https://www.invw.org/2021/05/12/seed-the-north-fighting-climate-change-one-sprout-at-a-time/
Seed The North: Fighting Climate Change, One Sprout At A Time. “We need to take a fundamentally different approach if we are to make a statistically significant difference for the sequestration of carbon,” says Natasha Kuperman. Biochar is a new approach that she is taking to seed germination.
Kuperman aims to encase seeds in biochar, a forest industry byproduct she calls ‘black, shiny gold’ for its ability to foster germination. (Amanda Follett Hosgood photo for The Tyee)
U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell's 'biochar' bill intended to clean up forests, reduce emissions. U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-NM) introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives she said she hoped would cut down on greenhouse gas emissions while assisting with agriculture and forest management. The bill known as the Biochar Innovation and Opportunities for Conservation, Health and Advancement in Research Act of 2021 would establish a demonstration project and grant program for the use of biochar in land management activities.
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/04/major-parties-climate-programs-are-miles-apart/
Biochar is Bipartisan. Climate legislation being proposed in Congress reveals that natural climate solutions, like biochar, are enjoying bipartisan support.
http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/17982/us-forest-service-funds-wood-energy-projects
US Forest Service funds wood energy and biochar projects. The USDA has awarded more than $15 million to fund grant proposals to develop and expand the use of wood products, including several biochar projects.
https://www.producer.com/news/alberta-research-projects-approved/
Alberta research projects funded. Research projects looking at a range of topics from climate change to addressing soil and fertilizer inefficiencies with biochar will receive funding from Alberta’s Results Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR) fund through its Accelerating Agricultural Innovations program.
Clean Energy Technologies to develop $15M biomass renewable energy project. A Massachusetts project will convert forest biomass waste products to renewably generated electricity and biochar, using the high temperature ablative fast pyrolysis reactor (HTAP Biomass Reactor).
https://www.producer.com/news/economics-of-unproductive-land-reconsidered/
Economics of unproductive land reconsidered. Sloughs and wetlands don’t grow crops, but they act as “buckets” to capture spring moisture, slowly giving up their contents over the growing season to benefit crops. Their willows can be harvested too, for bioenergy or biochar – or both.
https://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/master-gardener-gardening-in-a-drought-year/
Master Gardener prescribes biochar in a drought year. Help your plants maintain their current growth without need for excess water by using natural amendments like compost and biochar. These amendments will retain the moisture within the soil.
Maine blueberries can’t take the heat. Researchers say that irrigation is not a good solution as water becomes scarcer. Compost, mulch, and biochar can help, but they must be affordable and doable for growers.
https://www.golfcourseindustry.com/article/research-curiosity-hoban-dinelli/
From the Amazon to your golf course. Phytobiomes, biochar and nanotechnology inspire researchers to improve the turf. It’s all about aeration and microbes. “Biochar has some chemical components and the ability to hold nutrients with the water and air,” said Dan Dinelli, supervisor at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Illinois.
https://www.growingproduce.com/fruits/why-grape-growers-are-turning-to-biochar-for-vine-growth/
Biochar boosts bottom line on wine. Vineyard expert Doug Beck has been trialing biochar and compost treatments with encouraging results. The total biochar cost was $200 per ton or $2,000 per acre, Beck says. The yield increase in the third leaf, the first year of production, was 1.3 tons per acre. At a grape price of $2,000 per ton, that’s additional revenue of $2,600 per acre.
Monterey Pacific’s Doug Beck (left) and Milt McGiffen of UC Riverside walk the Oasis Vineyard in Salinas Valley. Photo by Raymond Baltar
https://grist.org/fix/wlic-indigenous-insights-carbon-capture-rock-dust-climate-solution/
Compost, rock dust and biochar could be recipe for success. UC Davis, farmers and tribal members are testing new combinations based on enhanced weathering of rock dust to absorb and sequester carbon in farmland.
Olivine rock dust is applied at the WLIC site on UC Davis’s campus corn field. Iris Holzer
https://www.cdrecycler.com/article/seeing-the-possibilities/
With biochar, what goes in the landfill stays in the landfill. Wood recyclers have begun to explore converting waste wood into biochar. When waste gypsum fines were blended with biochar, H2S levels were uniformly below detection in the field tests. Biochar works on PFAS too, reducing levels found in leachate by 80%.
Can sewage sludge be safely pyrolyzed? Engineers say that toxic PFAS in sludge is not a problem for a proposed gasification facility in Massachussetts. Any PFAS not destroyed by high heat will be absorbed by biochar that gets locked up in a concrete product. Testing and monitoring are needed to verify the claims.
https://www.wastetodaymagazine.com/article/rehrig-milwaukee-sustainable-carts/
Pork project. Montauk Renewables plans to convert swine lagoon waste in North Carolina into renewable natural gas (RNG), bio-oil and biochar.
Activated carbon made from corn stover filters 98% of water pollutants. Engineers at UC Riverside show how corn stover is turned to biochar, then to activated carbon for water filtration.
Texas killer algae could be arrested with biochar. Toxic cyanobacteria in Central Texas lakes has been killing doggy swimmers. The City of Austin is considering a biochar solution.
“You can think of them almost as a giant Brita filter,” said Emilie Cademartori, the Conservation Commission’s director of planning and conservation. “As the water flows through it, it filters nutrients that allow algae to bloom in the pond. The idea is that you can reduce some of the incoming nutrients. It should help.”