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FP7 Cooperation: Eurochar

Biochar for carbon sequestration and large scale removal of greenhouse gases (GHG) from the atmosphere

Von  01/2011  bis  12/2013

Projektleiter: Bruno Glaser
Mitarbeiter: Daniela Busch, Katja Wiedner

Laboruntersuchung (Foto: Daniela Busch)

Laboruntersuchung (Foto: Daniela Busch)

Laboruntersuchung (Foto: Daniela Busch)

The search for meaningful ways to transfer carbon from the atmosphere via biomass into useful carbon deposits is currently a key challenge. Transferring biomass to carbon-rich materials with potential mega-scale application is a material option to sequester carbon from plant material, taking it out of the short-term carbon cycle and therefore binding CO2 efficiently and even in a useful, productive, way into longer term non-atmospheric carbon pools.

The most obvious alternative for long-term C-sequestration in soils is to transform biomass, and in particular crop residues, into a stable product that cannot neither be decomposed by soil microorganisms nor be oxidised and then returned to the atmosphere in the form of CO2. One emerging option, in this regard, is to transform biomass into charcoal (or Biochar) and add that to agricultural soils. Biochar, that can be produced through thermochemical or hydrothermal processes and as by-product of energy production, is normally made of 60-80% of Carbon; both carbonization processes are exothermic as they produce rather than consume energy and the black-carbon of Biochar is a very stable product and the addition of large amounts of Biochar to agricultural soils potentially enhances their fertility and is compatible with sustainable agriculture. There is increasing evidence that black carbon created after forest fires can be more than 10,000 years old (Preston and Schmidt, 2006) and in the “Terra Preta” soils of the Amazon region Biochar has been dated from 500 up to 7000 years (Neves et al., 2003). Those soils, whose prolonged fertility is likely associated to their large Ccontent, are still used today to produce food for the local populations. However, there are significant unknowns in transferring this ancient technology into modern agricultural systems within Europe and this proposal aims to address some of those unknown issues.

Laboruntersuchung (Foto: Daniela Busch)

Laboruntersuchung (Foto: Daniela Busch)

Laboruntersuchung (Foto: Daniela Busch)

The EuroChar Project aims to develop and demonstrate technologies that will contribute effectively and on a large-

scale to remove greenhouse gases (GHG) from the atmosphere in a long-term  perspective (over 100 years). The project is designed to quantify in a  detailed and rigorous way if the Biochar Option is in fact a realistic  strategy to sequester atmospheric Carbon, within a European context. To  achieve this general objective the project will address a number of  technical and practical questions and will include direct demonstration  and prototyping activities. By integrating research made at molecular,  ecosystem and technological scales and by delivering realistic scenario  analyses and ISO-accredited whole Life Cycle Assessment carried out  according to the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD)  Handbook on LCA, as specifically required by the call.

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