The Sustainable Biochar SystemTerrestrial Carbon Harvesting for Green Energy Production, Soil Building,

Environmental Remediation and Carbon Sequestration

BioEnergy2.0 AssociationBioEnergy Breakfast October 19th 2016Telus World of ScienceVancouver B.C. Canada

John Miedema, BioLogical Solutions Inc., Philomath, OR

BioLogical Carbon,LLC., Philomath, OR

My pathway to Biochar

Sitting on the back of a boat thinking about food production and climate change in 1990

Began investigation of on farm Biomethane production-- making energy from a waste stream while controlling and concentrating nutrients could lead to a robust and resilient agricultural system and environment

Inefficiencies made the economics of the system difficult to overcome– ammonia build up, too much water in digestate for efficient distribution… so I pondered and read…

General Philosophy – for environmental and economic recovery

“I am enthusiastic over humanity’s extraordinary and sometimes very timely ingenuities. If you are in a shipwreck and all the boats are gone, a piano top buoyant enough to keep you afloat …makes a fortuitous life preserver. But this is not to say that the best way to design a life preserver is in the form of a piano top. I think we are clinging to a great many piano tops in accepting yesterday’s fortuitous contriving as constituting the only means for solving a given problem.”

• Buckminster Fuller, • Operation Manual For Spaceship Earth

•Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science

•General Systems Theory

•Resilience of the integrated and the instability of the specialist

Overarching Goal- Resilient Sustainable Communities

• Necessarily Local• Local Food-Local Energy-Local Employment—Local PEOPLE• A Technological Revolution• Creating new pathways in resource management

• Involves integrated design science Co-Location of systems

• Requires New inventions machines and methodologies which can reverse the destructive trends that current economic methodologies have brought about.

• Turning Wastes into Resources, continually looking to improve the use efficiency of energy and materials

• A shift in the economic emphasis of continual growth to an emphasis on the Economics of Permanence --- (E.F. Schumacher)

What is Biochar?

Biochar is a fine-grained, highly porous charcoal that helpssoils retain nutrients and water. IBI

COLLINS

The Origin of Biochar:

Heavy clay soils on high bluffs above Amazon riverlow pH (3.5-4), high iron, high alumina, high leaching

Amazonian Dark Earth (Terra Preta de Indio)

Abundant Crops Grow on Enriched Soils

No CharHi IronpH 3.6

Char OnlyTerra MulatapH 4.4

Char + WasteTerra Preta de Indio pH 5.3‐5.7

PapayaBiochar+ Fertilizer

Cacao Pod and Bean

Manioc rootCupuaçu

IBI

BIOCHAR AMENDED SOILS HAVE HIGH FERTILITY

Our Challenges in Agriculture

1. Improve productivity of our soils: There is limited potential for land expansion for

cultivation; 85 per cent of future growth in food production must come from lands already under production. (Banowetz USDA-ARS)

2. Reduce the financial and environmental cost of production •Revive rural economies•Replace purchased inputs with locally-produced

alternatives (energy, fertilizers, etc).

3. Create sustainable rural jobs and decentralized (integrated) power generation.

The potential benefits of sustainable biochar production:

Food Security

Energy Security

Job Creation

Water Clean-up

Environmental Revitalization

Carbon Sequestration

are so great, we would be remiss for not engaging wholly in rigorous study of the entire biochar system, to scientifically prove or disprove the validity of the system…

– Why biochar Research?

Research: Specific Goals

1.) Produce energy from biomass, ensuring that no additional carbon is released into the atmosphere

2.) Remove CO2 from the atmosphere by converting partof the feedstock not into energy, but into a “stable” form (= char) from which it will not return to the atmosphere for a long time

3.) Improve soil and water resourcesby taking advantage of the uniquephysicochemical properties of artfully prepared chars to enhance fertility, modify physical properties, decontaminate soil and water resources

Production Pathways

Slow Pyrolysis-- chars produced in absence of oxygen (often in presence of initial steam) at 350-700 C tend to be acidic to slightly basic (carboxylic acid groups activated)

traditional (dirty, low char yields)modern (clean, high char yields, wood vinegar, heavy Bio-oil )

Fast Pyrolysis– fine particulate biomass, fast thermal conversion chars produced in absence of oxygen or steam at ~500 C, tend to be basic, maximizes bio-oil production, low char yields

