4th Finnish Biochar Seminar

On 11th December 2018, already fourth Finnish Biochar Seminar was held in Viikki, Helsinki. We at AgriChar research group & Finnish Biochar Association were happy to host this, already traditional, event! As usual, the event was a meeting point for networking and hearing the latest research and pilot case highlights from Finnish and Nordic research groups. Historically, we had participants from five countries: all over Finland, but also from Estonia, Sweden, Norway and even from Egypt!

In addition to poster session and demonstration of pyrolysis equipment, we had two sessions of interesting presentations starting from the fact that the biochar literature keeps growing exponentially and by the end of 2018 there will be about 2500 peer-reviewed articles published on "biochar"! That is hundred times more than just ten years ago, meaning that the interest is huge worldwide and several aspects are quite well-researched.

One of the areas where much more research paired with thorough characterization of biochars used is needed is the biochar use in urban ecosystems. This was underlined in several presentations where quite different results were found in terms of the effects of biochar on leaching: some biochar systems acted as sources of several nutrients. One of the highlights of the seminar was the presentation from Stockholm Biochar Project, where the lessons learnt and open discussion about drawbacks experiences in running a full-scale pyrolysis unit in a city were greatly appreciated by the audience. Another fascinating topic was the newly established Nordic Biochar Network (http://www.nordicbiochar.org/), presented by Kathrin Weber from Norway, and several participants of the Seminar were eager to join that network as well.

We are grateful to all the presenters for high-quality presentations!

The proceedings can be found below:

•      “Biochar in Finland: state of art 2018, results from AgriChar research group experiments, overview of Finnish Biochar Association”

Adj. Prof. Priit Tammeorg, University of Helsinki, President of the Finnish Biochar Association

• “Biochar research at Luke – Mobile Flip and other ongoing projects”

                           Dr. Helena Soinne, Natural Resources Institute Finland

•  “Effects of biochar on fluxes and turnover of carbon in boreal forest soils”

                           Prof. Jukka Pumpanen, University of Eastern Finland

•  “Biochar as a possible new tool for reforestation practices”

                           Dr. Egle Köster, University of Helsinki

•  “Nordic Biochar Network”

                           Dr. Kathrin Weber, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

• “Mitigating nutrient and metal leaching from urban green infrastructure by using biochar?“

Adj. Prof. Kirsi Kuoppamäki, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki

•  “Stockholm Biochar Project: Lessons Learnt”

               Mr. Mattias Gustafsson, EcoTopic, Sweden

•    “Biochar applications in Finnish cities and municipalities “

Mr. Esko Salo, School of Business and Economics, University of Jyväskylä

•  “Water treatment plans and sites in which biochar is used”

                           Dr. Marjo Valtanen, Ramboll Oy

• “The biochar market in Finland, preliminary study for local use”

                           Mrs. Marketta Nummijärvi, Kauhajoki municipality