Burying Char - Article

It's interesting to see topics like char for carbon sequestration and biochar for fields slowly find their way into the mainstream.

Of course it's not news to anyone here.

https://www.wired.com/story/why-humans-are-putting-a-bunch-of-coal-and-oil-back-in-the-ground/

This biochar stuff sounds really cool.

Interesting that they mention putting biochar in coal mines, then in landfills, but only after those two putting it in agricultural soil.

Agreed, Mike. They have it backwards.

"Biochar can improve crop yields in some cases!"

Hello, that's the point!

Good to see biochar getting some mainsream attention.
John s
Pdx or

Makes me wonder how one could structure a decentralized market place for carbon sequestration, of I want to make and utilize biochar anyway, would it be advantageous for a company to pay me or a group of people like me for a certain tonnage produced and applied to soil per year...

Devon Olsen wrote:Makes me wonder how one could structure a decentralized market place for carbon sequestration, of I want to make and utilize biochar anyway, would it be advantageous for a company to pay me or a group of people like me for a certain tonnage produced and applied to soil per year...

I vaguely recall it's already out there, but you would need enormous volumes to play in that market. I wonder if a cooperative could gather up enough smaller producers, sell into the industrial-scale system, and dole out some of the rewards. That's how farmers approached grain sales over the last century.

Governments will pay a lot more attention to a cooperative of many biochar producers than to a single gardener or farmer.  It could become a movement!

John S
PDX OR

No mention or Terra Preta in the article...Ah, well, at least it's getting out there, thanks for posting that!

You're certainly starting to see more chatter out there about biochar and carbon credits. I think the big challenge for small producers is that the credit payments won't exactly be big money. I think the average price of carbon credits for a ton of CO2 is around $35. So, $70-$100 for a ton of biochar.

A ton of biochar is....a lot. Yards and yards of biochar. So, I think it'll become a thing. It just might not be a super lucrative thing.

Mike Farmer wrote:A ton of biochar is....a lot. Yards and yards of biochar. So, I think it'll become a thing. It just might not be a super lucrative thing.

Agreed, the primary bulk producers would operate on a slim margin. That's the way it always works.

There's a lot more money in the urban backyard market, but nobody has quite worked out how to make that a movement and scale it up.

I agree with Douglas.  It will work much better selling it to busy professionals who want to improve their garden health and help the planet.  Even just average people who aren't rich but want better lettuce and tomatoes.  Sometimes, like recycling, really great solutions to problems are to get everyone on board with helping a little bit. Then the politicians have to follow our lead.  They get shamed into doing something good for the planet.

John S
PDX OR

At the big end of town, there are the accredited voluntary markets like Puro. They only certify commercial-scale producers and they have life cycle assessment requirements that cover everything from the sourcing of the feedstock, transport and handling, the pyrolysis process itself, and then any transport and logistics involved in getting the biochar to its ultimate destination. Not only does it cost a fair bit to do this, but they then require annual audits and verification. For someone who's cranking out many tons of material, they could get as much as 500 euro per ton...although that's the high end and there appear to be a lot more in the $200-300 range right now. So that's not chump change, but you couldn't base an entire business case on it.

Small producers are pretty much shut out of these schemes because of the high cost of entry. Not only that, but when I've talked to them about certifying methods like flame cap and TLUD production, they aren't interested because there's too much variability and a slack operator could mean material produced that doesn't make the grade.

NB: at a bulk density of 0.2, you'd need 5 cubes of dry biochar to make a metric ton. For me, that's at least 6 burns in my big kontiki, at 4-5 hours each, not including gathering and prepping the feedstock. Although I am massively motivated by the sequestration aspect, it's not a financial driver and the things it's doing for my soil are the real bottom line on the farm here, plus the modest amount I sell out the gate.

I'm thinking if you are a guy with acreage and kind of entrepreneurial, you could talk to some garden stores near your house and set up an arrangement.  You make the biochar, crush and inoculate it and package it and the stores sell it.  Gardening is a huge business in the US, and most gardeners would be just barely learning about biochar and not ready to make it.  They might be willing to buy some.  Then, afterwards, when they realize how expensive it is, some will realize that they could make their own.

