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The production of char, via controlled gasification/pyrolysis (GP), has been noted to bring about desirable properties in relation to surface area, porosity and absorption properties of the products. Researchers at Carbolea are aware of the massive potential of biomass char as a plant growth promoter T Indeed, it is considered that a biomass to char GP unit could be carbon negative, given that part of the carbon dioxide sequestered by the plant during its growth is permanently locked away from the atmosphere when the char is added to soil.
These chars have also been noted to reduce the emissions of the greenhouse gas N2O from the soil and to trap nitrates and dissolved organics from drainage waters.
Thus, chars potentially provide added value as soil amenders, improving plant yields, pollutant remediation, a source of carbon credits, and the gases evolved in their generation are sources of energy.
There is now a world-wide interest in applications of chars as soil amenders, as evidenced by the enthusiastic responses at the 1st Biochar and Biofuels Conference held in Terrigal, NSW, Australia in May, 2007 and the subsequent meeting in Newcastle the following year.
Carbolea's Prof. Michael Hayes is on the executive board of the International Biochar Initiative. We have active projects involved in the pyrolysis of feedstocks and in plant growth trials using the resulting biochar. We also have extensive experience in the analysis of terra preta soils as shown in the downloadable materials at the end of this webpage.
Please see the project page for our Science Foundation Ireland sponsed biochar research project to see specific details on our research.
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Etelvino Novotny at a Terra Preta site in Brazil. He has carried out highly detailed analyses of these soils. |
A major project is underway involving the production of biochar and the analysis of its properties and how these influence its utility as a plant growth promoter, pollution remediant, and means for sequestering atmospheric carbon.
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A laboratory scale pyrolysis/gasification unit has been designed and built. This facility will shortly be operational at Carbolea and will be used to process a variety of residues, wastes and dedictaed agricultural crops..
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Further Details |
Dr. Etelvino Novotny
Internationally recognised for his applications of NMR to studies of the compositions of soil humic substances, and of the biologically oxidized chars isolated from the Terra Preta de indio soils of the Amazon region..
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Further Details |
Corinna Byrne
PhD Student. Corinna is investigating the nature and the associations of the organic matter in selected representative Irish grassland soil types.
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Here are some recent news articles relevant to this project, for more news articles please refer to the News webpage.
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A paper has been published containing work by Carbolea members on the pyrolysis of the acid hydrolysis residues that are produced as a byproduct of the DIBANET process. The paper is entitled "Characterisation of the products from pyrolysis of residues after acid hydrolysis of Miscanthus" and can be downloaded from ScienceDirect or directly from Carbolea.
Abstract: Platform chemicals such as furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural are major products formed during the acid hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass in second generation biorefining processes. Solid hydrolysis residues (HR) can amount to 50 wt.% of the starting biomass materials. Pyrolysis of the HRs gives rise to biochar, bio-liquids, and gases. Time and temperature were variables during the pyrolysis of HRs in a fixed bed tubular reactor, and both parameters have major influences on the amounts and properties of the products. Biochar, with potential for carbon sequestration and soil conditioning, composed about half of the HR pyrolysis product. The amounts (11–20 wt.%) and compositions (up to 77% of phenols in organic fraction) of the bio-liquids formed suggest that these have little value as fuels, but could be sources of phenols, and the gas can have application as a fuel.
Melligan, F., Dussan, K., Auccaise, R., Novotny, E. H., Leahy, J. J., Hayes, M. H. B., Kwapinski, W. (2012) Characterisation of the products from pyrolysis of residues after acid hydrolysis of Miscanthus, Bioresource Technology, 108, 258-263
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Michael Hayes today gave a presentation at CHEMRAWN XIX in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His talk covered many of the areas of study at Carbolea, including the DIBANET project and biochar. The presentation can be downloaded here. Another presentation was given by Prof. Roger Swift, of the University of Queensland, in conjunction with Prof. Hayes on Sep 29th. That presentation can be downloaded here.
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A paper, entitled "Pressurised pyrolysis of Miscanthus using a frixed bed reactor" has been published.It can be downloaded from ScienceDirect or directly from Carbolea.
