Biochar Production and Utilization Summary
1) What is Biochar
Biochar is a charcoal-like substance that’s made by burning organic material from agricultural and forestry wastes (also called biomass) in a controlled process called pyrolysis. Biochar is by far more efficient at converting carbon into a stable form and is cleaner than other forms of charcoal. Biochar’s chemical composition varies depending on the feedstocks used to make it and methods used to heat it.
2) Two bio-char plants planned for Canada:
Planned start date of production info: 01/07/2022
BC Bio-Carbon is offering to sell the CORC for 117 € for one tonne of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e). One tonne of dry forestry residues is estimated to produce 0.3 tonnes of biochar. One tonne of biochar is estimated to be about equivalent to about 2.3 tonnes of CO2e. Therefore, this means they may earn 0.3 x 2.3 x 117 € = 80.7 € per tonne of dry forestry residues = CA$116 per tonne of dry forestry residues.
Related Technical Paper: Greenhouse gas lifecycle assessment of biochar and biocoal applications in British Columbia (doi:10.24124/2018/58978)
b) Char Technologies Ltd. is planning a $20m plant in Kirkland Lake, Ontario that would produce natural gas from bio-mass and bio-char. This biochar can be used to increase the productivity of soil for growing food and enable the soil to be more resilient to droughts due to its increased water-retaining capacity. As well, it can be further enhanced by co-composting it with animal manure and/or food waste. If it is done, it will further increase the productivity of soil for growing food. For more information on how to enhance biochar with organics, see: biochar inoculation recipe by AirTerra.
3) AirTerra produces premium bio-char product called Soil Matrix. (For more info, see Diane Saxe’s Podcast Preview on Youtube about AirTerra; Google Podcast)
4) Stripe Climate facilitates premium prices for carbon capture to support the development of these technologies.
5) Bio Char Suppliers And Manufacturers – https://biochar-us.org/suppliers-and-manufacturers
6) Companies can be paid for carbon capture through Puro Earth, which is now owned by Nasdaq
7) To be paid for carbon capture, a project needs to be certified and monitored. Given below are some monitoring agencies and consultants:
d) Video by Puro Earth: How third-party verification of carbon removal works – VIDEO
– 200+ companies committed to NetZero Carbon by 2040
– 21% of 2,000 of the world’s largest public companies, representing sales of nearly $14 trillion, now have net zero commitments by 2050
10) Combining technologies to generate reliable power and create negative emissions at the same time:
Rapid advances in technologies in power generation with carbon capture, direct air capture (DAC), energy storage and renewable energy is creating a major new opportunity for countries to reduce their respective emissions and grow their economies at the same time. If implemented on a large-scale, this combination of technologies can help Canada lower the carbon footprint of its electric grids. Given below is a simplified schematic of this combination of technologies: