Terra Preta - The parent thread which started it all

[erich]

Hi All:

Here is a reply from Danny Day of http://www.eprida.com/hydro/
Also, be sure to read the " See an initial analysis. NEW " LINK of the variation of this technology to clean up Coal fired power plants that utilizes exsiting infrastructure.


"Dear Erich:

We are in the early stages of marketing equipment to produce fuel and char for 1-8ton/hr dry biomass conversion systems. The initial beta units are being designed/deployed at 1tph. Our field trials with the university look promising. Thanks for your support. If you are in the Athens area, give us a call for a tour.

Danny


On 8/14/06, Shengar@aol.com <Shengar@aol.com> wrote:

Dear Dr. Day:
Could you please update me on any progress on the hydrogen production/ ECOSSTM Fertilizer Project?

Erich J. Knight

[Michaelangelica]

People are starting to be come aware of the full implications of Terra preta:-
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/004815.html

Claims for biochar's capacity to capture carbon sound almost audacious. Johannes Lehmann, soil scientist and author of Amazonian Dark Earths: Origin, Properties, Management, believes that a strategy combining biochar with biofuels could ultimately offset 9.5 billion tons of carbon per year-an amount equal to the total current fossil fuel emissions!

Indeed, there is profit to be made in this black earth, for if green is the new black, then black could be the new green.
Biofuels are touted as 'carbon neutral', but biofuels and biochar together promise to be 'carbon negative'. Danny Day, the founder of a company called Eprida is already putting these concepts into motion with systems that turn farm waste into hydrogen, biofuel, and biochar.

The Eprida technology uses agricultural waste biomass to produce hydrogen-rich bio-fuels and a new restorative high-carbon fertilizer (ECOSS) ...In tropical or depleted soils ECOSS fertilizer sustainably improves soil fertility, water holding and plant yield far beyond what is possible with nitrogen fertilizers alone.
The hydrogen produced from biomass can be used to make ethanol, or a Fischer-Troupsch gas-to-liquids diesel (BTL diesel), as well as the ammonia used to enrich the carbon to make ECOSS fertilizer.

We don't maximize for hydrogen; we don't maximize for biodisel; we don't maximize for char...By being a little bit inefficient in each, we approximate nature and get a completely efficient cycle.

Terra preta's full beauty appears in this closed loop.
Unlike traditional sequestration rates that follow diminishing marginal returns-aquifers fill up, forests mature-practices based on terra preta see increasing returns. Terra preta doubles or even triples crop yields.
More growth means more terra preta, begetting a virtuous cycle.
While a global rollout of terra preta is still a ways away, it heralds yet another transformation of waste into resources.

How ironic it is that ancient humans cultivated the very fertility of Earth's most pristine places so seamlessly as to be nearly invisible.
Perhaps then our challenge as planetary gardeners is not to preserve nature in a bubble but to reweave ourselves into it-to invert our footprints into handprints.

The whole thing is incredibly ironic and beautiful.
How important is preserving ALL our history of ALL mankind!

Next we need to start preserving the herbal knowledge of indigenous peoples before the verbal tradition dies out. (It won't take long to disappear 1-2 generations)

I wonder if gardeners took it up wholeheartedly that more than "offset 9.5 billion tons of carbon" could be sequestered? Anyone want to do the math?

[Michaelangelica]

A Buckmister Fullerine Carbon molecule
Would't this make agood home for Terra preta critters?

[Michaelangelica]

Fullerine

[Michaelangelica]

I had two daisy plants one doing poorly( on your right) the other doing well; if a little wonky.
I took the poor one and repotted it in a charcoal rich potting mix to see if it would catch up.
usually repotting a plant would stress it and you would loose some growth
However it did catch up.

I also noticed bigger leaves on the "poorly" plant and better water retention in the pot.
They were both fertilised with liquid fertiliser

[Ganoderma]

was everything else the same? i think repotting it would create far too many variables. maybe try putting charcoal into the bunk pot?

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by Ganoderma

was everything else the same? i think repotting it would create far too many variables. maybe try putting charcoal into the bunk pot?

Repotting anything should stress it and slow it down. This didn't happen. The pot with charcoal thrived. The other pot is flowering earlier but is not as lush.
What's 'bunk'

[erich]

"Religion Is Bunk" T. A. Edison

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by erich

"Religion Is Bunk" T. A. Edison

That Thomas sure could tell a good horticultural joke! You crack me up Erich.
Bunk, Micha, is slang for "lacking in" or "less than optimal", or in the case of your pansies, "the unhealthiest" of the two.

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by Turtle

That Thomas sure could tell a good horticultural joke! You crack me up Erich.
Bunk, Micha, is slang for "lacking in" or "less than optimal", or in the case of your pansies, "the unhealthiest" of the two.

Thanks for the translation.
It had me puzzled

By the way both plants were frequently given liquid fertiliser (MiracleGro).