John S
PDX OR

I've actually been giving this some thought of late. I think that yes, carbon credits may work for the larger producers and I'm all for it. For the back yard level producer, not sure there's every going to be any money in this. I'd be happy to be proven wrong on that, though.

I think one thing that may be interesting would be combining biochar production with some other topics and perhaps focusing on grants.

Maybe something like an organization with a mobile retort partners with the local DEM to clean up some state land of deadfall, invasive species, or other general dead biomass that would be a fire hazard in state park of some kind.

The organization hires local high school students to help gather and prep feedstock for the retort, and maybe help deal with cooled char and ash. Not suggesting we have kids dealing with hot fire or chainsaws, but doing a lot of the physical, low-skill labor.

They make a few bucks during the summer, get to work outside, learn teamwork, and hopefully learn a bit about biochar, biodiversity, forest management, and a bunch more. The biochar produced could be returned to the soil in the park, or be shared with a local farm....perhaps one that grows food for local food banks or otherwise serves the community.

The value is in the stacking functions - producing biochar, cleaning up waste biomass, educating and employing young people, and potentially contributing to food production.

What would that cost? Not a ton in the big picture. 30 hours a week (6 hours a day x 5 days) for 8 weeks over the summer @ $15/hr? You'd pay 6 kids $21,600. Let's say $25k to keep everyone in cool drinks, pizza/sandwiches, etc.

You'd need a couple more experienced people running chainsaws, chippers, and the retort. You'd need a retort, but that's a one-time cost. So what, $100k for a summer? Less in year 2 unless you buy another retort and double to two "teams". Could you get a grant for that?

Sounds like a lot to us laypeople, but I just read today about a two-year study they're commissioning here in RI to study if it's a bad idea to throw 50% of each squid (all the non-tentacle parts) into the landfill. The cost of the study? $230k.

They think they can make some kind of "frozen squid paste" from some of the unused parts that'd be good for making squid-cakes (like crab cakes). Personally, I'd be feeding that stuff to pigs or chickens or composting it...but what do I know?

Anyway...more random ramblings!

The idea of "Famer's Market Biochar" isn't a bad one for a small producer....especially a small farmer who's already going to be at the farmer's market anyway. Or like someone else said above, partner with a local garden shop or hardware store.

I mean, would someone pay $5 for a paper lunch bag of biochar that comes with a good story (locally produced, small batch, waste materials, etc.)? I'd think probably yes in many areas, especially if they get educated on the value to their own garden.

John Suavecito wrote:I'm thinking if you are a guy with acreage and kind of entrepreneurial, you could talk to some garden stores near your house and set up an arrangement.  You make the biochar, crush and inoculate it and package it and the stores sell it.  Gardening is a huge business in the US, and most gardeners would be just barely learning about biochar and not ready to make it.  They might be willing to buy some.  Then, afterwards, when they realize how expensive it is, some will realize that they could make their own.

So far I've been working with the closest one to me, who happens to be a good friend with a strong permie ethic and a focus on heritage fruit and nut trees. She sells a few bags a month and I've test marketed a few "blends" to see if there was a demand for premium inoculants like fish hydrolysate and micorrhizal fungi (spoiler alert: nope, not for the extra cost).

What I've learned so far is that I need a more robust packaging and labeling solution before I go any further afield, and as soon as I hit all the shops in a one-hour radius that's probably the limit of what I could sustain. Bagging has proven to be more complicated than predicted...the overlocker that I use to stitch the sacks shut is a finicky beast and just filling and closing ten bags is a 15-20 minute chore. I'd use an EV to make my delivery rounds, so the fuel costs are minimal, but I'd have to devote a couple of days a month at minimum just to account service...on top of the making, crushing, inoculating, bagging, etc.

As a side hustle, it's got some attractiveness. But I'm not at a stage where I could service a bunch of retail outlets without taking care of a few dependencies first. I'm far happier when someone turns up with a couple of empty feed sacks or a trailer and I can load them up at the farm gate.