Study Finds Biochar Could Offset Greenhouse Gas Emissions

A study funded by the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture,  a New York state agency, the National Environmental Research Council in the United Kingdom and VenEarth Group LLC found that biochar could offset up to 1.8 billion metric tons annually of human caused greenhouse gas emissions, according to The News Tribune.

Biochar, is a charcoal like substance "created by pyrolysis of biomass, and differs from charcoal only in the sense that its primary use is not for fuel, but for biosequestration or atmospheric carbon capture and storage." For more information on Biochar, click here.

Biochar "can also be used to improve poor soils and help it hold water, which can boost production of food crops."  Additionally, the process used to make biochar "yields energy and bio-oil that can be used a fuel."  It is versatile in that it can be produced on large or small scales and its "largest potential is as a tool to stabilize carbon from common sources, such as plants and wood or animal waste."

Jim Amonette, a soil chemist at Pacific Northwestern National Laboratory and study co-author, said that biochar presents "one of the few ways we can create power while decreasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.  And it improves food production in the world's poorest regions by increasing soil fertility."

The full biochar study is available here.
To read The News Tribune Story, click here.

Posted: 08/17/2010