The Biochar Industry in China. Stephen Joseph

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1 The Biochar Industry in China Stephen Joseph

2 The Changing Context of The Biochar Industry 1. China with government backing is seeing a rapid growth in both companies manufacturing equipment and biochar based products 2. Products are being tailored for specific applications especially in horticulture 3. Farmers are innovating and finding ways of making biochars work at application rates that are profitable. 4. Researchers are now starting to develop so called designer or engineered biochar products 5. Biochar is being integrated into larger waste managemtnand renewable energy projects

3 Commercially Viable Products and Applications 1. Biochar Mineral/Compost NPK Fertilisers 2. Biochar Mineral Compost Biofertilisers for High Value Crops 3. Biochar and Energy in Waste Management 4. Remediation of Contaminated and Degraded Land with High Value Crops 5. Feeding to Animals and into Biogas Digestors 6. Foliar Sprays and Liquid Fertilisers

4 Commercialisation of Biochar in China Policy and Market Setting 1. Many areas have banned the burning or dumping of residues. 1. Financial incentives offered are structured as a feed-in-tariff for straw bioenergy 2. Low carbon rice husk biochar can be purchased from Bioenergy Plants for approximately $100/tonne. High quality biochar sells for between $300 and $500/tonne. 3. Meta analysis shows yield increases 10% are seen at biochar application rates of greater than 10 tonnes/ha (base line case) Clare et al 2014 Carbon Management

Cost Benefit Analysis from Producers Perspective: Pyrolysis is Unprofitable with Biochar Price of $100/tonne with Subsidies $100/tonne biochar $300 /tonne biochar 100000000 140000000 80000000

5 Cost Benefit Analysis from Producers Perspective: Pyrolysis is Unprofitable with Biochar Price of $100/tonne with Subsidies $100/tonne biochar $300 /tonne biochar With subsidies No Subsidies With subsidies RMB Briquetting Gasification Pyrolysis No Subsidies Briquetting Gasification Pyrolysis Government subsidies are very influential to profitability as is the crop yield and price of the biochar. Break even is approximately $120/tonne with subsidy and $210/tonne without subsidy

6 Pyrolyzing kiln in Sanli, Henan Transportable Pyrolysis Kiln Benenv Company Yixing Temperate; ; Residence time; minutes; Char produced; 300 kg per tone straw (dry base) Ground to 2mm before use

7 Commercial Plant in Nanjing

8 Bio-Energy Biochar Plant

9 Range of Different Biochar Products

Biochar Trials Through Out China Biochar applied

with Heavy Metals Biochar 2 years ago No biochar

10 Biochar Trials Through Out China Biochar applied once at application rates of 20t/ha and 40t/ha after wheat harvest and trials over 3-5 years. Biochar Trials on 4 Sites on Land Contaminated with Heavy Metals Biochar 2 years ago No biochar Wheat in a Salt-stressed Soil, Shanqiu, Henan, China

11 Low Application Rates of Biochar (150kg/ha) through Complexation with NPK and Clay and Granulating at 2 Site Biochar Fertiliser Chemical Control

12 Save pesticide sprayed: once at least per crop season but initial application Rate High at 20tonnes/ha Biochar in 2010 no biochar Yield increase t/ha Save N fertilized: kg/ha,yr

13 1.2 结果分析 Cd concentration in rice grain (mg/kg) Biochar application reduced Cd uptake by rice 53% t/ha 71% 92% 68% 47% 48% 0.4 mg kg mg kg -1 Biochar application of wheat straw at 20 and 40 t ha -1 significantly reduced Cd availability in soils and further effectively reduces Cd uptake.

14 Compound Biochar NPK Clay Fertiliser 20% Wheat Straw Biochar (90kg/ha), 5% Bentonite Clay and 75%NPK Granule Applied at 450kg/ha Demonstration Field Plot in Anh Hui. Farmer reported 18% and a reduction in disease

15 Experimental Results Field Trials; Rice Yield Increase 39% Yield Chemical Fertiliser 8.2 +/-.75 t/ha BioChar NPK Fertiliser /- 1.12t/ha N Uptake Grain Chemical Fertiliser /- 11.4kg/ha BioChar NPK Fertiliser =/ kg/ha Joseph et al 2013 Shifting Paradigms Carbon Management

17 Financial Analysis for Farmer with.45ha Land Based on Field Trial for One Season With Rice Assuming 1/5 Lower Pesticide Use and Reduction of Urea from 126kg/ha to 111kg/ha. Rice Yield Increased from 8.2t/h to 11.4t/ha Costs for Farmer Fertiliser NPK + urea $ $131.1 Biochar NPK +urea $ $128.4 Seed $ $45.0 $45.0 Pesticide $ $121.5 $97.2 Mechanical Harvesting $ $100 $100 Total Cost $397.6 $370.6 Revenue Sale of Rice $ $1,365.3 $1,898.1 Income-Costs $ $967.7 $1,527.5 % Increase in income % 58%