Gasification and combustion-- chars produced in presence of oxygen or steam at >700 C tend to be very basic and make good liming agents maximizes gas production, minimizes bio-oil production,

low char yields, highly recalcitrant half life 100-1000+ years and large surface area 300-500m2/gram

Biochar Is Made at Small and Large Scales

3 MMBtuh Hot Water25% Char+Ash

GASIFIERSBOILERS

Mobile PyrolysisBlack is Green (BIG) AUS 

ICM 4‐8 tphGreenhouse scale heat and biochar NE Biochar 1 t/10h

Burt’s GreenhousesOntario, CAN

BioChar TLUD Cook StoveSeachar.org

How biochar is made?

REMOVE METAL

SIZING

DRYING CARBONIZINGGAS TO HEAT  OR POWER

BIOCHAR

Pyrolysis: 3 DRY TON BIOMASS‐‐> 1 TON BIOCHAR +16 MMBtu (1 MWhe)

Gasification: 8 DRY TON BIOMASS‐>1 TON BIOCHAR +100 MMBtu (6.3 MWhe)

GRIND

GRIND BIOMASS

T R Miles Technical Consultants, Inc. 

SCREEN

DENSIFY

Integrated Systems

On The Farm- energy production, process heat for food production, home, shop, green

house and barn heating, vermiculite substitute, nutrient and environmental toxin control…

In The Forest-fuel load reduction/ energy densification Nutrient and toxin control

Green Industrial Parks-locations at former mill sitesutilization as thermal drive for industrial processes

Co-Location with other renewable energy systems-In order to gain reliability – sun and wind intermittent, utilization of waste heat for process energy in biofuel productionBiogas plant nutrient recovery

Co-Location with biological waste streams-Inherent ability of to turn waste into energy, value added products

Greenhouse, boiler, biochar stirling engine (DK)

: the key to sustainability (and profitability)

Essentially all forms of biomass can be converted to biochar

Preferable forms include: forest thinning, crop residues (e.g., corn stover, straw, grain husks), yard waste, clean urban wood waste (e.g. roadside clearing, pallets, sorted construction debris), manures…

Sources of Feedstock

Biochar systems can be carbon reductivebecause they retain a substantial portion of the carbon fixed by plants-- 20%-35%

The resultis a net reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, due to the thermal conversion of the photosynthetic derived biomass

Theoretical potential is 3.67 CO2 = 1 biochar stabilized CReality will be something less then this depending on project LCA

Fossil fuels are carbon-positive – they add more carbon to the air.

Ordinary biomass fuels are carbon neutral (at best)– the carbon captured in the biomass by photosynthesis would have eventually returned to the atmosphere through natural processes – burning plants for energy just speeds this process up.

Fossil Carbon Addition vs. Terrestrial Carbon Reduction

The positive feedback loop--

Utilization of low value material for energy production while creating a value added product.

Sustainable biochar productionbased on sound integrated design science offers recurring economic, social, and environmental benefits in a positive feedback loop–

•Marginal lands show dramatic gains in net primary productivity when biochar is added to the system.

•Bioenergy co-product being utilized as a tool in nutrient control, storm water clean up and contaminated land remediation --- metal and organic toxin adsorption

•Properly Designed Systems reduce atmospheric CO2 while building environmental health

Evidence for a drawdown in the Americas 1500-1600 AD

JE Amonette 23Aug2016 Nevle and Bird, 2008

Factors contributing to Little Ice Age:1)Pandemic followed by

reforestation in the Americas (1500-1600)

2)Eruption of Huaynaputinavolcano in 1600

3)Lower Solar Radiation (Maunder Minimum, 1645-1715)

is kinetically stable

This is accounted for by delocalization.

The more the electrons are spread around (= delocalized) - the more stable a molecule becomes.

This extra stability is often referred to as "delocalization energy".

C C135 pm

Short bonds = strong !

139 pm

The aromatic ring

C C154 pm

Long bonds = weak !

How can aromatic carbon increase soil fertility?

