Building NW Biochar Marketsnwbiochar.org/.../attached/intro-trm-building-nw-biochar-markets.pdfBuilding NW Biochar Markets An Introduction to Biochar Products, Markets, and Opportunities

NW Biochar Working Group Harvesting Clean Energy Conference

LaSells Stewart Center, Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon January 28, 2013

Building NW Biochar Markets An Introduction to Biochar Products, Markets,

and Opportunities

Tom Miles T R Miles Technical Consultants Inc

Portland, OR www.trmiles.com

Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved

http://www.trmiles.com/�

NW Biochar Working Group Jan 28 2013

Agenda

1:30-2:00 Welcome and Introduction: Marcus Kauffman—Oregon Dept. of Forestry Biochar Market Overview: Tom Miles—TR Miles Technical Consultants

2:00-2:30 Biochar in Retail Garden and Nursery Markets: Renel Anderson—Biochar Supreme and Tom Grissom—International Tech Corporation (ITC) 2:30-3:15 Biochar Integrated with Heat and Power—Jerry Whitfield—Whitfield Biochar, John Meidema—BioLogical Carbon and Dean Foor—EC Oregon, and Neil Walgren—Cool Planet Energy Systems 3:14—3:45 Networking and Poster Session Break 3:45-4:30 Biochar Application in Stormwater, Commercial Landscaping and Erosion Control: Robin Cook—Permamatrix, Jeff Hart—Kennedy Jenks, Tom Miles—TR Miles Technical Consultants, Jeff Nason—OSU, and Jim Archuleta—USDA Forest Service • 4:30-5:00 The Pathway Forward—Facilitated Discussion: Marcus Kauffman—ODF •Vision •Market development pathways •Key demonstration projects •Ideas for moving forward

Thank You • Climate Solutions and Harvesting Clean Energy • Oregon State University • NW Biochar Working Group (115 members) • Oregon Department of Forestry • Washington Department of Ecology • PNW Biochar Initiative/Biological Carbon • Whitfield Biochar • Washington State University • US Biochar Initiative • International Biochar Initiative • Speakers


Objectives • Inform each other • Plan market development –priority opportunities, challenges

Growers, - Garden, Crops, Hort Farmers, Foresters Organics Recycling, Compost Soil scientists, Agronomists Civil and Environmental Engineers Landscape Architects

Biochar producers Brokers Soil Blenders Biochar consumers

Industry – Government – Academia Participants Public Agencies Local, State, Federal Research

Value Stream 70-80% Gas 5 MMBtu $25-$150

20-30% Char

2000 lb at 50% Carbon $20-60

500 lb Carbon $50-$250 NW Biochar Working Group Jan 28 2013

NW Biochar Producers or Suppliers

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Why Produce Biochar in the Pacific Northwest? • Locally produced • Natural product • Sustainable • Creates recycling opportunities and adds value to

abundant local agricultural and forest resources • Adds environmental and economic value • Needed in key local markets for agricultural production,

environmental protection and resource management • Can be integrated into existing energy and agricultural

resource infrastructure for production, marketing and distribution

• Can be produced and sold at a profit to maintain jobs NW Biochar Working Group Jan 28 2013

PNW Biochar Products

Ecofeed 5-2-3 Organic Fertilizer ecotracorganics.net

Garden Char/Blue Sky Biochar www.internationaltechcorp.net

Char King www.char-king.com

Whitfield Biochar www.whitfieldbiochar.com

CarbonCultures www.carboncultures.com www.permamatrix.com

Conichar www.conichar.com

www.idachar.com

Biochar Supreme www.biocharsupreme.com


http://www.internationaltechcorp.net/�

Produce biochar to rebuild and sustain soil and sequester carbon.

Retain water (WHC) Increase pH (soil liming) Supply and retain nutrients – ash + cation exchange

(CEC) Improve water quality (filtration, adsorption,

precipitation) Reduce compaction – Improve porosity (soil, compost) – Improve hydraulic conductivity (soil, filter media) – Promote growth of microorganisms – Resist disease (induced disease resistance) – Recalcitrance - cycles slowly through carbon cycle NW Biochar Working Group Jan 28 2013

