A little bit about biochar (pyrogenic C for agricultural use)
Etelvino Henrique Novotny – Embrapa Soils (et al., many alii…)
Brazilian Corporation for Agricultural Research
Interest in Cpy for agricultural use
Focus change
Misusage of term Biochar
(definition)
Quantification
Characterization
Key properties:
Environmental and
Agronomic
Examples
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
Total Biochar
Publication year
Tot
al n
umbe
r of
pap
ers
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Num
ber
of p
aper
s on
"B
ioch
ar"
Total: “black carbon/black C or pyrogenic carbon/pyrogenic C or charcoal”Search on April 10, 2015.
Biochar?The term biochar was coined in 2005 by Peter Read, a research fellow at Massey University in New Zealand, to describe “finely divided pyrolysed biomass prepared specifically for soil improvement”“[...] and used as soil amendment to increase fertility or sequester atmospheric CO2 (Mukherjee et al., 2011)“intended specifically for application to soil, that is, according to its purpose” (Sohi et al. 2010)
However, the term biochar has been used indiscriminately, even in situations where classic and well-defined terms, such as char(coal), would be more appropriate: Catalyst Fuel cell Supercapacitor Activated carbon
TPI?Intentionality?
Nature, Vol. 157; 15 janeiro de 2015
... is catching attention as a mean to improve crop growth and clean up contaminated water.
C sequestration & climate change
mitigation
soil fertility improvement and
crop growth; water retention and
movement in the soil; and soil
pollution control...
However, this discourse change, from TPI and CC to biochar technology
(“soil fertility improvement” and
“improving crop residue
management”), had already been
preconized by the Brazilian Research
Network of Biochar since 2006.
Fertility of TPITPI use
CC
TPI and Biochar
Biochar and Soil amendment
Rittl TF, Arts B, Kuyper TW. Biochar: an emerging policy arrangement in Brazil? Environ Sci Policy. 2015;51:45-55.
Continuum
Novotny et al., 2015
7 methods17 labs2 orders of magnitude!Hammes et al. (2007)
3 labsFactor of 3!Hammes et al. (2007)
"The ultimate value of the various BC [pyrogenic C] quantification methods is not how they compare to one another, but whether they provide useful information for the application for which they are used. BC quantification is not an end in itself, but rather a means to an end“
Schmidt and Noack (2000), Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 14, 777–793
The aromaticity and degree of aromatic condensation is governed mainly by: The peak heat treatment temperature – HTT;Residence time; O2 availability; Pressure;Precursor biomass
These key properties can be assessed by several analytical methods: Chemical (elemental; BPCA; levoglucosan; PAH; lipid analyses; n-alkanes); Spectroscopic (Infrared; NEXAFS; and 13C NMR); Thermal (TG/DSC; Chemo-Thermal Oxidation -375; Thermal/Optical Transm. Reflect.)Physical (helium pycnometry)
Quantification and Characterization of Cpy
Aromaticity
AromaticCondensation
BPCA
NMR
BPCA
NMR
PC 1
PC 2
1 – PAH2 and 13 – NEXAFS3 and 10 – BPCA4 – Lipids6 – O/C7 and 11 – NMR8 – n-alkanes9 – H/C12 – He Pycnometry
Wiedemeier et al., 2015
Physical multi-phase
Novotny et al., 2015
Physical multi-phase model of carbonization continuumKeiluweit et al. (2010)
Par
titi
on
AdsorptionPolarity-selective
AdsorptionPorosity-selective
Adsorptionπ- π
π-CH
Etelvino Henrique Novotny – Embrapa Soils [email protected]
Main CollaboratorsBeáta E. Madari (Embrapa Rice and Beans)Eduardo R. de Azêvedo (USP-São Carlos)Fabiano C. Balieiro (Embrapa Soils)Michael H.B. Hayes (University of Limerick)Ruben A. Estrada (UEPG)
Aline R. Furtado (PUC-Rio de Janeiro)Carlos F.B.V. Alho (Wageningen University)Cristiano Dela Piccolla (ESALQ)Natália O. Aguiar (UENF)Tatiana F. Rittl (Wageningen University)