To 12 percent of emissions of greenhouse gases caused by humans worldwide could be offset so sustainable through the production of biochar, a charcoal-like substance made of vegetables and other organic materials. This is more than could be offset if the same plants and materials to be burned for energy. This is indicated by results of a new study.
These calculations show that biochar can play an important role in the fight against global climate change. "Biochar offers one of the few ways to get energy while reducing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. And improving food production in poorer regions the world by increasing soil fertility, "says one of the study's authors, Jim Amonette, a chemist specializing in soils, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
The study is the most thorough and comprehensive analysis conducted to date on the global potential of biochar. In 1993, the substance was first suggested as a way to counter climate change. Scientists and government authorities have paid increasing attention in recent years.The new study has been carried out by Dominic Woolf and Alayne Street-Perrott, University of Swansea in Wales, United Kingdom, Johannes Lehmann of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Stephen Joseph, University of New South Wales, Australia, and Amonette.
Biochar is produced by decomposing plant biomass, including wood and other organic materials, high temperature, in a process called pyrolysis lenta.En normal conditions, the biomass decomposes and releases its carbon into the atmosphere within a decade or two. But the biochar is more stable and can retain its carbon for hundreds or even thousands of years, delaying the release to the atmosphere of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
Other benefits of biochar include: An improvement of the soil by increasing the ability of it to conserve water and nutrients, reducing emissions of nitrous oxide and methane from the soil, and during the slow pyrolysis process, the production of some biofuels may help offset greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.
For more information: http://www.scitech-news.com/2010/08/charcoal-takes-some-heat-off-global.html
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