Biochar

Biochar is a highly absorbent specially designed charcoal-type product primarily used as a soil enhancement for the agricultural industry to significantly increase crop yields. Biochar offers a powerfully simple solution to some of today’s most urgent environmental concerns. The production of Biochar for carbon sequestration in the soil is a carbon-negative process.

Biochar has been used for thousands of years. Early civilizations would chop plant materials then ignite and bury them in the earth and allow them to smolder, which eventually produced a char material commonly referred to as Biochar. This process isolated most of the carbon in the vegetation, creating a particularly hospitable amendment, which in turn nurtured beneficial micro-organisms that transformed the degraded soil to extremely rich and stable humus.

Today, Biochar is produced by pyrolysis, a process in which biomass is heated in an oxygen-deprived environment to break it down into simpler substances.

Biochar produced and marketed by Vega has been certified by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), a national nonprofit organization that determines which input products are allowed for use in organic production and processing, based upon the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) standards. OMRI listed or approved products may be used on operations that are certified organic under the USDA National Organic Program.

Agricultural Application:

For plants that require high potash and elevated pH, Biochar can be used as a soil amendment to significantly improve yield. Biochar can improve water quality, reduce soil emissions of greenhouse gases, reduce nutrient leaching, reduce soil acidity, and reduce irrigation and fertilizer requirements. Biochar was also found under certain circumstances to induce plant systemic responses to foliar fungal diseases and to improve plant responses to diseases caused by soil-borne pathogens.

The various impacts of Biochar can be dependent on the properties of the Biochar, as well as the amount applied. Biochar impact may depend on regional conditions including soil type, soil condition (depleted or healthy), temperature, and humidity. Modest additions of Biochar to soil reduces nitrous oxide N2O emissions by up to 80% and eliminates methane emissions, which are both more potent greenhouse gases than CO2.

Pollutants such as metals and pesticides seep into soil and contaminate food supplies, reducing the amount of land suitable for agricultural production. Studies have reported positive effects from Biochar on crop production in degraded and nutrient–poor soils. Biochar can be designed with specific qualities to target distinct properties of soils. Biochar reduces leaching of critical nutrients, creates a higher crop uptake of nutrients, and provides greater soil availability of nutrients. At 10% levels Biochar reduced contaminant levels in plants by up to 80%, while reducing total chlordane and DDX content in the plants by 68 and 79%, respectively.

Environmental Benefits of Biochar:

The burning and natural decomposition of biomass and in particular agricultural waste adds large amounts of CO2 to the atmosphere. Biochar that is stable, fixed, and ‘recalcitrant’ carbon can store large amounts of greenhouse gases in the ground for centuries, potentially reducing or stalling the growth in atmospheric greenhouse gas levels; at the same time its presence in the earth can improve water quality, increase soil fertility, raise agricultural productivity, and reduce pressure on old-growth forests.

Biochar can sequester carbon in the soil for hundreds to thousands of years, like coal. Such a carbon-negative technology would lead to a net withdrawal of CO2 from the atmosphere, while producing and consuming energy.

Researchers have estimated that sustainable use of biocharring could reduce the global net emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide by up to 1.8 Pg CO2-C equivalent (CO2-Ce) per year (12% of current anthropogenic CO2-Ce emissions; 1 Pg=1 Gt), and total net emissions over the course of the next century by 130 Pg CO2-Ce, without endangering food security, habitat, or soil conservation.