It turns out that aromatic carbon is not totally “stable”

Oxidation adds oxygen containing functional groups to the aromatic rings

Aromatic carbon can be slowly oxidized (= partially decomposed)

O

OH

O

OHOHO

Chunk of aromatic black carbon prior to oxidative

decomposition

Decomposition fragment with oxygen containing

functional groups

oxidative

decomposition

How can aromatic carbon increase health?

Oxygen containing groups can ionize (develop negative charge) and so electrostatically attract ions that are positively charged (exchangeable cations).

O

O-

O

O-O

-O

Ca2+

K+

Mg2+

H+

H+

H+O

OH

O

OHOHO Mg

+K O

O

O

OOO

Ca+

Many critical mineral nutrients of plants are cations, such as Potassium (K+) , Calcium (Ca2+), Magnesium (Mg2+)

These mechanisms aid in the capture and sorption of inorganic and organic toxins

Results In:•Stable compounds of single and condensing ring aromatic carbon

•High surface area

• Nutrient retention and capture(NH4+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, P etc.)

• High ion exchange capacities (CEC and AEC)• Increased pH

• Changes in physical propertieswater retentionreduced soil densityincreased porosity/aeration

Corn Cob and Pine Wood Char Courtesy of J. Amonette

Is produced by the thermal cracking of biomass in an oxygen controlled environment.

What is Biochar (again)?

Thompson Timber and Starker Forests Sort Yard--Philomath OR

Figure 1. Project diagram, solid line arrows indicate flows of material (logs, chips, biochar). Block arrows indicate flows of energy (diesel fuel, electricity for system motors, or combustion gases). Dashed lines indicate current product uses for the wood waste.

The Fluidyne Pacific Class Gasifier

www.fluidynenz.250x.com/

Fuel use:

45 kg/hr

Flame temp

1000 C

500,000 BTU

Thermal Drive

In-feed hopper and valve

Pyrolytic Flare

Biochar

Initial Data

°C

0

500

1000

Material --1Mid Retort --2Top Retort--3

Hearth--4Hearth--5Stack--6

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000Sec

Sec. 1 2 3 4 5 69090 502.8 267.82 215.56 733.55 756.31 218.7

9060 502.64 267.85 215.57 735.42 758.94 218.96

9120 503.45 268.09 215.45 731.75 754.48 218.61

9150 504.14 268.18 215.4 731.08 754.86 218.6

9180 505.12 268.29 215.49 729.72 752.81 218.57

9210 505.74 268.74 215.55 727.72 749.72 218.53

9240 505.74 268.37 215.57 725.53 746.82 218.2

9270 505.6 268.34 215.73 723.75 745.14 217.92

9300 504.89 268.65 215.86 721.98 743.44 217.76

Char XRD Scans Results

10 20 30 40 50 60 702Theta (°)

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

Inte

nsity

(cou

nts)

Quartz signal

Carbonate signal

•XRD Scans with peaks indicating presence of specific crystalline compounds•Gradual peaks in shaded regions indicate presence of stacked graphene sheets•Hump at ~28° indicates thickness of stacks

•Hump at ~51° indicates lateral dimensions of sheets•Characteristics of graphene sheets affect multiple char properties – surface area, decay resistance, water retention etc.

•Multiple smaller peaks indicate mineral ash compounds, including quartz, carbonate and silicates

Sample pH

Water Content @

105°CHigh Temp

(°C) Notable XRD Observations

Mixed Chip Yard (wood) 8.06 0.00486 448 Quartz signal, well defined graphene signals

Mixed Chip Yard 2nd Run (wood) 7.9 0.00082 505

Quartz signal and small carbonate signal, well defined graphene signals

Hog Fuel (wood) 8.77 0.01922 629Small quartz signal, well defined graphene signals

Hog Fuel and Fines (sawdust) 8.13 0.00587 572

Quartz and carbonate signals, well defined graphene signals

Mixed Chip Yard/Concrete and wood debris 11 0.0083 458

Strong carbonate signal, weakly defined graphene signals

Doug Fir/Manure Pellets 9.36 0.00418 573 Quartz signal, well defined graphene signals

Manure Pellets 10.97 0.0222 555Quartz signal, multiple unidentified signals (potential mineral ash)

Gasification Residue (wood) 11.98 0.02899 700

Strong carbonate signal, multiple unidentified signals (potential mineral ash)

Industrial Boiler Residue (wood) 10.6 0.02751

Strong Quartz Signal, weakly defined graphene signals

Pendleton (unknown feedstock) 9.55 0.04681

Strong quartz signal, multiple unidentified signals (potential mineral ash)

•The four wood chars produced in the pyrolytic retort have the lowest pH values.

