Biofuels Digest Special Report on Gasification & Pyrolysis: UN Climate Change Panel and bio-char

Panelists at the UN Climate Change meeting in Poznan advocated biochar, produced from biomass via a fast pyrolysis process that also yields gas and renewable fuel oils.

According to kirhagen,com, “Terra Preta is an Amazonian Indian technology which can vastly improve soil fertility and pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, potentially keeping it out for thousands of years. Biomass – plant and animal waste such as manure, waste wood, and crop leftovers – can be turned into charcoal (or “biochar”) and then buried in agricultural soil, making rich black earth that plants grow very, very well in. Charcoal is extremely porous, and provides a perfect environment for beneficial soil microorganisms that help plants grow. It also holds water, and can greatly help crops to survive drought conditions.”

According to the International Biochar Initiative (IBI), Micronesia  filed a submission at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) proceedings to introduce biochar as a technology for consideration as a “fast-start” strategy to “mitigate climate change in the immediate near-term.” The submission placed biochar on the draft agenda to be considered during UNFCCC negotiations in Copenhagen in 2009.

Micronesia’s proposal followed the filing of a submission by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) endorsing biochar earlier this week. The UNCCD, a sister convention to the UNFCCC, identified biochar as a unique opportunity to address soils as a carbon sink, in line with its 10 year strategic program that calls for the promotion of low-carbon footprint sustainable practices and technologies that assist affected countries in the implementation of their National Actions Programs to Combat Desertification and Drought.

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