18 Liquid Fertiliser on Growth of Traditional Medicine 1 Take 10gms dry wheat straw black carbon,though 0.5 mm sieve 2 Add 200ml water + 5.6gms (.5M) (KOH), 3 Heat for two hours in the oven 150C, 4 After heating the solution thickens 5 Filter the solid-liquid mixture 6 Add phosphoric acid,change ph to 7 7 After several minutes a gel is formed with a high humic acid content. When >50X water is added to the gel it dissolves completely 8 An Enhanced solution was made by adding 158mg/l of FeSO4 to increase the redox activity

19 Weight in kg % Liquid Fertiliser on Growth of Bell Flowers; Field Trial results Weight Flower per Treatment (kg) d a CK T1 T2 T3 b CK =fertilizer kg / ha, chicken manure t/ ha. T1 = Watering the soil T2 = Foliar Spray T3 = Foliar spray and watering the soil c d a %Saponins %Carbohydrates b a a a CK T1 T2 T3 c b

20 Biochar-Biofertilizer: Netuter biochar as a carrier to improve the survival rate of Bacillus mucilaginosus in soil Treatment Number of Bacillus Mucilaginosus (cfu g -1 ) 0d 7d 14d 21d 28d 35d CK 1.4E E E E E E+02 M 1.1E E E E E E+05 BC 1.6E E E E E E+02 BC+M 1.0E E E E E E+07 CK: soil 100g; M:Added 0.1mL Bacillus Mucilaginosus bacterial liquid into 100g soil (number of cells: cfu ml -1 ); BC:Added 1.0g neutral wheat straw biochar into 100g soil;bc+m:added 1.0g neutral wheat straw biochar into 100g soil, which contained 0.1mL Bacillus Mucilaginosus bacterial liquid (number of cells: cfu ml -1 ) Wang et al unpublished

21 Maize yield (t ha-1) Biochar application for crop production Optimal fertilization under biochar amendment improve maize yield, and decrease greenhouse gas emission TF(F1): 258kg N No biochar 20t/ha 40t/ha F1 F2 F1 F ha 1 with 60 kg P 2 O 5 ha 1 as base fertilizer, and 122 kg N ha 1 kg N ha 1 as top-dressing. OF (F2): 190 kg N ha 1 with127 kg P 2 O 5 ha 1 as base fertilizer. Biochar increases maize yield. Optimal fertilization increased yield much more than that of traditional fertilization in two seasons. Institute of Resource, Ecosystem and Environment of Agriculture..

22 AE N (kg kg- 1 ) Agronomic efficiency of nitrogen No biochar 20t/ha 40t/ha F1 F2 F1 F AEN under biochar application was increased by % and % in F1 and F2 in 2011; by 11.95% in F1, and % in F2 in Institute of Resource, Ecosystem and Environment of Agriculture..

Soil bulk 土壤容重 density (g/cm3) (kg/cm 3 ) 5-11 5-18 5-25 6-1 6-8 6-15 6-22 6-29 7-6 7-13 7-20 7-27 8-3 8-10 8-17 8-24 8-31 9-7 9-14 Soil water content (%) 土壤质量含水量 (%)

23 Soil bulk 土壤容重 density (g/cm3) (kg/cm 3 ) Soil water content (%) 土壤质量含水量 (%) C0 C1 C a a 1.25 b C0 C1 C2 Institute of Resource, Ecosystem and Environment of Agriculture..

24 AEN (yield kg/kg N) Agronomic efficiency of nitrogen maize C0N1 C1N1 C2N1 Rice SQ TY XZ CS JX GH YX Sites Zheng et al unpublished Institute of Resource, Ecosystem and Environment of Agriculture..

25 N2O emission (kg N2O-N ha-1) Biochar application significantly decreased the N2O emission C0 C20 C CS JX GH YX SQ XZ TA Rice Maize Liu et al unpublished Institute of Resource, Ecosystem and Environment of Agriculture..

