The field of biochar is changing rapidly
and the newest developments and ideas are exchanged in conferences. I have listed a selection of both previous and upcoming conferences to this site and will try to keep this list up to date. If you know a conference that is not yet listed here, but should be,
please contact me!
I would also like to invite you all to the Joint International Biochar Symposium 2015 in September 2015, as this is the final conference of the Biochar COST Action and unites the two often separated, co-existing “worlds” of practitioners,
stakeholders and applicants with biochar scientists for inspiring
exchange.
Thursday, 4 June 2015
Tuesday, 3 March 2015
The quality of biochar and how to engineer the biochar needed for a specific purpose?
The biochar research has grown almost exponentially within the past ten years:
Similarly, the industry is growing globally (large-scale European examples being the Sonnenerde in Austria and RPK Hiili OY in Mikkeli, Finland). While Sonnenerde is already a well-known producer of growth media, composts and EBC-certified biochar (see their PR video in English here), the largest charcoal producer in Finland, RPK Hiili OY has also sold several tens of truckloads of their biochar for soil amendment purposes. For example, the City of Stockholm has been using their biochar as a soil amendment for tree-planting for years with great results (see the recent article in Nature about it under Biochar publications as well as the story in the magazine Ekoelo (1/2015)).
With both the research and industry of biochar use as a soil amendment growing, more and more effort is put also to the classification and certification of the product. Both the IBI's biochar certificate and the European Biochar Certificate (EBC) have been under development already for a couple of years. While the IBI Biochar Certification Program is a voluntary, self-certifying, biochar certification program administered by the International Biochar Initiative (IBI), the EBC is coordinated throughout Europe by the independent quality assurance agency q.inspecta, with inspections of production plants in individual countries carried out by independent national inspection agencies. Inspections take place once a year. Producers confirm that they will keep up-to-date production records. The EBC aims to enable and guarantee sustainable biochar production and to give customers a reliable quality basis. Furthermore, it also aims at providing a firm state-of-the-art knowledge transfer as a sound basis for future EU legislation.
The certified biochars will be more uniform in their nature, for instance, the EBC has a positive list for feedstock, meaning that the carbonaceous material produced from old car tires does not qualify as biochar. Same story with charcoal burnt for energy production (e.g. Torrec and BalBic) as it is then not used in a way that "that does not involve its rapid mineralisation to CO2" and does not allow the material to "eventually become a soil amendment".
But even when certified with the EBC/IBI certificate, the variety between biochars produced from different biomasses under different pyrolysis conditions remains notable. The established hypothesis in the literature is that the selection of peak pyrolysis temperature and feedstock material – as two key production variables – fundamentally affects resulting biochar properties. Even though numerous studies during the past decade have been trying to identify the relationships between production variables and biochar properties (e.g., Zhu et al., 2005, Gaskin et al., 2008, Nguyen and Lehmann, 2009, Cao and Harris, 2010, Joseph et al., 2010, Keiluweit et al., 2010, Cao et al., 2011, Cross and Sohi, 2011, Hossain et al., 2011, Mukherjee et al., 2011, Enders et al., 2012, Rajkovich et al., 2012 and Zhao et al., 2013), the small number of samples analyzed has hindered the quantitative understanding of the relationships between production variables and biochar properties.
The recent study by Verónica L. Morales et al. (2015) makes a giant leap towards closing this gap. As the title Reverse engineering of biochar suggests, this paper underpins quantitative relationships that account for the combined effects that starting biomass and peak pyrolysis temperature have on physico-chemical properties of biochar. For this purpose they used meta-data from published data of diverse biochar samples (n = 102). In addition to the networks of intercorrelated properties and models predicting biochar properties, they have developed also a free web-tool Biochar Engineering implementing the derived models to maximize their utility and distribution. Using this web-tool, it is possible to "design" the biochar that would best suit certain purposes, be it liming acidic soils or fertilization soils with nutrients, high specific surface area or maximum C-sequestration potential (the fixed-C content).
Naturally, this is just the first step along the lines of being able to predict the properties of the biochar, the range of temperatures as well as feedstocks that the model is based on, are limited, but it definitely is the way forward for the biochar research and industry. And the tools seems reasonably accurate in terms of the biochars I have been using in my experiments, especially regarding to the C content and SSA.
With both the research and industry of biochar use as a soil amendment growing, more and more effort is put also to the classification and certification of the product. Both the IBI's biochar certificate and the European Biochar Certificate (EBC) have been under development already for a couple of years. While the IBI Biochar Certification Program is a voluntary, self-certifying, biochar certification program administered by the International Biochar Initiative (IBI), the EBC is coordinated throughout Europe by the independent quality assurance agency q.inspecta, with inspections of production plants in individual countries carried out by independent national inspection agencies. Inspections take place once a year. Producers confirm that they will keep up-to-date production records. The EBC aims to enable and guarantee sustainable biochar production and to give customers a reliable quality basis. Furthermore, it also aims at providing a firm state-of-the-art knowledge transfer as a sound basis for future EU legislation.