Abstract: Miscanthus x giganteus was pyrolysed, in a fixed bed reactor in a constant flow of dinitrogen gas, at a rate of 13 °C/min from ambient to 550 °C, then held for 25 min at this temperature. The pressures employed ranged from atmospheric to 26 bar. The major compounds identified in the bio-oil were water, phenol, and phenol derivatives. The water contents impact on the usefulness of the bio-oil as a fuel. However, the phenols could provide useful platform chemicals and products.
Melligan, F., Auccaise, R., Novotny, E. H., Leahy, J. J., Hayes, M. H. B., Kwapinski, W. (2011) Pressurised pyrolysis of Miscanthus using a frixed bed reactor, Bioresource Technology, 102, 3466-3470
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Carbolea member Daniel Hayes today gave a presentation on the subject of biochar to the EPA Waste to Resource Conference in Dublin. That presentation can be downloaded here.
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Corinna Byrne and Prof. Michael Hayes attended the 3rd International Biochar Conference: IBI 2010, in Rio de Janeiro, September 12 – 15, 2010. Corinna gave a presentation on biochar from biorefinery residuals. The residuals from the DIBANET biorefinery process are subjected to pyrolytic processing at different reactor temperatures and at different hot vapour and solids residence times in order to determine the optimum processing conditions for the production of the biochar, bio-oil, and syngas pyrolysis products. A detailed characterization of the biochars was carried out and the efficacies of the biochars were tested for the promotion of plant growth and for uses as soil amenders. Biochars from Miscanthus x giganteus, pine, and willow were compared with those of the pyrolysed residuals from the biorefining of Miscanthus, and maize (Zea mays L) seedlings were grown on soil amended with these biochars. The paper can be downloaded here and the presentation here.
Prof. Hayes gave a presentation on the development of a biochar classification system by the Carbolea research group. It is very important to develop a biochar preparation nd testing protocol that that will allow classification of biochar products in terms of their properties for uses in agriculture. The paper can be downloaded here.
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Carbolea members present their research at the 15th Meeting of the International Humic Substances Society “Humic Substances and the Maintenance of Ecosystem Services”, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain 27th June – 2nd July 2010.
Michael H.B. Hayes has been invited to give a keynote lecture on ‘Evolution of Modern Concepts of the Compositions of Humic Substances’. The presentation will look at how research using advanced analytical techniques has shaped our knowledge about the compositions of humic substances.
Michael will also present a paper co-authored by Corinna M.P. Byrne and colleagues Prof. Roger S. Swift and Dr. Andre J. Simpson. This paper “Humin: The Simplest of the Humic Substances?” will describe in details how the structure of humin, the most recalcitrant fraction of soil organic matter, has been unravelled. The paper can be downloaded here.
A poster on “Changes in dissolved organic matter losses from soils under different management” authored by Corinna M.P. Byrne, Michael H.B. Hayes and Dr. Andre J Simpson will be presented which summaries the research finding recently published by Byrne et al., 2010 in Water Research. This poster can be downloaded here and the paper here.
Oceans are the largest global carbon pool and are estimated to hold approximately 38,000 PgC (petagrams of carbon). The oceanic sediments contain 150 Pg of organic matter (OM). Rosaleen Mylotte will present her work on the Study of Estuarine Sediments in Galway Bay, Ireland both orally and by poster. This work, co-authored by Prof. Michael HB Hayes and Dr. Catherine Dalton (Mary Immaculate College, Limeick, Ireland), examines core samples from the transitional waters in Galway Bay. A main focus of the study is the effect that the estuary is having on the bay especially, with regards to the organic matter (OM) present. OM is washed into the Bay from the River Corrib and its tributary streams. OM is a reservoir of carbon (in sediments) and an important sink. Studying the organic and inorganic colloidal components contained within the estuarine sediments can give indications of changes that have occurred over time to the composition of the matter transported to the estuary and will provide an insight into the composition of carbon sequestered in the sediments. The project is studying in detail the compositions of the HS at different depths and their associations with the sediments. The poster can be downloaded here.