Initial Data

Biochar Material Properties

• Physical and Chemical properties depend on feedstock and production conditions

• Properties: surface area, reactivity, stability

Material Screening is Critical—all chars are not created equally

Hazelnut Shell Biochar          Douglas‐Fir Biochar                         Cane Pith

Cane pith image credit: Tseng & Tseng, Journal of Hazardous Materials. 2006  

What does this mean?

• Functional Groups-- on the surface of entrained mineral phases react as amphoteric sites (sites react as both an acid and base)- Alkaline surfaces are negatively charged--Acidic surfaces are positively charged

• Ionic and electrostatic bonding of metals oxides, carbonates, chlorides and phosphates around the organic lattice. (amorphous and crystalline) as separate phases

• oxides and sulphide minerals offer dynamic functional sorption sites-

• Some of these mineral phases are conductors, some semi conductors, or insulators.

• Silicates offer permanently negatively charged sites (basal surface and internal galleries) for bonding of metals

• Carbonate minerals, oxides and sulphide minerals offer dynamic functional sorption sites-Ionic and electrostatic bonding of metals

• Functionalized aromatic molecules (phenols, anilines etc.) also exhibit amphoteric and dynamic sorption behaviors

• All of this matters for enhanced nutrient control/cycling in soil and the trapping of organic and inorganic toxins

General Soil Value physical chemical and biological

Biochar changes the soil structure and texture through changes in physical and chemical properties.

•Increases soil pH•Reduces soil bulk density•Increases soil aeration•Lessens the hardening of soils•Helps to reclaim degraded soils•Increases plant available water•Absorbs and slowly releases fertilizer•Aging and oxidation result in high CEC

Biochar increases soil microbial respiration bycreating space for soil microbes.It increases soil biodiversity and soil-life density in the presence of organic carbon.- Biochar increases arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi. Soil aggregation also improves due to increased fungal hyphae.

Mycorrhizal fungal hyphae growing from spore base invade large charcoal poresOgawa 2004

Porous structure and extremely high surface area- host site for micro flora and fauna

Biochar Markets Ready For Development Soil remediation and stormwater

management– urban– industrial – agriculture – mine tailings – Brownfields/Superfund sites

Horticultural Products– nursery – urban landscaping – community gardens

Turf establishment and maintenance– parks– golf courses – sports fields

Agriculture– soil amendment, e.g. biochar +

digested solids, composting– Nutrient control/exchange/ – Animal bedding and feed

38

Inspecting Seedlings Grown in media with Biochar

Upper series:

pure biochar particles were added in increasing dosage.

Lower series:

biochar composted for 4 months and then cleaned of compost to make sure that only the charged biochar in the experiment

Experiment by Andreas Thomsen

Charge your Char!

RESEARCH - Amended Greenroof Soil w/ Biochar Study

Results 7% biochar by weight to Control Soil

•Nitrate Decrease 79-97%•Total Nitrogen Decrease 87%•Phosphate Decrease 38-43%•Total Phosphorus Decrease 20-52%•Organic Carbon Decrease 67-72%•Water Retention Average Increase 21%

Beck, D, G. Johnson, G. Spolek, 2011. Amending Greenroof soil with biochar to affectrunoff water quantity and quality, Environmental Pollution

Mine tailings stabilization Biochar Solutions www.biocharsolutions.com

After revegetation with PermaMatrix and biochar

Jory clay cut slope where nothing had grown for 10 years.

Biochar Aids Re-vegatation

Sunmark Environmental

Water meets the urban infrastructureAnd our most valuable resource becomes

an urban challenge and a vector for toxins into our watersheds

The general types of stormwater induced contamination fall into four broad categories.

– Turbidity– Metallic and inorganic toxins– Petroleum and other organic toxins– Bacterial contamination

biochar not leached (A.) and after leaching with contaminated soil eluate in a 5 week column leaching test(B.). Note the increase in relative concentrations of elements after leaching, shown by lighter color shades.

