Professor Luwezi, cc list:
I suggest reading an exchange on the similarities and differences
between BECCS and biochar on this list in 2011, found at:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/geoengineering/qpFIjvOYG3s/65sLrKp-y20J
The president of the main BECCS company (Biorecro), Henrik Karlsson is
a list member and can hopefully add what might have changed since 2011. I
don’t think much has changed. This exchange was in part based on an article
by Keith and Caldeira that mentioned only BECCS - found at:
http://issues.org/27-1/caldeira/.
Biochar’s name only appeared in 2007, so it was mentioned in AR5, but not AR4.
I add a few comments from a biochar perspective to your 4 questions
below. Henrik or others can respond for BECCS.
On Aug 14, 2015, at 4:23 AM, Cush Ngonzo Luwesi <[email protected]> wrote:
> Dear colleagues, my research program is facing a key challenge of generating
> new knowledge to address issues of desertification and arable land depletion
> facing smallholder farms in the Sahel and across the West African Niger-Benue
> corridor. I have suggested that we explore emerging climate intervention
> technologies to correct not only the warming effect but also soil
> degradation. I thought that- (kindly correct me where I am wrong) - The
> Biomass Energy with - /Carbon Capture and Storage (BE-CCS) and Biochar
> technologies can assist with that regard since they are innovative agronomic
> technologies for carbon sequestration and storage. For instance, a
> carbon-negative technology, BECCS can take advantage of the innate ability of
> trees, grasses and other plants to absorb atmospheric CO2 for photosynthesis.
> Using appropriate ecosystem based approaches this CO2 can be used to restore
> or at least rehabilitate degraded soils and enable future utilization of the
> land for agriculture and forestry, depending on the soil structure and
> moisture in the area.
>
> I therefore request for your opinion on the questions below:
>
> Questions:
>
> (1) In what possible ways can BE- CCS and Biochars be used for
> restoration / rehabilitation of degraded soils within semi-arid and arid
> lands?
>
[RWL1: There are possibly dozens of papers on this - to be found in
the several thousand entries in the Bibliography at
www.biochar-inernational.org. But the search terms need to be chosen
carefully; the words “desert” and “arid” only gave me the same 6 articles.
One it did not give with those terms, but I found very encouraging was a study
in (quite arid) Israel: Agroforestry and biochar to offset climate change: a
review, Stavi, Ilan, and Lal Rattan , Biomedical and Life Sciences Agronomy for
Sustainable Development , (2012). Should be free.
> (2) What possible scenarios on carbon storage, nutrients and soil
> moisture can be developed to test the potentials of large-scale deployment of
> BE-CCS/ Biochars for the rehabilitation of degraded soils within hyper-arid
> lands of the Sahara and the Atacama deserts, for instance?
>
[RWL2: It should be very interesting to study biochar with the CAM
alternative to C3 and C4 forms of photosynthesis (From Wiki: Crassulacean acid
metabolism, also known asCAM photosynthesis, is a carbon fixation pathway that
evolved in some plants as an adaptation to arid conditions.
The website www.coolplanet.com should lead you to recent experiments
with biochar applied to golf courses (Thousand Oaks, CA?) where the economic
payback was two years in saved (1/2) water.
Especially in arid environments, the biochar can/should be applied only
near the root zone of individual plants. The term “aliquot” is used.
> 3) What progressive steps for upscaling/ outscaling their deployment can
> be anticipated?
>
[RWL3: We (all CDR approaches) need a carbon tax/fee structure - that
might start happening after COP21 the December. There are many dozen biochar
companies - but all small, while hoping to grow of course. However charcoal
production is ancient and global. The above IBI web site has a list of
companies. We don’t know enough about what is happening in China - but they
seem to be leading the field.
COP21 could be heading toward a successful result - as indicated in my
recent list entry about Tim Wirth’s optimistic view. We should not expect CDR
to pay for itself, but some biochar is doing so already with high value crops -
not corn, wheat, etc.
> (4) Within what time scale can the land to be fit for producing
> carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals?
>
[RWL4: There seems to be agreement that biochar productivity can
sometimes be better after the first year. Biochar can soak up nitrogen, taking
it away from the intended plants. Meta studies seem to be headed above 25%
improvement - with most studies only after one year.. The Terra Preta soils on
the Amazon (poor but definitely not arid) are still generally showing NPP
greater than 100% higher than the surrounding native soils (after 500 years).
We have no way of knowing the time history of that improvement. But the short
answer to your question is one year - if you can replicate past favorable
performance. There are a huge number of variables to worry about.
Professor - I hope this is what you were looking for - in either Kenya
or DR Congo or even more arid areas. Best of luck. Ron
> Such an inquiry will help unveil the physical constraints and limitations of
> the BE-CCS/ Biochar technologies in forestry and agronomy. It will also
> enable a tradeoff analysis between climate intervention outcomes and
> afforestation and other productive biomass systems.
>
> I will be very grateful if you can provide an opinion based on substantial
> literature to support their arguments.
>
> Regards,
>
>
> Dr. Cush Ngonzo Luwesi, PhD
>
> Focal Region Manager – West Africa
>
> CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystem (WLE)
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> International Water Management Institute - West Africa Office
>
> CSIR Campus, Martin Odei Block, Airport Residential Area, PMB CT 112,
> Cantonments
>
> Accra – Ghana
>
> Tel: +233 302 784753/4; +233 28 9109561
> Fax: +233 302 784752
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>
> Email: [email protected]
>
> IWMI website: : http://www.iwmi.org
>
> WLE website: http://wle.cgiar.org
> Agriculture and Ecosystems blog: http://wle.cgiar.org/blogs
>
>
>
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