Develop biochar products suited to NW markets

Agricu

lture

Biomass/O

rganics

Forestr

y

Storm

water

Remediat

ion

Ecosys

tem Servi

ces

Products ~ ~ ~ ~ ?Product Line/Value

Product Research

Market PerformanceMarket Potential ? ? ? ? ?Market Share

Sales Forecasts

PromotionAdvertising Research

Personal Selling

DistributionDistribution channels

Location Analysis

PricingPrice $0.01-$1.00/lb ? ? ? ? ?Price Policy

Other Industry Analysis/Competition


Variety of Biochar Products • Biochar (fines, chips, chunks, pellets) • Formulated biochar products for growing

media – Biochar + compost/compost tea + minerals +

nutrients – Inoculated biochar (microorganisms, compost) – Granulated char formulations (manures, meal )

• Activated biochar – – bioactivation (composted char – terra preta) – steam or chemical activation

• Biochar enhanced products (1%-50%) – Specialty mulch – roadside vegetation – Seed coating – Filtration products (stormwater) – Manure conditioning or composting – Odor control for manure or composts


Agriculture: Opportunities and Challenges


Agriculture: Biochar Products, Markets and Research

• Products and Markets – Retail Garden Markets – Organic Growers – DIY Biochar – Vermicompost/Vermichar – Specialty crops – primarily organic – Anaerobic Digestion and biochar (Junction City) – Manure management – litter odor and nutrients – Turf management (Ecotrac Organics, Permamatrix)

• Research and Demonstration – Soils (OSU - Pendleton) – Seed coating (USDA FS Pendleton) – Seed screenings char (OSU USDA ARS) – Crops and Soils (OSU/WSU USDA ARS Corp and Soils)


Biochar Supreme www.biocharsupreme.com

Garden Char/Blue Sky www.internationaltechcorp.net

http://www.internationaltechcorp.net/�

Opportunity: Provide sustainable carbon to production agriculture.

Challenges: affordable conversion, field application.

Method:

Add 200-lb C/acre/year to grow sustainable COOL FOOD www.dyarrow.org/cool-food (e.g. COOL VEGE carbon minus)

Direct Application

Or

Add 5% - 100lb biochar/ton – to compost

www.yeomansplow.com.au

Keyline Plow


http://www.dyarrow.org/cool-food�


McGreevy and Shibata Kyoto University 2010 http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20000347

Cool Vege Carbon Minus Project Scheme

1000kg/ha/yr 890 lb/acre/yr

10% pay 10% more

http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20000347�

1 CY + 5 CY = 3 t/a FOREST RESIDUES PRUNINGS TEAR OUTS URBAN WOOD

SEEDS HUSKS HULLS

BIOMASS ASH HEAT AND POWER

+

ORGANICS

AD SOLIDS FORAGE HOPS MINT GREEN WASTE Row Crops

Orchard Berries Vineyards

COOL FOOD CO-COMPOST


“surface oxidation can be accelerated by microbial aging”

Wiedner, Glaser 2012

Field Crops - COOL GRASS SEED: Open burning in the Willamette Valley 1940-1980 sanitized fields, improved

seed quality, sequestered carbon and polluted air. • Open Field Burning 1930s to 1977

– Burned straw and stubble to control blind seed disease – Disease controlled by 1948

• 4 tons/acre, 100 acres/hr • 270,000 acres/year

• Benefits

– Seed quality – Reduced disease w/o chemicals – Returned nutrients and carbon – 1%-2% or 80-160 lb C/acre – Carbon 20,000 t/y C

• Costs (2012)

– $4/a (w/o fee), $50/tC – Air quality, health, safety Respirable particulate (<10µm)

• Consequence

– Black Tuesday (1969) – Regulation (1969ff) – Phase Out and Termination (1980s)

Consulting Engineers’ Reports to the Oregon Field Sanitation Committee for 1974-76. F. Glen Odell and Thomas R. Miles. December 1974, 1976. NW Biochar Working Group Jan 28 2013

COOL GRASS SEED: Mobile Field Sanitizers removed straw, burned stubble to sanitize fields, reduced emissions, increased carbon, retained nutrients but were not economically feasible.

• Development /Field Testing 1969- 1977

• 3-6 acres/hr 1.5t/a, 4-8t/h • Benefits

– Efficient – Clean Emissions – Part. 90%>100µm – Nutrients on Field – Good regrowth/yield – ~200-300 lb C/acre

550 acres/machine/year (80 tC/yr) Costs (2012)

– Capital $125,000-$300,000 – Labor – two drivers – Operation – two tractors – Remove and sell 2 t/a straw – 20-30 acres/day – $138/a – $1000-1,400/t C

Thomas R. Miles, Combustion of Straw, Mobile and Stationary. Western States Section Combustion Institute 1977.


