Terra Preta Soils Technology To Master the Carbon Cycle

[Erich]

I hope you become as passionate as I have to spreading the news of
the multiple solutions Terra Preta soils provides.

Below is my current TP posting of News & Links which I promiscuously
post to anyone who has an iron in this fire, cut and paste it freely .

Cheers,
Erich

Erich J. Knight
Shenandoah Gardens
1047 Dave Berry Rd.
McGaheysville, VA. 22840
(540) 289-9750
she...@aol.com


My Current efforts are trying to contact folks doing Metagenomic
research and putting the Terra Preta bug in their ears.


the current news and links on Terra Preta (TP) soils and closed-loop
pyrolysis of Biomass, this integrated virtuous cycle could sequester
100s of Billions of tons of carbon to the soils.

This technology represents the most comprehensive, low cost, and
productive approach to long term stewardship and sustainability.Terra
Preta Soils a process for Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon
sequestration, 1/3 Lower CH4 & N2O soil emissions, and 3X Fertility
Too.

UN Climate Change Conference: Biochar present at the Bali Conference
http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/steinerbalinov2107

SCIAM Article May 15 07;
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=5670236C-E7F2-99DF-3E2163B9FB144E40


After many years of reviewing solutions to anthropogenic global
warming (AGW) I believe this technology can manage Carbon for the
greatest collective benefit at the lowest economic price, on vast
scales. It just needs to be seen by ethical globally minded companies.

The main hurtle now is to change the current perspective held that
the soil carbon cycle is a wash, to one in which soil can be used as a
massive and ubiquitous Carbon sink via Charcoal and validate
reductions of field GHG emissions. Below are the first concrete steps
in that direction;
S.1884 - The Salazar Harvesting Energy Act of 2007

A Summary of Biochar Provisions in S.1884:

Carbon-Negative Biomass Energy and Soil Quality Initiative

for the 2007 Farm Bill

http://www.biochar-international.org/newinformationevents/newlegislation.html

Bolstering Biomass and Biochar development: In the 2007 Farm Bill,
Senator Salazar was able to include $500 million for biomass research
and development and for competitive grants to develop the technologies
and processes necessary for the commercial production of biofuels and
bio-based products. Biomass is an organic material, usually referring
to plant matter or animal waste. Using biomass for energy can reduce
waste and air pollution. Biochar is a byproduct of producing energy
from biomass. As a soil treatment, it enhances the ability of soil to
capture and retain carbon dioxide.



Tackling Climate Change in the U.S.

Potential Carbon Emissions Reductions from Biomass by 2030by Ralph P.
Overend, Ph.D. and Anelia Milbrandt
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
http://www.ases.org/climatechange/toc/07_biomass.pdf

The organization 25x25 released it's (first-ever, 55-page )"Action
Plan" ; see; http://www.25x25.org/storage/25x25/documents/IP%20Documents/ActionPlanFinalWEB_04-19-07.pdf
On page 29 , as one of four foci for recommended RD&D, the plan lists:
"The development of biochar, animal agriculture residues and other non-
fossil fuel based fertilizers, toward the end of integrating energy
production with enhanced soil quality and carbon sequestration."
and on p 32, recommended as part of an expanded database aspect of
infrastructure: "Information on the application of carbon as
fertilizer and existing carbon credit trading systems."

I feel 25x25 is now the premier US advocacy organization for all
forms of renewable energy, but way out in front on biomass topics.






There are 24 billion tons of carbon controlled by man in his
agriculture and waste stream, all that farm & cellulose waste which
is now dumped to rot or digested or combusted and ultimately returned
to the atmosphere as GHG should be returned to the Soil.

Even with all the big corporations coming to the GHG negotiation
table, like Exxon, Alcoa, .etc, we still need to keep watch as they
try to influence how carbon management is legislated in the USA.
Carbon must have a fair price, that fair price and the changes in the
view of how the soil carbon cycle now can be used as a massive sink
verses it now being viewed as a wash, will be of particular value to
farmers and a global cool breath of fresh air for us all.



If you have any other questions please feel free to call me or visit
the TP web site I've been drafted to co-administer.
http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=node

It has been immensely gratifying to see all the major players join the
mail list , Cornell folks, T. Beer of Kings Ford Charcoal (Clorox),
Novozyne the M-Roots guys(fungus), chemical engineers, Dr. Danny Day
of EPRIDA , Dr. Antal of U. of H., Virginia Tech folks and probably
many others who's back round I don't know have joined.







Also Here is the Latest BIG Terra Preta Soil news;



The Honolulu Advertiser: "The nation's leading manufacturer of
charcoal has licensed a University of Hawai'i process for turning
green waste into barbecue briquets."

