About biochar

What is biochar?

“Sensible waste-handling, sustainable agriculture and a solution to climate crises meet in the form of biochar.”

Biochar is a matter produced using waste that improves the conditions in soil, retains nutrients and water, eliminates toxins, and can be used in concrete, polymers or fabrics. Biochar eliminates carbon dioxide, hence negative emissions. Does it sound too good to be true? Well, read on to find out just how good it is.

Properties

Biochar is a fascinating substance and thousands of scientists study its properties all around the world.

The plainest definition of biochar says that it’s an inert (= chemically inactive) carbonised biomass. Another definition puts it to be a stable substance with an activated high surface area produced by means of pyrolysis. There are numerous definitions. The pivotal information is that biochar does not serve the purpose of fuel. This differentiates biochar from coal, other than that these two share most properties. Biochar will not be produced from materials that aren’t waste, and will be produced using pyrolysis with temperatures above 350 °C.

There are different resources to make biochar and the resulting biochar differs from the others on behalf of its resource. Nevertheless, some biochar properties are the same for all biochar:

high in carbon dioxide, the degree of carbon presence varies: wheat straw biochar is below 50%, wood biochar reaches 70-90% of weight; different kinds of biochar suit different requirements of the end product, therefore it doesn’t follow that the more carbon the better
chemically stable, has low reactivity with compounds around
highly porose; has activated high surface area mostly between 100-600 m2/g; the record of activated high surface area is often overrated or misinterpreted; what’s imperative is knowledge that biochar is able to retain water due to its high porosity; biochar can hold five times its weight of water; hence nearly 750 litres of water fits in 1 square metre of biochar with no alteration to its volume
cation exchange chromatography is high
retains soluble nutrients in soil, lowers fertiliser usage of 15% (for nitrogen) and nearly 45% (for phosphorus)
enhances soil longevity owing to its porosity and surface area diversity

Production

Biochar is made by heating organic matter in a low-oxygen environment. There are many ways to make biochar and new ones still crop up. These ways vary from a basic hole in the ground or steel tubs to gigantic industrial plants that cost over tens of million Czech Crowns. It’s clear that each technology has its advantages and disadvantages and each suits a different environment.It wouldn’t do to dismiss the basic ways of making biochar: if procedures are followed, a supreme biochar can be made and used in agriculture with minimal budget to cover implementation. But this method requires a fair amount of hands-on work.
The advanced industrial methods ensure more homogenous results and in greater volumes, too, and capacity for residual heat use.

The method notwithstanding, the process of making biochar remains the same: biomass heated with virtually no air present vaporises unstable materials and reforms the original carbon structure. A portion of carbon vanishes as what we call syngas and the rest remains locked inside the resulting biochar. Syngas can be further processed or used, which makes biochar even more desirable.

As mentioned, it’s vital that clean waste matter is used and procedures are followed, otherwise toxins can be expected to occur in biochar. For instance if polluted waste matter is used (such as pallets treated with methyl bromide or similar toxic chemicals, a sedimentation basin with remains of sediment, etc), this may almost surely mean presence of toxic heavy metals in the biomass to be used to make biochar. Similarly, if procedures aren’t followed, biochar may be found to contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Unfortunately, this cannot be monitored unless lab tests are carried out to reveal their presence.

Use

If shelved, you made sure your biochar has met its purpose. This way, you have prevented a piece of biomass from decomposition and carbon release into the planet’s atmosphere. The climate thanks you.
Beside this, there is a whole range of fabulous uses for biochar.

Agriculture

The longest tradition of using biochar is in agriculture. Owing to its high porosity and chemical stability, biochar is able to retain heaps of water and nutrients and progressively dose it to the plant root system in the soil. Consequently, it decreases two things: fertiliser dosage, hence cost, and the hazard of eutrophication of water bodies (= algae that feed on nutrients accumulated in water).
Besides, the presence of biochar ensures clay soils are airier and less heavy. It creates great conditions for microorganism life, increases pH and boosts natural soil conditioning and life. You’re welcome!

Gardening

We can all agree that soil that is found most fertile is so on behalf of life in it. Not only does biochar promote conditions of life in soil, but it also strengthens its defences against drought and acidification.

Livestock

Using biochar to truly nurture your animals is a way of considerable potential. Not only does mixing it in the bedding decrease odour and chances of disease considerably, but also high-standard biochar can be fed to your animals.

Tree-planting and blue-green city concept

Cities cannot simply do without biochar. It’s indispensable to make your loam airy, highly nutritious to the plant life and, finally, to condition your landscaping soil to permeate and retain water.

Water and alcohol purification

For its purifying properties, biochar perfectly meets the needs to auxiliary-purify wastewater, filtrate oil chemicals at gas stations, or purify street rainfall water before it goes to water the green areas.
Our biochar has been certified to purify drinking water too, and we’ve even tested alcohol purification.

Metallurgy

Abroad, metallurgy takes advantage of biochar on a daily basis. In this way, the intermetallic compounds' superior quality is reached and the carbon footprint of this environmentally taxing industry is decreased.
In Czechia, we await the biochar implementation still.

Building sector

Even though it sounds like a total paradox, some say that the building sector is the key to decarbonisation. The option of adding biochar to concrete elevates the mixture quality onto an outstanding level, and besides, the practice decreases the amount of cement used and therefore the carbon dioxide bill of the entire sector.

Chemical and cosmetic industries

Lubricants, rubber industry, polymer, fabric and battery components production represent a few examples of where biochar gets to be used. Our biochar has been tested successfully for use in toothpastes and luxury soaps, but there are truly countless options for biochar here.

Climate

In a single hectare of healthy soil, one can lock in tens of tons of greenhouse CO2. This is owing to conscientious agronomy as well as biochar itself. This particular quality of biochar is most quantifiable and scientifically time-proven.
And it’s because of this that the carbon credits amassed by means of using biochar in your field are incontrovertibly trustworthy and highly valued.
A single kilogram of stored biochar equals 2,2 to 2,7 kg of stored carbon dioxide; this is in direct dependency on properties of the particularly manufactured biochar, the type of manufacturing itself, and the ways biochar is introduced.