Kosfeld Fenna Thesis - Flipbook - Page 44
Potential and Trend of Biochar
International Biochar Initiative (2023). Global Biochar Market Report . IBI, USBI.
“Decentralised biochar production techniques serve as an effective way of providing employment opportunities, managing
wastes, increasing resource pro昀椀ciency in circular bioeconomy”(
Yaashiika).
According to the InternationalBiochar Initiative, which is the
leading research organisation on global biochar,
the market for Biochar production is rising extensively. The
report from 2023 accounts for data from both large-scale biochar
companies, who produce or implement the material, as well as
small-scale micro-entrepreneurs, “backyard” producers utilising yard waste, small and urban farmers, nurseries, communal
gardens, etc, who make it for either micro-local or private use.
There is a division in development between the backyard and
low-tec production, which is how
I approached my project with a
barrel-in-barrel system and stacking system and the rise of sizeable
local biochar companies utilising
agricultural waste to produce
biosolids and bioenergy. To act on
such a scale, funding and certi昀椀cates for ef昀椀cient and optimised
heating of organic matter is
necessary.
The report also discusses the
potential of raw biochar and the
general trend of charging or inoculating the material as a soil and
fertiliser enhancement, replacing synthetic fertiliser and promoting sustainable and circular agriculture.
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Around 35% of surveyed parties use raw biochar to enrich it with
nutrients. I chose this path for this project, too, as the material
does not need much treatment; it is accessible and regenerable.
Nevertheless, it is incredible to see how, through the process of
pyrolysis, we can generate energy ( electricity, heat, gas) as well
as this valuable material to mitigate climate change and make a
change towards organic circular agriculture and industrial supply
chains.
As in my choice of title, A Battery for ecological awareness, the
material and production, high and low tech, promotes a way to
“bridge emerging political and ideological divides with solutions.”
(International Biochar Initiative (2023). Global Biochar Market
Report. IBI, USBI.)
With rising social division, extremist political and ideological
behaviour, and our sickening and
capitalistic economic system,
the urge to 昀椀nd local solutions
that enable communities to be
self-suf昀椀cient and circular, biochar is at the centre of this.