Beesley, Marmiroli, 2010

Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image and color coded SEM/EDX dot maps (acquired at 600 frames, for 3 h and 30 min at 180_ magnification; blue for arsenic, green for cadmium and red for zinc)

soil before (A.) and after a 5 week column leaching test (B.). Note the reduction in relative concentrations of elements, especially Cd, after leaching, shown by darker color shades.

Biochar and Water Quality

Intercept -Adsorb-Absorb-Assimilate-Dissimulate• Heavy Metals• Nutrients• Hydrocarbons• Pesticides• Herbicides

Biochar technology use in stormwater treatment is compatible with and builds upon current successfully established systems used in Eco-roofs, greenstreets, raingardens, and storm swale construction particularly helping with plant establishment in these inhospitable environments

Downspout Tote: Biochar Improves Storm Water Clean Up

Pilot study 2014-2015Port of Port Townsend,WA

Parameter (Unit is ug/L)Parts per billion

Copper Lead Zinc

5/8/2014 BioLogical Downspout In 64 3.59 41205/8/2014 BioLogical Downspout Out 3.29 < 1.0 8.55

Percent Removal 94.9% > 72.1% 99.8%5/23/2014 BioLogical Downspout In 74.1 3.01 46805/23/2014 BioLogical Downspout Out 2.06 < 1.0 < 4.0

Percent Removal 97.2% > 66.8% > 99.9%1/22/2015 BioLogical Downspout In 30.5 <1.0 89901/22/2015 BioLogical Downspout Out 3.71 <1.0 13.3

Percent Removal 87.8% ND 99.85%

“The Port couldn’t be happier. The least performing tote showed a 93% reduction rate for Zn. The highest performing tote (which as it would turn out is the pilot tote) reduced a whopping Zn load of 8990 µ/L to 13.3 µ/L or a 99.85% reduction.”

Al Cairns, Environmental Compliance Officer Port of Port Townsend

Date Influent (ppm) Zn

Effluent (ppm) Zn

% Reduction from Filter

9/25/2015 0.962 0.0076 99.2%

10/28/2015 0.992 0.0059 99.4%

1/28/2016 0.755 0.0000 100%

Portland OR 8,000 ft2 metal roof with large amount of air handling equipment. Up-flow filter was installed on 5/29/2016. (8 months prior to the last sample.)

Granular Activated Carbon (GAC)

The GAC treatments had no vertical movement from the

three inch depth layer as shown. There was also no

observed algal growth associated with any of the

GAC replicates

BIOCHARThe biochar treatments all showed a black cloud pattern diffusing in all

directions from the three inch layer. Algal growth was most prevalent in

biochar treatments in association with the black cloud pattern indicating that this amendment has the most available carbon to promote more rapid benthic

recolonization of the cap.

The concentrations in the sand cap were more than fifty times as high as the biochar treatment and more than 20 times higher than the GAC amendment.

Partial list of PAH toxins in SedimentBenzo(a)fluoranthene

Benzo(e)pyreneBenzo(a)pyrenePerylene Indeno

(1,2,3-cd)pyrene Dibenzo(a,h)anthracene

Benzo(g,h,i)perylene2-Methylphenol 4-Methylphenol

2,4-DimethylphenolNaphthalene

Activation and Application of Biochar

Biochar applied to soil should be:• Loaded with nutrients and water • Colonized with microorganisms to ensure the fixed nutrients are more easily

available to plants • Aged/functionalized by oxidation to bring CEC close to its maximum

Activation process requirements• Enough moisture present so that nutrients can dissolve and be imbibed into

the pores of the char • A high diversity of organic nutrients in order to prevent deficiencies• The most important nutrients for microbial colonization are organic carbon

and nitrogen, which are particularly limiting in fresh biochar • The C / N ratio of the biochar-substrate should be 25 to 35 to 1• The duration of the charge should be at least 14 days • Inoculation with soil-borne microbes through the addition of humus-rich soil,

compost tea, compost, or by selected microorganisms

-- Hans-Peter Schmidt –Ithaka Institute Application rates20gal/100ft2 = 10% char/ 6in of soil10gal/100ft2 = 5% char/6in of soil

John Miedema

BioLogical Solutions Inc.Philomath Oregonjmiedema@peak.org541-619-0007