https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/16353-opinion-one-critical-step-to-limit-warming-to-15-degrees
Opinion: One Critical Step to Limit Warming to 1.5 Degrees. Chuck Hassebrook, leader of the Biochar Policy Project of the National Center for Appropriate Technology, says: “The IPPC has made clear that carbon removal is imperative. There is now a window of opportunity to advance federal policy to address climate. We must seize the opportunity to advance biochar as the most promising agricultural strategy for carbon sequestration and a critical step to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.”
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/571461-our-food-supply-is-under-threat-from-climate-extremes-congress
Congress Must Act to Save our Food from Climate Extremes. Benjamin Z. Houlton, Dean of Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, calls on Congress to increase agriculture research funding to address climate change and food security. One promising avenue is to use biochar to increase carbon sequestration in soils and improve crop yields.
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2021/08/sustainably-harness-cow-manures-usefulness-fire-it
Cashing in on Cow Manure. Researchers at Cornell are growing great crops with charred cow manure, and show how saving nitrogen by charring the dairy waste can save farmers money: The available dairy waste in New York, if pyrolyzed, is equivalent to 11,732 to 42,232 metric tons of nitrogen, valued at $6 million to $21.5 million annually. This can satisfy 23% to 82% of New York State’s nitrogen fertilizer needs.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000z6x8
Can this Ancient Process Help Bring New Hope? Listen to this BBC podcast to hear from biochar pioneer and USBI board member Josiah Hunt. Hunt supplies biochar to customers across California, and says that along with capturing carbon and improving the soils, his company is removing liability wood to reduce forest fires and helping to produce green electricity.
https://crosscut.com/environment/2021/09/nonprofit-finds-hope-against-wildfires-unexpected-ally-charcoal
Forest to Farm Group Finds Hope against Wildfires with Biochar. Through C6 Forest to Farm, a nonprofit they founded last year, the McCoys plan to accelerate forest restoration by creating a market for the small-diameter trees that are a symptom of unhealthy forests and fuel for giant fires. They’ll make biochar from trees cut down during forest thinning. In doing so, the couple hope to reduce emissions created by raging wildfires and the burning of slash piles.
https://www.ncat.org/biochar-policy-project-aims-to-scale-up-rural-climate-solution/
Biochar Policy Project Aims to Scale Up Rural Climate Solution. Blackfoot watershed landowners, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, recently received a $288,000 grant from the State of Montana Forest Action Plan to reduce the risk of severe wildfire around rural communities. About 1400 tons of unmarketable materials such as tree tops, limbs and small diameter trees, which traditionally would have been burned on site, will be turned into biochar through a pilot project using various technologies.
https://www.slugmag.com/community/activism-outreach-education/gobiochar-climate-resilience-and-restoration-using-biochar/
GoBiochar: Climate Resilience and Restoration Using Biochar. In Utah, GoBiochar’s John Webster is building a successful biochar business by telling stories: “We have to begin telling the story of using the resources we already have above ground.” Webster wants to reach the generations who will have to deal with the serious repercussions of climate change. “Instead of shouting in the wind about climate frustrations, they can get their hands on things and know that they are making a real impact,” Webster says.
https://bangordailynews.com/2021/08/20/news/1st-tenant-at-former-east-millinocket-mill-would-use-12000-tons-of-wood-chips-a-year/
Biochar Displaces Paper as Use for Wood Chips. Standard Biocarbon is starting up operations to make biochar at a former paper mill in Maine. The company will convert 12,000 tons of wood chips into 3,000 tons per year of biochar. “There’s more demand for carbon removals now than there is for paper,” said CEO Frederick Horton.
https://www.wwdmag.com/biosolids-management/addressing-impacts-pfas-biosolids
Pyrolysis and PFAS. Water and Wastes Digest offers this overview of PFAS in biosolids. Heat can destroy these persistent organic pollutants, but high temperatures are a must, making high temperature gasification the most likely method to generate useful, clean biochar from biosolids.