Research data from Carbolea’s work on Biochar will also be presented in Tenerife. A paper entitled “Properties of Biochar Produced from Miscanthus x giganteus and its Influence the Growth of Maize (Zea mays L.)” authored by Dr. Witold Kwapinski, P. Wolfram, Corinna M.P. Byrne, Fergus Melligan, Dr. Etelvino H. Novotny, Dr. J.J. Leahy, Prof. Michael H.B. Hayes, will be presented which summaries the research finding recently published by Kwapinski et al., 2010 in Waste and Biomass Valorization. The IHSS paper abstract can be downloaded here.
Work on the “Extraction of High-Value Lipids from Irish Peats” will be presented as a poster by Raymond McInerney, co-authored by Daniel J. Hayes, Dr. J.J. Leahy and Prof. Michael HB. Hayes.
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A paper by members of Carbolea entitled “Biochar from Biomass and Waste” has been published in the new journal Waste and Biomass Valorization. This paper examines the roles that soil amendments with biochar can have on soil fertility, carbon sequestration, on the emissions of greenhouse gases from soil, on fertilizer requirements, and on waste management. Results from Carbolea research are presented, showing that biochars produced under different conditions can have varying effects in plant growth. This further strengthens the need for a biochar classification system. The paper can be downloaded here.
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Corinna Byrne recently presented a paper at the 2nd annual UK Biochar Conference which was held at Rothamsted Research 28th-29th April 2010.
The overall purpose of the conference was to enable those interested or actively researching biochar to come together to discuss biochar from an inter-disciplinary perspective.
The first day involved keynote presentations setting the scene for biochar as an agricultural and carbon storage product, and identify the key research questions. The second day was dedicated to a detailed examination of emerging research data around biochar production, soil interactions, life cycle analysis, economic appraisal and so on. Over the two days 130 delegates attended the meeting.
Corinna presented the biochar research under way in Carbolea. Her presentation can be viewed here or on the Downloads page. The abstract can be seen here.
The effect of additions of biochar on plant germination was examined and it was shown that biochar produced at 400ºC suppressed plant growth, while biochar from the higher temoerature of 600ºC increase plant growth. This highlighted the need to developing a biochar classification system to establish the preparation criteria that will give rise to biochars with properties that have desired effects. This classification system will indicate the value of various biochars for different applications. Work is underway in Carbolea to determine which biochar is most suitable to increase plant growth under Irish conditions.
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The webpage detailing our work on the production, analysis and evaluation of biochar has been updated. In particular there are pictures and data on the observations as to how various biochars influence the germination of Maize plants. It has been noticed that there is a siginificant positive effect in the first month of plant growth, when compared with controls, for biochar amended soils. It is hypothesised that this is due to hormonal effects from chemicals (probably from the bio-oil vapours) sorbed on to the biochars. Katerina Kryachko and Witold Kwpainski are the persons with most involvement in this project. More details can be found on the appropriate webpage.
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Erasmus exchange student Renata Wnetrzak today joinded the Carbolea team. Her primary roles will be in the pyrolysis of various feedstocks and in the characterisation of the products formed. She will also work on means for upgrading the bio-oil that is produced.
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Corinna Byrne recently attended the North American Biochar Conference in Boulder, Colorado, the home of the Rocky Mountains. The big news from the conference was that Carbon Gold has put forward a methodology to the Voluntary Carbon Standard for carbon sequestration by biochar. They state:
“The project category applies where it is possible to ensure (for example through optimising the temperature at which materials are pyrolysed) that the pyrolysed residues are no longer prone to combustion or decomposition. The pyrolysed residues will only be considered biologically inert if the volatile-carbon/fixed-carbon ratio is equal to or lower than 50%”
This method is based on Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) small-scale methodology AMS-III.L: Avoidance of methane production from biomass decay through controlled pyrolysis. This CDM category is applicable to project activities where it is possible to ensure the pyrolysed residues are no longer prone to anaerobic decomposition. The pyrolysed residues will only be considered biologically inert if the volatile-carbon/fixed-carbon ratio is equal to or lower than 50%.