See: http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/antalkingsford

ConocoPhillips Establishes $22.5 Million Pyrolysis Program at Iowa
State

http://www.conocophillips.com/newsroom/news_releases/2007news/04-10-2007.htm

Glomalin, the recently discovered soil protien, may be the secret to
to TP soils productivity;

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2003/030205.htm
Mycorrhizae Inoculent;

http://www.mycorrhizae.com/



The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) conference held at
Terrigal, NSW, Australia in 2007. The papers from this conference
are posted at their home page; http://www.biochar-international.org/home.html




Here is my current Terra Preta posting which condenses the most
important stories and links;
Terra Preta Soils Technology To Master the Carbon Cycle

Man has been controlling the carbon cycle , and there for the
weather, since the invention of agriculture, all be it was as
unintentional, as our current airliner contrails are in affecting
global dimming. This unintentional warm stability in climate has over
10,000 years, allowed us to develop to the point that now we know what
we did,............ and that now......... we are over doing it.

The prehistoric and historic records gives a logical thrust for soil
carbon sequestration.
I wonder what the soil biome carbon concentration was REALLY like
before the cutting and burning of the world's forest, my guess is
that now we see a severely diminished community, and that only very
recent Ag practices like no-till and reforestation have started to
help rebuild it. It makes implementing Terra Preta soil technology
like an act of penitence, a returning of the misplaced carbon to where
it belongs.

On the Scale of CO2 remediation:

It is my understanding that atmospheric CO2 stands at 379 PPM, to
stabilize the climate we need to reduce it to 350 PPM by the removal
of 230 Billion tons of carbon.

The best estimates I've found are that the total loss of forest and
soil carbon (combined
pre-industrial and industrial) has been about 200-240 billion tons.
Of
that, the soils are estimated to account for about 1/3, and the
vegetation
the other 2/3.

Since man controls 24 billion tons in his agriculture then it seems we
have plenty to work with in sequestering our fossil fuel CO2 emissions
as stable charcoal in the soil.

As Dr. Lehmann at Cornell points out, "Closed-Loop Pyrolysis systems
such as Dr. Danny Day's are the only way to make a fuel that is
actually carbon negative". and that " a strategy combining biochar
with biofuels could ultimately offset 9.5 billion tons of carbon per
year-an amount equal to the total current fossil fuel emissions! "

Terra Preta Soils Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon
sequestration, 1/3 Lower CH4 & N2O soil emissions, and 3X
FertilityToo


This some what orphaned new soil technology speaks to so many
different interests and disciplines that it has not been embraced
fully by any. I'm sure you will see both the potential of this system
and the convergence needed for it's implementation.

The integrated energy strategy offered by Charcoal based Terra Preta
Soil technology may
provide the only path to sustain our agricultural and fossil fueled
power
structure without climate degradation, other than nuclear power.

The economics look good, and truly great if we had CO2 cap & trade or
a Carbon tax in place.


.Nature article, Aug 06: Putting the carbon back Black is the new
green:
http://bestenergies.com/downloads/naturemag_200604.pdf

Here's the Cornell page for an over view:
http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/biochar/Biochar_home.htm

University of Beyreuth TP Program, Germany
http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=taxonomy/term/118

This Earth Science Forum thread on these soils contains further links,
and has been viewed by 19,000 self-selected folks. ( I post everything
I find on Amazon Dark Soils, ADS here):
http://forums.hypography.com/earth-science/3451-terra-preta.html



There is an ecology going on in these soils that is not completely
understood, and if replicated and applied at scale would have multiple
benefits for farmers and environmentalist.

Terra Preta creates a terrestrial carbon reef at a microscopic level.
These nanoscale structures provide safe haven to the microbes and
fungus that facilitate fertile soil creation, while sequestering
carbon for many hundred if not thousands of years. The combination of
these two forms of sequestration would also increase the growth rate
and natural sequestration effort of growing plants.


The reason TP has elicited such interest on the Agricultural/
horticultural side of it's benefits is this one static:

One gram of charcoal cooked to 650 C Has a surface area of 400 m2 (for
soil microbes & fungus to live on), now for conversion fun:

One ton of charcoal has a surface area of 400,000 Acres!! which is
equal to 625 square miles!! Rockingham Co. VA. , where I live, is
only 851 Sq. miles

Now at a middle of the road application rate of 2 lbs/sq ft (which
equals 1000 sqft/ton) or 43 tons/acre yields 26,000 Sq miles of
surface area per Acre. VA is 39,594 Sq miles.

What this suggest to me is a potential of sequestering virgin forest
amounts of carbon just in the soil alone, without counting the forest
on top.

