Emerging Commercial Sector
Calculations suggest that emissions reductions can be 12–84% greater if biochar is put back into the soil instead of being burned to offset fossil-fuel use. Thus Biochar sequestration offers the chance to turn bioenergy into a carbon-negative industry.
Johannes Lehmann, of Cornell University, estimates that pyrolysis can be cost-effective for a combination of sequestration and energy production when the cost of a CO2 ton reaches $37. As of mid-February 2010, CO2 is trading at $16.82/ton on the European Climate Exchange (ECX), so using pyrolysis for bioenergy production may be feasible even if it is more expensive than fossil fuels.
Current biochar projects are small scale and make no significant impact on the overall global carbon budget, although expansion of this technique has been advocated as a geoengineering approach. The approach which favors applications that benefit the poorest is gaining traction: in May 2009, the Biochar Fund received a grant from the Congo Basin Forest Fund to implement its concept in Central Africa. In this concept, biochar is a tool used to simultaneously slow down deforestation, increase the food security of rural communities, provide renewable energy to them and sequester carbon.
Various companies in North America, Australia and England sell biochar and/or biochar production units.
The 2009 International Biochar Conference in Boulder, Colorado saw the launch of a mobile pyrolysis unit with a specified intake of 1,000 pounds per hour (450 kg per hour). The unit, with a length of 12 feet and height of 7 feet (3.6 m by 2.1m), was intended for agricultural applications.
A unit which opened in Dunlap, Tennessee in August 2009 after testing and an initial run, was subsequently shut down as part of a Ponzi scheme investigation.
Read more about this topic: Biochar
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