Biochar, Heat, and Power: Opportunities and Challenges


Biochar Heat and Power: Products, Markets and Research

• Products and Markets – Combined Heat and Biochar (Whitfield) – Anaerobic Digestion + Biochar (JC Biomethane) – Liquid Fuels + Biochar (Cool Planet)

• Research and Demonstration – Technology and Char characterization (WSU Garcia Perez) – Biomass + Biochar (OSU Smith)


Whitfield Biochar www.whitfieldbiochar.com

JC Biomethane Biological Carbon www.ecoregon.com

Cool Planet Biofuels www.coolplanetbiofuels.com

Storm water Filtration, Erosion Control, Remediation: Opportunities and Challenges


Stormwater, Erosion Control: Products, Markets and Research

• Products and Markets – Erosion/revegetation (Permamatrix) – Industrial filtration (Kennedy Jenks) – Roof Drains (Sunmark Environmental) – Filter socks – Bio-bags – Green Roof Media – Mine reclamation

• Research and Demonstration – WSU Puyallup – LID Bioretention (Hinman) – Water Quality Cu– OSU (Jeff Nason) – Green Roofs - PSU (Beck) – Stormwater Media Trials - Stanford (LeFevre)


www.permamatrix.com

WSU Low Impact Development www.wastormwatercenter.org/low-impact/

Kennedy Jenks Industrial Filtration www.kennedyjenks.com

Forestry: Opportunities and Challenges • Products and Markets

– Post Fire Seeding (Walking Point Farms/USFS)

– Erosion control (Permamatrix) – Seedling out-planting (Biological Carbon) – Slash Conversion (Carbon Cultures)

• Research and Demonstration – Forest Soils (U Idaho, MT) – Seed coating (USDA FS Umatilla NF) – Stream (U f Idaho Mark Coleman) – Charring slash piles (Carbon

Cultures/UW)


Post Fire Seeding www.fs.usda.gov/umatilla walkingpointfarms.com

NW Biochar Working Group Recommendations for Short and Long Term Actions

November 19, 2012

• Agriculture • Biomass/Organics Recycling • Forestry • Stormwater • Ecosystems Services


Agriculture: Short Term Actions • Identify environmental problems in agriculture that

specialized/customized chars may be able to address, e.g. Chesapeake Bay poultry runoff management, odor control in manure, reduce soil N2O emissions

• Develop a list of agricultural feedstocks where producing biochar on site

could solve an environmental problem and also where heat is already needed; e.g. hops, mint oil; the heat utilization could be the critical economic link

• Identify places (geographical proximity) where synergistic opportunities

exist to add biochar production (e.g. link an anaerobic digester, greenhouse, and biochar; pyrolysis heat goes to greenhouse, biochar goes to container mix and nutrient recovery from digester effluent, etc.). Might be an opportunity in the Mt Vernon area – dairies, flower greenhouses – NRCS CIG grant opportunity? Would need to be the national level

funding to be a large enough grant

NW Biochar Working Group Nov 2012


Agriculture: Long Term Actions • Demonstration of closed-loop system (energy and nutrients)

in dairy or poultry industry (Ohio has project underway) – Idaho, Westpoint Seattle digester, Farm power

• Develop greater understanding of biochar characteristics (effects of biochar aging, feedstock, process, particle size and post-production handling). Be able to generally understand what types of biochar elicit what sorts of responses.

• Develop actual end use specifications for different biochars similar to what the compost industry has done.



Markets and Priority Projects: Agriculture • Displace vermiculite and peat in greenhouses

• Correct soil condition or improve produce

quality in production agriculture


15% char + alfalfa

50% compo-char + bark


Biomass/Organics: Short Term Actions • Inventory biochar industry and markets to identify current efforts

and specific needs • Build public/private partnerships to drive R&D efforts: expand field

trials to prove long-term efficacy, develop regulatory approval, and adopt BMP requirements to support markets

• Informal advisory group to guide business planning (support through

Extension?) • Douglas fir bark char for stormwater, including field trials in Puyallup • Nutrient capture (nitrates, phosphates)

• Activated carbon for filtration, e.g. Biogenic Reagents in Fife

(feedstocks unknown) NW Biochar Working Group Nov 2012


Biomass/Organics: Long Term Actions • Only other source of predictable feedstock volumes,

pricing and characteristics appears to be various forms of mill waste

• Need to identify process technologies and off-takes for

char from inconsistent woody feedstocks, e.g. bioenergy facilities primarily producing syngas/biocrude

• Priority Projects:

– Recover wood waste to CHP, fuel and char – Use char to treat stormwater



Stormwater: Short Term Actions • Incorporate biochar (organic matter) in existing erosion

control, site restoration and remediation projects.