To take just one fairly representative example, in the classic
Rothampstead experiments in England where arable land was allowed to
revert to deciduous temperate woodland, soil organic carbon increased
300-400% from around 20 t/ha to 60-80 t/ha (or about 20-40 tons per
acre) in less than a century (Jenkinson & Rayner 1977). The rapidity
with which organic carbon can build up in soils is also indicated by
examples of buried steppe soils formed during short-lived interstadial
phases in Russia and Ukraine. Even though such warm, relatively moist
phases usually lasted only a few hundred years, and started out from
the skeletal loess desert/semi-desert soils of glacial conditions
(with which they are inter-leaved), these buried steppe soils have all
the rich organic content of a present-day chernozem soil that has had
many thousands of years to build up its carbon (E. Zelikson, Russian
Academy of Sciences, pers. comm., May 1994). http://www.esd.ornl.gov/projects/qen/carbon1.html




All the Biochar Companies and equipment manufactures I've found:

Carbon Diversion
http://www.carbondiversion.com/


Eprida: Sustainable Solutions for Global Concerns
http://www.eprida.com/home/index.php4

BEST Pyrolysis, Inc. | Slow Pyrolysis - Biomass - Clean Energy -
Renewable Ene
http://www.bestenergies.com/companies/bestpyrolysis.html


Dynamotive Energy Systems | The Evolution of Energy
http://www.dynamotive.com/

Ensyn - Environmentally Friendly Energy and Chemicals
http://www.ensyn.com/who/ensyn.htm

Agri-Therm, developing bio oils from agricultural waste
http://www.agri-therm.com/

Advanced BioRefinery Inc.
http://www.advbiorefineryinc.ca/

Technology Review: Turning Slash into Cash
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/17298/


3R Environmental Technologies Ltd. (Edward Someus)
WEB: http://www.terrenum.net/

The company has Swedish origin and developing/designing medium and
large scale carbonization units. The company is the licensor and
technology provider to NviroClean Tech Ltd British American
organization WEB: http://www.nvirocleantech.com and VERTUS Ltd.
http://www.vertustechnologies.com

Genesis Industries, licensee of Eprida technology, provides carbon-
negative EPRIDA energy machines at the same cost as going direct to
Eprida. Our technical support staff also provide information to obtain
the best use of biochar produced by the machine. Recent research has
shown that EPRIDA charcoal (biochar) increases plant productivity as
it sequesters carbon in soil, thus reducing atmospheric carbon
dioxide.

http://www.egenindustries.com/



If pre-Columbian Kayopo Indians could produce these soils up to 6 feet
deep over 15% of the Amazon basin using "Slash & CHAR" verses "Slash
& Burn", it seems that our energy and agricultural industries could
also product them at scale.

Harnessing the work of this vast number of microbes and fungi changes
the whole equation of energy return over energy input (EROEI) for food
and Bio fuels. I see this as the only sustainable agricultural
strategy if we no longer have cheap fossil fuels for fertilizer.

We need this super community of wee beasties to work in concert with
us by populating them into their proper Soil horizon Carbon Condos.




Erich J. Knight
Shenandoah Gardens
1047 Dave Berry Rd.
McGaheysville, VA. 22840
(540) 289-9750
she...@aol.com

[Nando]

Erich,

Thanks for the post. We're certainly passionate about biochar and all the related sustainable potentials.

Do you have a source for this statement?

"Since man controls 24 billion tons in his agriculture ..."

Does it refer to carbon or biomass?

Thanks,

--

Nando M. Breiter
The CarbonZero Project
CP 234
6934 Bioggio
Switzerland
+41 76 303 4477
na...@carbonzero.ch

[Erich]

The prehistoric and historic records gives a logical thrust for soil
carbon sequestration.
I wonder what the soil biome carbon concentration was REALLY like

before the cutting and burning of the world's virgin forest, my

guess is that now we see a severely diminished community, and that
only very recent Ag practices like no-till and reforestation have
started to help rebuild it. It makes implementing Terra Preta soil
technology like an act of penitence, a returning of the misplaced

carbon.

Energy, the carbon cycle and greenhouse gas management

http://www.computare.org/Support%20documents/Fora%20Input/CCC2006/Energy%20Paper%2006_05.htm

On the Scale of CO2 remediation:

It is my understanding that atmospheric CO2 stands at 379 PPM, to
stabilize the climate we need to reduce it to 350 PPM by the removal

of 230 Billion tons.

The best estimates I've found are that the total loss of forest and
soil carbon (combined
pre-industrial and industrial) has been about 200-240 billion tons.
Of
that, the soils are estimated to account for about 1/3, and the
vegetation
the other 2/3.