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BIOCHAR, To the rescue!

BIOCHAR, To the rescue!. By Amanda Schaffer. What is biochar ?. Biochar is a highly porous charcoal made from organic waste Can be any forest, agricultural, or animal waste Examples: Woodchips Corn husks Peanut shells Chicken manure. How it’s made.

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BIOCHAR, To the rescue!

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  1. BIOCHAR, To the rescue! By Amanda Schaffer

  2. What is biochar? • Biochar is a highly porous charcoal made from organic waste • Can be any forest, agricultural, or animal waste • Examples: • Woodchips • Corn husks • Peanut shells • Chicken manure

  3. How it’s made • Waste called “biomass” is put into an octagonal shaped metal barrel • It’s then cooked at 1000oF • This process of cooking the biomass is a thermochemical process called pyrolysis. • After a few hours, the organic waste is transformed into charcoal-like pellets that farmers turn into fertilizer

  4. More about Biochar • It’s high carbon content and porous nature can help soil retain water, nutrients, protect soil microbes. • It can increase crop yields while acting as a natural carbon sink - keeping carbon in the ground • Many scientists view that biochar is considered the black gold of agriculture

  5. Cleaning the Air • Biochar can clean the air in two ways • Preventing rotting biomass from releasing harmful CO2 into the atmosphere • Allowing plants to store the CO2 that they pull from the air via photosynthesis

  6. What could happen • If biochar was used worldwide, CO2 levels could drop 8 parts per million within 50 years • CO2 levels in the air have been increasing at an alarming rate since the 1980’s. • Since 2000, carbon has been increasing 2 parts per million • During the 1980’s carbon amounts were increasing at 1.5 ppm per year.

  7. Other uses for biochar • Gases given off during the process of creating biochar can be: • Converted into electricity • Condensed and converted into gasoline • Used in some pharmaceutical applications for the by-products

  8. Is it possible?

  9. Questions References: • http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/03/30/biochar.warming.energy/ • http://www.charyproduce.com/images/site/full/sweet%20corn1.jpg • http://oxfordinspires.org/Programmes/images/earth-planet.jpg

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