Terra Preta

[shawn]

Terra preta
From Wikipedia,
Terra preta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Terra preta (literally “black earth” in Portuguese) refers to expanses of very dark, fertile anthropogenic soils found in the Amazon Basin. Terra preta owes its name to its very high charcoal content, and was indeed made by adding a mixture of charcoal, bone, and manure to the otherwise relatively infertile Amazonian soil over many years.[1] It is also known as “Amazonian dark earth” or “Indian black earth”. In Portuguese its full name is “Terra preta do índio” or “Terra preta de índio”. Terra mulata is lighter or brownish in color.[2]

Terra preta is characterized by the presence of low-temperature charcoal in high concentrations; of high quantities of pottery sherds; of organic matter such as plant residues, animal feces, fish and animal bones and other material; and of nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn).[3] It also shows high levels of microorganic activities and other specific characteristics within its particular ecosystem. It is less prone to nutrient leaching, which is a major problem in most rainforest soils.
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Terra Preta Web Site (this site has a lot of dead links)
Terra Preta Homepage, Dark earths, Red Indian black earth
Map of Terra Preta occurrences in Amazonia, Brazil
http://132.180.112.26/bodenkunde/terra_preta/TP_map.jpg

Terra Preta (do indio) is a black earth-like anthropogenic soil with enhanced fertility due to high levels of soil organic matter (SOM) and nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium embedded in a landscape of infertile soils . Terra Preta soils occur in small patches averaging 20 ha, but 350 ha sites have also been reported. These partly (over 2000 years old) man made soils occur in the Brazilian Amazon basin and other regions of South America such as Ecuador and Peru but also in Western Africa (Benin, Liberia) and in the savannas of South Africa. Terra Preta soils are very popular with the local farmers and are used especially to produce cash crops such as papaya and mango, which grow about three times as rapid as on surrounding infertile soils.

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BioEnergy Lists: BioChar (or Terra Preta)
Information on the intentional use of BioChar (charcoal from biomass) to improve soils.
BioEnergy Lists: BioChar (or Terra Preta) | Information on the intentional use of BioChar (charcoal from biomass) to improve soils.

An article on biochar:
http://bestenergies.com/downloads/naturemag_200604.pdf

Plans for making a rudimentary stove to make biochar:
http://worldstove.com/wp-content/upload ... ctions.pdf
http://www.bioenergylists.org/files/charbox.pdf
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BioChar Products

Biochar Products is a start up company dedicated to the demonstration and testing of the fast pyrolysis concept for use in small communities located near forested landscapes. The company is based on the following concepts:

A. Excess forest fuels and logging slash are currently disposed of as waste by burning. This burning contributes to greenhouse gasses and causes air pollution in nearby communities. Fast pyrolysis may be an economically viable way to utilize this waste and eliminate the pollution.

B. Many of the small rural communities near forests have very poor economies, fast pyrolysis of forest waste potentially is a viable green industry for these rural communities especially if these fast pyrolysis plants can be mobile for use in the forest.

C. Biochar has tremendous potential for improving farmland in many ways that could potentially improve profitability of small farms in these same communities.

D. Biooil is a renewable fuel that could be one of the best ways to replace current fossil fuel based petroleum without any substantial modification of existing motor vehicles, furnaces or other energy use technology.

E. Fast pyrolysis could accomplish all of the above positive and solve a waste problem at the same time.

Make charcoal in your own backyard
Make charcoal in your own backyard « ... -backyard/

Top-lit updraft kiln (TLUD)
Top-lit updraft kiln (TLUD) | BioEnergy Lists: BioChar (or Terra Preta)

A handy kiln for making charcoal from urban leaf litter
Welcome to Appropriate Rural Technology Institute

[sucahyo]

It is weird that with all research on terra petra and biochar, I rarely find the use of the ash of active volcano. Plant production increase significantly few months after an active volcane ash rain.

[shawn]

Probably due to a lack of active volcanoes where the people involved in that research live and work.
But you are right, that is why so many people choose (historically) to live close to a volcano, regardless of the danger, due to the fertility of the soil.

[wantfreeenergy]

I made a simple TLUD for making bio-char to add to my garden.

I took a 30 gallon barrel that had some grain in it. There is not top for it, and the bottom is thin and rusting out a little so there was already a few holes in the bottom. I went around the bottom sides and made holes so lots of air could get in. I also made a couple of holes about 1/4 - 1/3 of the way down from the top. Not very many though.

I also lifted it off the ground a few inches before I began the fire so that air could also get through the holes in the very bottom.

And also when you fill it, put your smaller sticks in the bottom and working your way up to the largest chunks all the way to the top. The large chunks will take longer to fully pyrolize and become char.

Another thing worth mentiong is to use lots of kindling in the top of the barrel after you have it full of your wood or whatever you're gonna turn to char. Don't skimp on the kindling to get the fire started.

Also you'll have to learn the timing of when to run water over the fire so that you have char and not ash. If you fill the barrel with lots of small twigs then they'll be char by the time you can see the coals through your holes in the bottom of the barrel. If you use large chunks of wood and then some larger peices on the top then you'll need to let it run a little longer once you see the coals through the bottom holes. If you let it keep going it'll continue burning and just make ash.

Then once you're ready to stop the burning just run lots of water over it. And Bob's your uncle.

I noticed on average that there was 1/3 the volume of what I put in the barrel to begin with.

One last thing. You know it's working right becuse you will see only heat rising from the barrel. If you see smoke then it's not pyrolizing like it should. There will be a little smoke though when you first start the fire. But it only lasts a pretty short amount of time.

