The Absorption of Gases by Charcoal

[Dr. Reddy]

A very old and interesting paper on The Absorption of Gases by Charcoal by R. Angus Smith 1926

http://rspa.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/112/761/296.full.pdf

Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy

[santanu mukherjee]

Respected Sir,                                  Thank you for your nice reply & didcatic paper. Please provide me information on mechanism of green house gas mitigation by biochar (what are the actually mode of action & principles). please reply. your's faithfully santanu mukherjee --- On Sat, 15/1/11, Dr. Reddy <saibhas...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Richard Haard]

I'm reader of this list from USA. I'm sure Dr. Reddy can provide answer and links. Mechanism of greenhouse gas mitigation is longevity of the carbon in biochar in the soil. Half life is in excess of 1000 years. It is strictly sequestration. 

Lehmann et al., 2006, BIO-CHAR SEQUESTRATION IN TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS – A REVIEW

Good source of all kinds of articles, blog postings and links

http://biochar.bioenergylists.org/node/1305

Adsorbtion is interesting topic to me. I have been using biochar and also activated carbon for herbicide deactivation in soils. Very effective

Best wishes

Richard Haard

[G.Syamasundar Reddy]

Hi all,

Thanks to Richard Haard for some valueble information.

By the way, I am Dr Syamasundar Reddy; plant protection specialist. I had also started working on Biochar in relation to soil microbes vis-a-vis crop/plant health.

Herbicide adsorption to biochar has given me a new thought. At present, a chemically intensive farm is taking 3-4 years to be included under organic farm under present domestic/international norms.

The question is - Is it possible to deactivate the pesticides in the soil with biochar? If possible to what extent? Is there any kind of selectivity among the pesticides towards biochar adsoption?

I would be grateful if some body can throw some light on this like Richard Haard did.

Regards...

- Dr G. Syamasundar Reddy,
Faculty, IIIT, Hyderabad, INDIA

[Sunil Bhide]

Dear Dr Shyamsundar Reddy

I have tried biochar in a 6x6 pit on my terrace that pit is active if u suggest i can try out any experiment u suggest my only problem is i cannot construt another control pit on my terrace

regards

sunil bhide 

--
Sunil bhide

[Richard Haard]

Hello Dr. Reddy

The place to start is to look  into the uses of a type  of activated carbon used for agricultural purposes. Grosafe, made by Norit Corporation. It has been used for many years to  neutralize pesticides in soil. A problem in golf links, in the US anyway where herbicides are heavily used and reseeding is not possible because of residue. And cleanup of pesticide spills.

 www.norit-americas.com/pdf/GRO_SAFE_rev4.pdf

Last year I set up a series of simple experiments using a series of potent preemergent herbicides. I tested also a biochar sample I received from a company in Canada, Alterna. Both worked very well in the test and the company chemist (Alterna) conducted a comparison that showed the biochar has about 2/3 adsorbtion power of grosafe. 

http://rchaardsblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/herbicide-inactivation-with-biochar.html

It was extremely effective on very high doses of  Caseron (dichlorobenil),oxyfluorfen - goal

Literature has many references to a long list of organic and inorganic toxic chemicals (eg lead, cadmium and arsenic ) that are effectively deactivated. Locally we are using grosafe to clean up garden soil contaminated with compost containing herbicide residue, aminopyralid. 

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Grow-It/Contaminated-Compost-Clopyralid-Aminopyralid-Pyralid-Dow-Chemicals-Toxins.aspx

I have moved to a field test, not cleaning up contaminated soil but to use as seedling protectant where field has topical application with preemergent herbicides. First test very effective. Nothing new here because this approach has been used for more than 20 years in Williamette valley Oregon grass seed production.  We are interested to extend this use to environmental restoration where exotic weed seed load prevents establishment of native grass and perennial seed. This has been successfully done in California, all with the grosafe of course. Biochar in comparison worked equally well except it tended to float away in surface water.

However, biochar is less costly however, not all biochars show this property to the same extent. Best to read Dr. Hugh McLaughlin's paper 'Not all biochars are equal'. 

http://www.biochar-international.org/node/1029

Characterizing Biochars, by Hugh McLaughlin, PhD, PE, November, 2009

More important to me and slightly off topic is the property of activated carbon and some biochars to deactivate naturally occurring Allelopathic chemicals. In all of my tests I detected a growth stimulating property of both materials. Could it be that these allelopathic chemicals are widespread naturally and is better explanation for initial boost in plant growth from biochar. Rather than other benefits generally attributed. ?? Is this benefit from activated carbon also present in your location? 

I think all biochar screening tests on plant growth should use activated carbon as control....

My poster on project presented last year in Yakima, Washington

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchaard/5366487002/

Best Wishes, Rich Haard, Bellingham

[G.Syamasundar Reddy]

Dear Richard Haard,

Thanks a lot for your instantaneous response. I will get back to you soon.

- Syamasundar Reddy

[coumaravel professor]

Hai Santanu,
                 Now only i started to collect the information about biochar. i dont have any materials regarding green house gas emission by biochar. sorry for inconvenience. if i got any information, i will send it to you.

thank you.

[kunuthur srinivas]

The biochar functions essentially as adsorbent and can not deactivate the pesticides adsorbed on biochar. Biodegradation is the only possible and practical means to deactivate the pesticides. Therefore, it is prudent to apply pesticides to the soil and/or crop only when they are biodegradable. Their persistence in soil will enable them to enter the food chain and cause health hazards to all forms of life on earth.

Kunuthur Srinivasa Reddy
Freelance Consultant on Organic Farming
Tirupati, India

On Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:53:33 , "G.Syamasundar Reddy" <shya...@gmail.com> wrote

On Jan 15, 2011, at 5:42 AM, santanu mukherjee wrote:

Respected Sir,                                  Thank you for your nice reply & didcatic paper. Please provide me information on mechanism of green house gas mitigation by biochar (what are the actually mode of action & principles). please reply. your's faithfully santanu mukherjee --- On Sat, 15/1/11, Dr. Reddy <saibhas...@gmail.com> wrote: From: Dr. Reddy <saibhas...@gmail.com> Subject: The Absorption of Gases by Charcoal To: biocha...@googlegroups.com Date: Saturday, 15 January, 2011, 10:15 AM A very old and interesting paper on The Absorption of Gases by Charcoal by R. Angus Smith 1926 http://rspa.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/112/761/296.full.pdf Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy