Biochar: Beyond Slash and Burn

RIOCHAR Farms have a lot of leftovers: corn stalks, wood chips, animal manure, rice hulls, tree bark, grasses, and more. One way to put these leftovers, or biomass, to good use is to transform them. They can be burned without oxygen to form biochar, mix into the soil. ATMOSPHERIC BENEFITS • Stores carbon • Reduces methane and nitrogen dioxide soll emissions • Reduces odor (by not leaving blomass to rot) a type of charcoal that farmers can use for fuel SOIL BENEFITS PYROLYSIS Intense heat (sometimes more than 1,000' F) with no oxygen creates a fine-grained, fighly porous charcoal (blochar). • Improves fertility Decreases nutrient runoff • Improves water retention Blomass is picked up from other farms and del vered to the kiln. Blochar is bought and sold at market. BIOMASS PYROLYSIS KILM Blochar byproduct fuels this truck. Farmers mix blochar Into the soll. INSIGHTS IFPRInlogaphic priarg MAGAZINE OF THE INTERNATIONAL FOOD POUCY RESEARCH INSTITUTE RIOCHAR Farms have a lot of leftovers: corn stalks, wood chips, animal manure, rice hulls, tree bark, grasses, and more. One way to put these leftovers, or biomass, to good use is to transform them. They can be burned without oxygen to form biochar, mix into the soil. ATMOSPHERIC BENEFITS • Stores carbon • Reduces methane and nitrogen dioxide soll emissions • Reduces odor (by not leaving blomass to rot) a type of charcoal that farmers can use for fuel SOIL BENEFITS PYROLYSIS Intense heat (sometimes more than 1,000' F) with no oxygen creates a fine-grained, fighly porous charcoal (blochar). • Improves fertility Decreases nutrient runoff • Improves water retention Blomass is picked up from other farms and del vered to the kiln. Blochar is bought and sold at market. BIOMASS PYROLYSIS KILM Blochar byproduct fuels this truck. Farmers mix blochar Into the soll. INSIGHTS IFPRInlogaphic priarg MAGAZINE OF THE INTERNATIONAL FOOD POUCY RESEARCH INSTITUTE