[bob_dewan]

I hope this it will help you
“The Biochar Revolution” with “The Biochar Solution”
I want to call this book: “All about Biochar” because “The Biochar Revolution” collects the results and best practical advice that these entrepreneurs have to offer to the biochar community.
Biochar Books
In the book you will read about the challenges of designing low-emissions biochar production systems from small-scale stoves to farm-scale pyrolyzers. Another section of the book is devoted to explaining simple tests to characterize biochar and methods for conducting valid field trials.

[erich]

Biomass should never be just burnt, instead it should be fractionated to it's high value uses.
Biochar systems achieve this, to fill in gaps and hopefully expand your story & research , particularly concerning Christoph Steiner's new work with Biochar and NH3 conservation in composting systems.

Recent NATURE STUDY;
Sustainable bio char to mitigate global climate change
Sustainable biochar to mitigate global climate change : Nature Communications : Nature Publishing Group

Not talked about in this otherwise comprehensive study are the climate and whole ecological implications of new , higher value, applications of chars.

First,
the in situ remediation of a vast variety of toxic agents in soils and sediments.
Biochar Sorption of Contaminants;
Agriculture, Forestry, Soil Science and Environment

Dr. Lima's work; Specialized Characterization Methods for Biochar Production and Characterization
And at USDA;
The Ultimate Trash To Treasure: *ARS Research Turns Poultry Waste into Toxin-grabbing Char
The Ultimate Trash To Treasure: ARS Research Turns Poultry Waste into Toxin-grabbing Char

Second,
the uses as a feed ration for livestock to reduce GHG emissions and increase disease resistance.

Third,
Recent work by C. Steiner showing a 52% reduction of NH3 loss when char is used as a composting accelerator. This will have profound value added consequences for the commercial composting industry by reduction of their GHG emissions and the sale of compost as a nitrogen fertilizer.

Organizations; Organizations engaged in BioChar and Terra Preta Activities | Biochar Discussion List Web Site

Companies; Companies producing biochar and biochar technologies | Biochar Discussion List Web Site

Country; Biochar News by Country | Biochar Discussion List Web Site

Products; Products | Biochar Discussion List Web Site


Since we have filled the air , filling the seas to full, Soil is the Only Beneficial place left.
Carbon to the Soil, the only ubiquitous and economic place to put it.

Thanks for your efforts.
Erich

Erich J. Knight
Chairman; Markets and Business Committee
2010 US BiocharConference, at Iowa State University
Detailed Agenda

EcoTechnologies Group Technical Adviser
EcoTechnologies Group
Shenandoah Gardens (Owner)
1047 Dave Barry Rd.
McGaheysville, VA. 22840
540 289 9750
Co-Administrator, Biochar Data base & Discussion list TP-REPP
Biochar Discussion List Web Site | Exploring the use of BioChar (charcoal from biomass) to improve soils.

[erich]

The Columbian Encounter and the Little Ice Age:

The Columbian Encounter and the Little Ice Age: Abrupt Land Use Change, Fire, and Greenhouse Forcing

The Columbian Encounter and the Little Ice Age: Abrupt Land Use Change, Fire, and Greenhouse Forcing - Annals of the Association of American Geographers

When I was researching NPP numbers for plugging into Biochar's climate potential, looking through Dr. Bill Ruddiman's work at UVA on legacy CO2 and the agricultural revolution, lead me to Duane Pendagrass's paper;
Duane's website,
http://www.computare...m%20Oil0001.pdf)
It's support of Johannes Lehmann's previous work of a potential 10 GtC, and the added perspective of palioclimatic effects of soil carbon loss, the Ruddimann Hypothesis, brought together many loose threads for me.

Dr. Dull's recent work brings even more support, related even closer to practices of Terra Preta soils in the Amazon. The BC, charcoal & pollen evidence is hard to ignore

I'm glad this work by Dr. Dull is getting attention. Together with Dr. William Woods and citing Bill Ruddiman's work, the pieces of anthropogenic climate change fall into place.

The implications are really important. Dull, et al, argue that the re-growth of Neotropical forests following the Columbian encounter led to terrestrial biospheric carbon sequestration on the order of 2 to 5 GtC, thereby contributing to the well-documented decrease in atmospheric C recorded in Antarctic ice cores from about 1500 through 1750. While the paper does not extend to the medieval maximum, from charcoal in lake bed studies it documents increased biomass burning and deforestation during agricultural and population expansion in the Neotropics from 2500 to 500 years BP, which would correspond with atmospheric carbon loading and global warming 1100 to 650 years BP.

Dr.Dull gives us hard numbers for what Charles Mann has tried to get across to us in "1491", that we don't give mankind near enough credit for creating our biosphere. Just as Michael Pollan's "Botany of Desire" showed us how plants have manipulated us to spread them around the globe, the message of man's mutuality with nature is more than seeping into the data everywhere.

[simran]

Terra-Petra specializes in environmental soil and soil gas characterization and remediation. There are three types of process involved in the formation of Terra-Petra soil : 1. Incorporation of wood charcoal
2. Incorporation of organic matter and of nutrients
3. Role of micro-organisms and animals in the soil
Irrigation Projects

[bob_dewan]

You must read this
“The Biochar Revolution” with “The Biochar Solution”
biochar-books.com
The Biochar Revolution collects the results and best practical advice that these entrepreneurs have to offer to the biochar community. When practice and theory advance to the point where they meet in the middle, then we will truly see a biochar revolution.