EcoTechnologies - Biochar: A Field Guide for Gardeners and Farmers

Smashwords Edition

With contributions from:

Julie Major, PhD, Soil Scientist

Hugh McLaughlin, PE, PhD, MaterialsEngineer

Paul Hepperly, PhD, Agronomist

Erich Knight, Horticulturist

David Yarrow

Sam Mitchell

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CONTENTS

We hope this book will inform and encourage peoplewho have an interest in, and can benefit from, biochar. It is notwritten for scientists, but might sound that way on occasion as wedescribe properties that make biochar unique and so beneficial.This book is for everyone who understands soil is the foundationfor human health, economic security and climate stability. Inshort, life.

Photo: International Biochar Initiative

Actual Bits of Biochar

In 1851, Andrew Jackson Dowling, a renownedlandscape designer, horticulturalist and writer of his timewrote:

Canals and railroads wrote a one-way ticket forsoil fertility. They bring from the West millions of bushels ofgrain, and send not one fertilizing atom back to restore the land.And in this way we shall by-and-by make the fertile prairies asbarren as some of the worn out farms of Virginia.

This quote was a prelude to the Dust Bowl, thoughnot meant as a prediction at the time.

Biochar What is it?

Biochar is a special form of highly porous charcoal then what is highly porous charcoal? Its charred carbon made byheating biomass commonly waste wood without oxygen. One of thegreat things about biochar is it can be made from any biomass waste materials we have no better use for at a given time and place.Biochar is a great way of turning waste material into a long termbeneficial product.

Photo: David Yarrow

Biochar is a lightweight, highly porouscharcoaldesigned to use in soil: farms, gardens, horticulture,landscaping

Biochar, however, is not made to be burned as fuel,as charcoal typically is. Instead, biochar is intended to be put insoil, where it causes physical, chemical and biologicaltransformations to promote sustainable and long-term soil fertilityin nutrient poor or infertile soils. In soils that are already wellcared for and fertile, biochar helps build a resilient soil that isbetter able to maintain its normal functions under unusualconditions. Such unusual conditions include heavy, prolonged rainand dry spells, both of which are expected to be more frequent as aresult of climate change.

Properly made, biochar also produces renewableenergy during its manufacturing process.

Properly used, biochar can allow crops to grow withexceptional health, yield and nutrition.

Properly implemented, biochar systems sequestercarbon to mitigate climate change.

Picturing Biochar

Imagine holding a piece of a charred log from afreshly extinguished campfire where it didnt have a chance tofully burn into ash. This lightweight, dusty, blackened wood issimple, natural biochar.

Drop the char on the ground and crush it into thesoil with your foot. You just added biochar to soil to enliven andenrich it.

Photo: Dr. Julie Major

Biochar Field Trials in Honduras

High temperatures have transformedcarbohydrates made by plants into lightweight, brittle, black char.Controlled pyrolysis captures up to half of the biomass carbon aschar, instead of incineration to ash, gas and heat which leavesonly small amounts of carbon behind. The black biochar residue,after activation, has been used for a very long time to filter manymaterials from water to gases. Many of us have water pitcherswhich filter water with activated carbon. Biochar is the precursorto making activated carbon.

Note sparkles Sunlight glinting fromfreshly crushed biochar

Photos: David Yarrow

Biochar changes soil in ways we can see, feel andsmell. Biochar-amended soils gain in tilth, look darker, feeldamper, smell sweeter.

Natures Nano Technology

The key to this transformation by pyrolysisis found at microscopic and sub-microscopic or nano - scales.Throughout this book we will discuss the relationship betweenbiochars structure and its effects in soil. Biochar contains poresthat range over a tremendously wide scale, from nanometers to tensof micrometers. Although such sizes are all very small from a humanpoint of view, they represent a large variety of different spacesfor biochar to interact with soil. Depending on the size of pores,different mecahnisms can take place inside them. Biocharsretention of water and nutrients in simple forms (those that plantstake up directly) occurs largely in nanopores which are too smallfor even small bacteria to fit in. Bacteria and fungi can fit intolarger biochar pores and find a suitable habitat to grow andreproduce.

In short, while biochar has anano-structure which gives it beneficial properties in soil, itis more than that: it is also organized in pores at a micro scalethat can provide a refuge for microbes to inhabit. At an evenlarger scale, it can interact with other soil constituents tomodify soil structure. In the next pages you will learn more abouthow this works and why its important.

History of Biochar

Scientists are still learning actually howbiochar builds better soils. But biochar isnt a new discovery. Infact, charcoal use in soil has ancient roots, and our predecessorshave long known that biochar can do good in soil.

Fire and the formation of some biochar are centralfactors in the maintenance of many natural ecosystems. Also, forthousands of years the application of biochar to soils has beenpart of routine farming practice in many parts of the world. Addingbiochar to soil was reported in the 19th century ashaving significant increases in farm revenues. Fire Manure is a17th century Japanese description of biochar.