26 3.50E E E E E E E E+00 nirk a b bc bc cd d C0N0 C1N0 C2N0 C0N C1N C2N nirk The decrease of nirk gene copies might play an important role in denitrification. NO 3 - narg, napa NO nirs, nirk NO norb, qnorb Denitrification N 2 O

27 Biochar-Biofertilizer: biochar-based potassium- fertilizer biochar as a carrier for potassium bacteria Neutral wheat straw biochar:the wheat straw biochar was soaked in 0.1mol L -1 HCl for 24 hours, then washed repeatly with deionized water to neutral, filtrated, dried, made of neutral wheat straw biochar. Treaments ph (H 2 O) Number of Bacillus mucilaginosus (ind./g) 0d 7d 14d 21d 28d 35d NRB E E E E E E+05 NPB E E E E E E+05 NCB E E E E E E+05 NWB E E E E E E+06 RB E E E E E E+02 PB E E E E E E+02 CB E E E E E E+02 WB E E E E E E+02 Bacillus Mucilaginosus bacterial isolated from soil is a kind of potassium bacteria which is a kind of bacteria which has significant ability to decompose apatite and aluminosilicate to release potassium. Wang et al unpublished

28 Biochar-Biofertilizer: Netuter biochar as a carrier to improve the survival rate of Bacillus mucilaginosus in soil Treatment Number of Bacillus Mucilaginosus (cfu g -1 ) 0d 7d 14d 21d 28d 35d CK 1.4E E E E E E+02 M 1.1E E E E E E+05 BC 1.6E E E E E E+02 BC+M 1.0E E E E E E+07 CK: soil 100g; M:Added 0.1mL Bacillus Mucilaginosus bacterial liquid into 100g soil (number of cells: cfu ml -1 ); BC:Added 1.0g neutral wheat straw biochar into 100g soil;bc+m:added 1.0g neutral wheat straw biochar into 100g soil, which contained 0.1mL Bacillus Mucilaginosus bacterial liquid (number of cells: cfu ml -1 ) Wang et al unpublished

29 Biochar-Biofertilizer: Netuter biochar as a carrier to increase content of available K. Wang et al unpublished

30 Effect of different treatments on the yield and quality of tomato Base fertilizer: (NH 4 )2HPO 4 : 210kg hm -2,Urea: 68 kg hm -2 CF: K kg hm -2 BC+M: BF1t hm -2 ; M:root dipping seeding root and root irrigation 10ml per root.

Effect of biochar on plant resistance - root-knot nematodes(plant parasitic

Average diameter (mm) Root volume (cm 3 ) Root tips CK 5.20±2.72a 63.7±38.

00±1.16b 148.3±14.0b 0.43±0.00a 1.6±0.1b 3693±275b 4%BC 10.01±4.03ab 109.

31 Effect of biochar on plant resistance - root-knot nematodes(plant parasitic nematodes)ppns) Treatment Total root length(cm) Root surface area (cm 2 ) Average diameter (mm) Root volume (cm 3 ) Root tips CK 5.20±2.72a 63.7±38.6a 0.38±0.06a 0.6±0.4a 1769±753a 1%BC 6.07±3.24a 76.2±3.3a 0.40±0.00a 0.8±0.0a 1591±246a 2%BC 11.00±1.16b 148.3±14.0b 0.43±0.00a 1.6±0.1b 3693±275b 4%BC 10.01±4.03ab 109.1±86.4ab 0.32±0.15a 1.0±0.6ab 3710±480b Niu et al unpublished

32 Number of galls Galls/dw root CK 34±6a 483.3±92.8a 1%BC 51±6ab 784.5±1.7b 2%BC 70±14b 580.4±49.4a 4%BC 58±33ab 762.5±123.7ab Biochar amendment enhanced the number of root-knot nematodes, and reduced the galls number per unit of root biomass. Number of root-knot nematode Abundance (%) CK 29±14a 6.52±2.28a 1%BC 39±30a 8.60±6.90ab 2%BC 76±35a 21.21±7.44b 4%BC 38±28a 29.08±22.90ab Niu et al unpublished

33 Effect of biochar on remediation of contaminated soil Biochar derived from different feedstock has different metal adsorption

34 Cd concentration in rice grain (mg/kg) Biochar amendment could persistently reduce heavy metal availability in soils. Rice yield t/hm % 48.7% 62.5% 54.6%

35 Biochar addition effectively reduces Cd bioavailability in soil and Cd uptake. Cross-site field experiment were conducted in different place in southern China. Biochar application of wheat straw at 20 and 40 t ha -1 significantly reduced Cd availability in soils and effectively reduces Cd uptake.

36 Profitability and Many Plant Responses are Dependent on How Much and Where the Biochar (s) is Added to the Soil; Profitability Biochar A Biochar B Biochar C Rate t/ha Rate t/ha Rate t/ha Disease resistance/sorption ability = D-R max ; Yield= G-R max Jaiswal et al 2015 Plant and Soil

Making Biochar Commercially Viable; Recent Experiences from around the World. Stephen Joseph

Making Biochar Commercially Viable; Recent Experiences from around the World Stephen Joseph The Changing Context of The Biochar Industry 1.China with government backing is seeing a rapid growth in both