• Sell biochar to industrial stormwater sites, – Demonstrate uses – Monitor results

• Laboratory studies of removal – column tests for Total Cu, Zn • Fund collaborative monitoring and research (e.g. WSU

Puyallup, TAPE)

• Identify collaborators - companies, City, State, Fed, ports • Develop temporary special provision (WASHDOT), and

general specifications to include biochar. NW Biochar Working Group Nov 2012


Stormwater: Long Term Actions • Low Impact Development (LID) facilities or structures which requires

approval through demonstration and testing projects (TAPE, BMP). • Compare compost with biochar in column studies. These activities

are begun at WSU, Puyallup’s Bioretention stormwater testing facility. Multiyear testing is needed. Funding ($200K-$250K) is needed to fully build out the testing of biochar in these stormwater applications.

• Identify remediation demonstration projects with municipal, county

and port district staff. Funding by collaboration with state and federal sources.

• Networking with groups like Washington Organics Recycling Council,

US Compost Council or other compost organizations, and organics support organizations to build collaboration and field use opportunities.



Stormwater: Markets and Priority Projects • Use char for industrial roof drains (Port of Vancouver, Tacoma)

• Use char as organics (<35%) of media for bioswales(WA DOT) • Work with agencies to adopt standard methods • WSU Puyallup Bioretention Trials (3 year) • Elwha River Valley Restoration Project



Forestry: Short Term Actions • In forest opportunities:

– water filtration on road systems, – biochar in wattles, – seed coating to improve post fire re-establishment, – wildlife food plots for improving soils and food productivity, – restoring skid trails – re-establishing forest on road surfaces.

• Biochar with chitosan is already used in Baker tank filters. • Hydraulically applied for burned area recovery. But re-

seeding products need to be certified by USDA which is in testing.

• Review and improve performance of biochar in these

settings. NW Biochar Working Group Nov 2012


Forestry: Long Term Actions • Make char for fuel reduction • Mobile pyrolysis units for in-the-woods

processing. Transportable units add complexity, but a scale unit should be built and tested.

• Couple pyrolysis with timber harvest. WA DNR

noted that they will provide lead actions in the group.



Forestry: Markets and Priority Projects

• Integrate char into logging practices

• Apply char to field sites with debris piles for soils reforestation and/or stream side



Ecosystem Services – Opportunties and Challenges for carbon, sustainability, wildlife, climate. Ecosystem services “benefits that human communities enjoy as a result of natural processes and biological diversity.” Ecological values are defined as “clean air, clean and abundant water, fish and wildlife habitat and other values that are generally considered public goods.” (OR) Ecosystem services market is “a system in which providers of ecosystem services can access financing to protect, restore and maintain ecological values, including the full spectrum of regulatory, quasi-regulatory, and voluntary markets.” (OR) Biochar Products: carbon offsets; monetized carbon benefits, carbon sequestration, sustainability, impact investing, potential brokers, buyers, policy support.

Hurricane Sandy Approach - NOAA


Ecosystem Services: Markets and Priority Projects

• Develop a carbon market and trading value mechanism

• Develop a broadly accepted LCA for business case

• Integrate biochar into existing compost industry



www.biochar.bioenergylists.org TR Miles Technical Consultants, Inc. 1470 SW Woodward Way Portland, OR 97225 [email protected] www.trmiles.com 503-292-0107 503-780-8185 mobile

Design and development of energy and environmental processes Industries

Biomass energy Pollution control Materials handling Feed, Food and Fuels

http://www.biochar.bioenergylists.org/�

mailto:[email protected]�

http://www.trmiles.com/�

Documents

Building NW Biochar Marketsnwbiochar.org/.../attached/intro-trm-building-nw-biochar-markets.pdfBuilding NW Biochar Markets An Introduction to Biochar Products, Markets, and Opportunities