The certified biochars will be more uniform in their nature, for instance, the EBC has a positive list for feedstock, meaning that the carbonaceous material produced from old car tires does not qualify as biochar. Same story with charcoal burnt for energy production (e.g. Torrec and BalBic) as it is then not used in a way that "that does not involve its rapid mineralisation to CO2" and does not allow the material to "eventually become a soil amendment".
But even when certified with the EBC/IBI certificate, the variety between biochars produced from different biomasses under different pyrolysis conditions remains notable. The established hypothesis in the literature is that the selection of peak pyrolysis temperature and feedstock material – as two key production variables – fundamentally affects resulting biochar properties. Even though numerous studies during the past decade have been trying to identify the relationships between production variables and biochar properties (e.g., Zhu et al., 2005, Gaskin et al., 2008, Nguyen and Lehmann, 2009, Cao and Harris, 2010, Joseph et al., 2010, Keiluweit et al., 2010, Cao et al., 2011, Cross and Sohi, 2011, Hossain et al., 2011, Mukherjee et al., 2011, Enders et al., 2012, Rajkovich et al., 2012 and Zhao et al., 2013), the small number of samples analyzed has hindered the quantitative understanding of the relationships between production variables and biochar properties.
The recent study by Verónica L. Morales et al. (2015) makes a giant leap towards closing this gap. As the title Reverse engineering of biochar suggests, this paper underpins quantitative relationships that account for the combined effects that starting biomass and peak pyrolysis temperature have on physico-chemical properties of biochar. For this purpose they used meta-data from published data of diverse biochar samples (n = 102). In addition to the networks of intercorrelated properties and models predicting biochar properties, they have developed also a free web-tool Biochar Engineering implementing the derived models to maximize their utility and distribution. Using this web-tool, it is possible to "design" the biochar that would best suit certain purposes, be it liming acidic soils or fertilization soils with nutrients, high specific surface area or maximum C-sequestration potential (the fixed-C content).
Naturally, this is just the first step along the lines of being able to predict the properties of the biochar, the range of temperatures as well as feedstocks that the model is based on, are limited, but it definitely is the way forward for the biochar research and industry. And the tools seems reasonably accurate in terms of the biochars I have been using in my experiments, especially regarding to the C content and SSA.
Thursday, 30 October 2014
The Biochar Journal (tBJ) is online now!
The authors of the popular Ithaka-journal have widened their focus and in co-operation with the American biochar enthusiasts, the first international journal dedicated to biochar is online now!
The Biochar Journal will provide relevant, cutting edge research and practical guidance showing how the use of biochar and other climate friendly techniques can not only boost economic and environmental resilience but also regenerate local, regional and global ecosystems. Biochar in agriculture, livestock farming, building industry, brownfield and habitat remediation, desert reforestation, disaster management, water treatment, reusable packaging, electronics and much more will be unfolded in the Biochar Journal.
The Biochar Journal will provide relevant, cutting edge research and practical guidance showing how the use of biochar and other climate friendly techniques can not only boost economic and environmental resilience but also regenerate local, regional and global ecosystems. Biochar in agriculture, livestock farming, building industry, brownfield and habitat remediation, desert reforestation, disaster management, water treatment, reusable packaging, electronics and much more will be unfolded in the Biochar Journal.
Friday, 7 June 2013
Biochar papers from Finland
Biochar
has been intensively studied in Finland during past couple of years,
resulting in constantly increasing number of peer-reviewed papers
published. In order to make it easier to find the papers, we have listed
the Finnish biochar articles on this page, sorted by date of
publishing. We have chosen the papers that fulfill the following criteria:
a) the papers target biochar use as a soil amendment material
b) the papers have been published in peer-reviewed journals
c) the research is conducted in Finland.
Should you know biochar papers from Finland that have not yet been added to the list, please contact us!
a) the papers target biochar use as a soil amendment material
b) the papers have been published in peer-reviewed journals
c) the research is conducted in Finland.
Should you know biochar papers from Finland that have not yet been added to the list, please contact us!
Monday, 18 February 2013
2nd Nordic Biochar Seminar
95 participants from 14 countries, 30 oral presentations and 35 poster presentations-this was the 2nd Nordic Biochar Seminar, held in Helsinki at 14-15 February 2013!
The University of Helsinki Biochar team is proud to have hosted this milestone event in biochar research in Northern Europe! Additionally, we are very happy that the conference brought together people from all over the world, from India to Canada, in addition to European countries!
Many of the presentations and posters can be accessed here.
