The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported Biochar as a key technology for reaching low carbon dioxide atmospheric concentration targets. The negative emissions that can be produced by Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) has been estimated by the Royal Society to be equivalent to a 50 to 150 ppm decrease in global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Annual net emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide could be reduced by a maximum of 1.8 Pg CO2-C equivalent (CO2-Ce) per year (12% of current anthropogenic CO2-Ce emissions; 1 Pg=1 Gt), and total net emissions over the course of a century by 130 Pg CO2-Ce, without endangering food security, habitat or soil conservation. Wikipedia

Articles tagged with: Australia

30 March 2012

Australia: Biochar enters the marketplace

Posted in News, Biochar, Market, Technology

After years of research and development, the coproduction of biochar and bioenergy in a modern slow-pyrolysis facility, is coming closer to commercial reality in Australia.

By Dr Adriana Downie for Eco Generation magazine March/April 2012.

Pacific Pyrolysis (PacPyro) has been offered $4.5 million by the Victorian Government to pilot a commercial-scale production facility in Melbourne. The project will demonstrate PacPyro’s proprietary technology’s ability to deliver a solution for urban green and wood waste by converting it into renewable electricity and biochar.

24 February 2011

Biochar trials food for thought

Posted in News, Biochar, Science

Biochar researcher Dr Lukas Van Zwieten (right) and senior technical officer Josh Rust with a handful of the black gold.Biochar researchers have expanded their research to around 350 sites on the North Coast, including coffee, macadamia and sugar cane farms.

Principal research scientist Lukas Van Zwieten said trials at the Wollongbar Primary Industries Institute had shown a 100% increase in the production of corn and faba beans and significant increases in nitrogen in the soil, whereas other trials had shown no significant influence from the biochar.

Biochar is a charcoal-like substance made from organic waste that can enhance soil productivity and store carbon.

“Different biochar have different properties depending on the material they are made from and the processing conditions,” he said.