns". When they land the should embed themselves into
the soils, and from there they would hopefully sprout. We could probably
also inoculate the Seedball projectiles with mycorrhizae to help
facilitate and accelerate the formation of fungal communities.
The seedballs might also be dropped from above**, akin to "carpet
bombing"... a project that the /*Japanese Self Defence Forces*/ could
probably undertake. (Shortly after the accident it was originally the
Self-Defense Forces that were mobilized to inject sea water into the
reactors and spent fuel pools. They were so good at it that "/the
injected water started piling up within reactor buildings, creating a
mass of water contaminated with huge amounts of radiation. The water
began to leak from the damaged containment vessels and piping/".
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110910p2a00m0na008000c.html)
We know that Sunflowers can grow very well in Biochar amended soils.
Nikoluas Foidl in Brazil was getting 32 cm sunflower heads using
windrowed /*Terra Preta Nova*/, which also included torrefied wood -- a
kind of "/hugelkultur/". The soils were also "colonized" by using small
applications of *salycylic acid* in the biochar in order to stimulate
natural soil fungal hyphae growth.
Sunflowers might only be the "first crop", however, because while
sunflowers do absorb Uranium, it may not be uranium we need to be
concerned about. (We need to explore all of the "U-daughters", some of
which are probably not water soluble and will therefore be quite
difficult -- if not impossible -- to remove from the soil using known
phytoremediation pathways because they will likely remain bound up to
the humus - or the biochar).
(Personally, I would like to see if water soluble /*carbon
nanotubes*/ or other /porous nanomaterials/ [produced from Biochar
feedstocks] might work to help sequester the more difficult
radionuclides. (Single-walled carbon nanotubes have already been created
from pyrolysis chars.)
We may need to look at all of the radioactive elements released --
including their physical and radioisotope properties and the mechanisms
of transportation through ecosystems -- to fully understand what it is
we need to do. A "literature search" for Chernobyl remediation might be
useful [has there really been much of /any/? - the more cost-effective
path for the Ukraine is likely to just keep people out of the area].)
The big problem in Japan is that unless one plans on either
*permanently abandoning the area* (the Japanese government has already
set up a 20km "exclusion zone" -- for Chernobyl it is 30km), or digging
all of the soil out and replacing it with uncontaminated soil (at huge
expense), as long as the U daughters remain actively decaying (and
therefore radioactive) the thousands of farmers around the Fukushima
power stations will not be able to return.
The fact that good land is already at a premium in Japan means that
abandoning the land is not really an option (in the long term).
Returning to the area is also not an option if it remains contaminated
by highly radioactive isotopes since the farmers would not be able to
sell any of the food that they grow as long as their is a chance that it
is also contaminated.
Attempts at *large-scale soil decontamination* is probably the only
long-term option in Japan.
P.S. Rob Flanagan told me (in May if this year) that he "/no longer
works in the field of biochar/", and so I suspect if he is still in Asia
that he is not doing any kind of Biochar projects anymore. [?]
P.P.S. I would also be interested in connecting with the *PhD forester
from Mongolia *since "5ivePlanets" is already considering expanding into
Mongolia, where /*very large*/ projects utilizing Biochar to help with
reforestation/afforestation could probably be done. Dr. Stamets would
likely be very interested in that project as well ~ we could probably
"carpet bomb" millions of his "LifeBoxes" over vast areas of
unproductive steppe after having innoculated these vast areas with a
Biochar/fungal substrate... [?]
(This type of terrestrial re-vegetation project would, of course, be
done as a means of */Climate Change mitigation/* -- it would be a type
of "/Natural Geo-engineering/" that should hopefully not stir up the
same type of controversy that other scientists (and crackpots) have
proposed to "geoengineer" the world’s climate -- schemes like
"stratospheric aerosol injections" or "sunshades in space"...)
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 2011-09-18 10:46 PM, Tom Miles Easystreet wrote:
>
>
> Thanks Ron for the summaries and for the excellent questions you
> always manage to pose to speakers.
>
> The Kansai Corporation rice husk gasifier is interesting. They feed
> 150 kg/hr husk at 2000 kcal/kg and get 50 kg/hr char. It is a stirred
> bed gasifier. Husks gasifying in the bed at about 600C. Air is added
> above the bed to burn the gases. Stack gas is 15% O2 so they use lots
> of excess air. About 30% of the heat input is recovered as hot water
> which is used in the bio oil process and in winter for heating.
>
> I was interested in the labeling of the 10kg bags. They indicate 40%
> carbon and 50% silica (SiO2). They also list macro elements in MG/kg.
>
> They provide separate instructions for use in gardens, horticultural
> crops, row cropland tees.
>
> Numbers of units and actual use are still not clear. I heard that
> Kansai Corp had installed 200 of these and made char from about 10% of
> their husk production of 100,000 tpy. I hope the presentations will
> clear up the confusion. But it is not clear when we will see
> presentations or written summaries. That is why I took a lot of
> pictures of slides.
>
> Tom
>
> T R Miles Technical Consultants Inc.
> tmiles at trmiles.com <mailto:tmiles at trmiles.com>
> Sent from mobile.
>
> On Sep 19, 2011, at 10:38 AM, rongretlarson at comcast.net
> <mailto:rongretlarson at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> *差出人: *"Lloyd Helferty" <lhelferty at sympatico.ca
>> <mailto:lhelferty at sympatico.ca>>
>> *To: *biochar at yahoogroups.com <mailto: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 <http://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 <http://www.biochar.ca>
>>
>> Biochar Offsets Group:http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2446475 <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
>> <mailto: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 part
>>
>
>
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