Furthermore, in December 2013 the international peer-reviewed open access journal Agricultural and Food Science has published the Biochar Special Section (Vol 22, No 4 2013) based on the papers submitted by the seminar participants. More information can be found on their website.
The University of Helsinki Biochar team is proud to have hosted this milestone event in biochar research in Northern Europe! Additionally, we are very happy that the conference brought together people from all over the world, from India to Canada, in addition to European countries!
Many of the presentations and posters can be accessed here.
Furthermore, in December 2013 the international peer-reviewed open access journal Agricultural and Food Science has published the Biochar Special Section (Vol 22, No 4 2013) based on the papers submitted by the seminar participants. More information can be found on their website.
Friday, 11 November 2011
1. Nordic Biochar Seminar, Oslo, Norway
Two conference days, four sessions, 16 oral presentations and two poster sessions together with panel discussion- that was the First Nordic Biochar Conference, a milestone event of biochar research in Nordic countries! The conference brought together researchers from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and UK to share their experiences and first stunning results on possibilities and constraints in temperate climate.
The University of Helsinki Biochar research team thanks Bioforsk and especially Mr. Adam O'Toole for his dedication for organizing the conference and making it possible for us to share our first results!
The conference presentations are available in their website.
Monday, 13 June 2011
3rd UK Biochar Conference 2011
More than 150 researchers, practitoners, government officials, companies, social enterprises and NGOs met in Edinburgh on the 24 - 26th May for the the 3rd UK Biochar Conference. One third of the delegates attended from outside of the UK (those who were able to find their way around the ash clouds from Icelandic volcano).
The conference was preceded by an official unveiling of new pilot-scale 'specified biochar' production
pyrolysis facility at the UKBRC on the 24th of May. On 25th and 26th of May, about 20 oral presentations as well as more than 50 posters of latest biochar research were presented.
The meeting was an important milestone for both the UK and global biochar communities and a report on the event is in preparation which will be able available on this website in due course. The conference was covered live and webstreamed, courtesy of Environment and Sustainability Knowledge Transfer Network (ESKTN). The link can be accessed from here.
Many of the presentations given in the conference will be published in special issue of a scientific journal, "Earth & Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh", expected to be out in mid-2012.
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
2nd Finnish Biochar seminar
University of Helsinki Biochar Research group is pleased to have held the 2nd Finnish Biochar Seminar, in Viikki Science Library, Helsinki, February 14, 2011. The seminar included 14 oral presentations and invaluable discussion opportunities to all Finnish as well as Estonian Biochar researchers.
Thank you to all those who attended and presented your work. We have posted all the presentations to special page in this blog (see "2nd Finnish Biochar Seminar"). Although most of the presentations were held in Finnish, hopefully guests interested in them will be able to understand their content.
Thank you to all those who attended and presented your work. We have posted all the presentations to special page in this blog (see "2nd Finnish Biochar Seminar"). Although most of the presentations were held in Finnish, hopefully guests interested in them will be able to understand their content.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
3rd International Biochar Conference
3rd International Biochar Conference was held in Rio de Janeiro, September 12 – 15, 2010. The conference ran over the course of four days and included 85 oral presentations and approximately 85 poster presentations, ample networking opportunities, side meetings, discussion groups, display booths, and a field trip opportunity to see the famous Terra Preta sites in the Amazon. The conference featured internationally-renowned speakers—who covered all aspects of biochar including production and utilization systems, field trials, commercial and user experience, policy, education, new research, Terra Preta, and future trends.
Many of the presentations given in the conference will be published in special issue of a scientific journal, Brazilian Agricultural Research (PAB), expected to be out in mid-2011.
Till then, please have a look of a collection of presentations and posters presented in the conference on the official website.
Many of the presentations given in the conference will be published in special issue of a scientific journal, Brazilian Agricultural Research (PAB), expected to be out in mid-2011.
Till then, please have a look of a collection of presentations and posters presented in the conference on the official website.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Welcome to new Biochar blog!
Dear guest!
It is my pleasure to welcome you to our new blog on behalf of University of Helsinki Biochar team. This blog is created in order to share the knowledge on Biochar, and especially agricultural use of it (AgriChar). This promising black material has been used for agricultural purposes for over 2000 years, being once recognized as even more valuable than gold. We hope to share here news and links from all over the world, contributing so to the spreading of understanding of biochar practices.
On behalf of University of Helsinki biochar team,
Priit
It is my pleasure to welcome you to our new blog on behalf of University of Helsinki Biochar team. This blog is created in order to share the knowledge on Biochar, and especially agricultural use of it (AgriChar). This promising black material has been used for agricultural purposes for over 2000 years, being once recognized as even more valuable than gold. We hope to share here news and links from all over the world, contributing so to the spreading of understanding of biochar practices.
On behalf of University of Helsinki biochar team,
Priit
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