I have seen a lot of You Tube videos promoting bio char. I have heard how great it is supposed to be. But I can't help but wonder how it can be good to burn all the materials and create tons of pollution in the air to make it? Can bio char offset the bad with the good.
This is the first article I have actually read that tends to make me think maybe bio char might not be so great, but maybe just another scientific fad. https://www.permaculturenews.o...
Name: Christie Central Ohio 43016 (Zone 6a) Plays on the water.
I use bio char - but I take the charcoal from my fireplace. My son also gives me the charcoal from his HEPA air filter. When you make it, it is often done slowly and does not create too much bad stuff.
It makes sense to me to use charcoal left after some initial use of wood burned in stoves, and in filters. It does not make any sense to me to grow and then burn material just to make charcoal to bury in the ground.
Name: Christie Central Ohio 43016 (Zone 6a) Plays on the water.
Agreed. My way is slower, but I just keep plugging along. Most of my beds have SOME bio char. I have a small bed with none, but it is getting my next batch. I love having a small fire in my fireplace, so I just use that charcoal. It does get my hands dirty, but it washes off very easily so not a problem. If I had a fish tank, I would probably use that charcoal also.
It is atmospheric carbon, not fossil carbon, so it has no effect on CO2 level. When you put it in the ground you are sequestering (for a while at least) the carbon in the soil. A balanced equation chemically.
Name: Christie Central Ohio 43016 (Zone 6a) Plays on the water.
CalPolygardener said: It is atmospheric carbon, not fossil carbon, so it has no effect on CO2 level. When you put it in the ground you are sequestering (for a while at least) the carbon in the soil. A balanced equation chemically.
The trees absorb CO2 from the air. Some of it is released when the charcoal is burned. the rest is sequestered in the ground.
Atmospheric CO2 ----> Tree--> Partial combustion ----> Atmospheric CO2
(Organic CO2 ) (Charcoal) +
Sequestered CO2
(Bio-char in the ground)
There may be some fossil CO2 to burn the wood in an oven, but if it's not 'cooked' there isn't. Natural gas and other mined sources of CO2 are the problem.
