Lawrence,
Thats absolutely not true. Biochar is about making heat from pyrolysis, heating biomas to get the biomas to off gas, burning in a non oxygen environment. The heated gasses can then be burned, and the heat from that be used for things that we need heat for, cooking, space heating, water heating, running a sterling engine, etc. The "bad" gases are burned off, and what is left behind is the carbon, which has a lot of surface area for your soil bacteria and fungi. Its like an apartment building for mocrorganisms, and greatly aids in fertility. The carbon applied to the soil is very stable, and will be effectively removed from the atmosphere for a long time.
We are working on developing a home stove at low cost for families who burn wood for cooking here in southern Belize. This is an alternative for rural people who cannot afford the natural gas/propane/butane/fossil fuel that people in more developed countries use. We have a design that uses a 55 gallon drum and a welded old propane tank. Total cost? About USD75, less than the price of two full tanks of propane, and it gives heat for cooking, has fairly complete combustion, and leaves us with carbon to bury in the soil. This is not an industrial byproduct, or a way to make money. It is a way for small farmers to improve their soils while sequestering carbon (generated in natural gas/propane/butane/fossil fuel run stoves, for example), while getting the heat they need to do their cooking.
Again, I suggest anyone considering the merits, or lack of, of biochar, to read Albert Bates book, "The Biochar Solution". That is one way to become an informed person on the subject.
Christopher
On Nov 14, 2011, at 11:01 PM, Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:
On 11/14/2011 5:31 PM, John D'hondt wrote:
They don't yet know how it works? But they are already telling everybody how
to make it? Burning the planet to cool it?
If it were not for the very name which comes under the heading of
"new-speak" in Brave New World more people might wonder if it worked at all
as do I. Bio means life and char means coal and freedom is slavery and war
is peace.
Its all about using an industrial (probably wasteful and polluting
processes) byproduct to create another product to market for high dollar.
It does not make any sense to char biomass to make charcoal that then
must be pulverized and field spread (often using fossil fuel) when all
that needs to be done is to allow weeds to control weeds, crimp or roll
them to make a semi living mulch that controls weeds, adds seeds and
organic matter to soil to increase OM and eventually humus while
significantly building soil quality and productive capacity.
Thumbs up for notill agriculture (and minimum till).
LL
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_____________________________
Christopher Nesbitt
Maya Mountain Research Farm
San Pedro Columbia, Toledo
PO 153 Punta Gorda Town, Toledo
BELIZE,
Central America
www.mmrfbz.org
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