Concerns were raised about this at the conference. Analysis of biochars produced revealed that few contained a volatile-carbon/fixed-carbon ratio equal to or lower than 50%. This emphasises the need for more rigid and realistic paramters to be established for setting biochar standards.
In the meantime, the fight for the retention of Biochar in Article 134 of the draft text for Copenhagen is still ongoing. Debbie Reed is hopeful that they can managed to keep biochar on the table at the next round of talks.
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Corinna Byrne gave a presentation at the Feasta "Emergency Conference: Managing Risk and Building Resilience in a Resource Constrained World" (10-12 June, 2009). She examined the policies needed to get Irish land to absorb CO2 rather than release it. She reviewed the role that biochar could play in reducing nitrous oxide and methane emissions and building up the fertility and carbon content of the soil. A video of it the presentation be watched here or below.
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In a recorded interview with Eleanor Burnhill of the RTE Morning Ireland Programme Professors Michael Hayes and Julian Ross outlined the ongoing studies on the utilisations of biomass at the Carbolea Group, located in the CES Department of the University of Limerick. They stressed how biorefining operations give platform chemicals, fuels and fuel additives, and biorefinery residuals (BRs), and indicated how pyrolysis of BRs gives bio-oil, which can be upgraded to fuel additive grade, biochar, an excellent soil amender and carbon sequesterer, and fuel gases. Excerpts from the recording have been used in Morning Ireland programmes. At a Biochar meeting at the University of Edinburgh on April 1, Professor Hayes spoke with Jerry Harrison, a Harvard graduate in the Environmental Sciences area, and a former lead musician with the famed Talking Heads. Jerrry has a strong interest in biochar. Hayes informed Miss Burnhill of the Harrison interest. When she interviewed him for Morning Ireland he reiterated his belief in the environmental benefits of Biochar, and indicated that he had interested Bono in the benefits of the product. |
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Corinna presented at the annual Irish Bioenergy Association (Irbea) conference on the 22nd of January. She introduced the Carbon Cycles and Sinks Network and spoke about the development of a sustainable, carbon-sequestering bioenergy industry in Ireland through the on –going research at Carbolea on biorefining and biochar. The presentation can be downloaded here. |
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Several members of Carbolea attended the 2008 Conference for the International Biochar Initiative. This was located in Newcastle, England and saw a significant increase in attendance from the 2007 conference, based in Terrigal, Australia, which was also attended by Carbolea.
Prof. Michael Hayes made a keynote presentation under the session entitled "Biochar Characterisation". He discussed the advanced biochar characterisation techniques that have been developed at Carbolea and there were also several posters by the group on display. The presentation can be downloaded from the website.
There can potentially be a major role for biochar in carbon sequestration and soil fertility and Carbolea hopes to be strongly involved in this through our current and forthcoming projects. The origins of interest in biochar are outlined with especial focus on the enhanced ferertility conferred on the Terra Preta soils from biochar amendments by pre-Columbian native Indians. The fact that the surface area of 10 g of biochar is equivalent to the area of the Croke Park playing field highlights the immense reactive surface that it provides. Solid state nuclear magnetic resonance data indicate compositional aspects, and differences of biochars formed under varied reaction conditions. Reference is made to the refuges that biochars provide for fungi and bacteria that can influence plant growth, and the growth enhancing effect for plants is shown.. |
Melligan, F., Dussan, K., Auccaise, R., Novotny, E. H., Leahy, J. J., Hayes, M. H. B., Kwapinski, W. (2012) Characterisation of the products from pyrolysis of residues after acid hydrolysis of Miscanthus, Bioresource Technology, 108, 258-263
Download
Melligan, F., Auccaise, R., Novotny, E. H., Leahy, J. J., Hayes, M. H. B., Kwapinski, W. (2011) Pressurised pyrolysis of Miscanthus using a frixed bed reactor, Bioresource Technology, 102, 3466-3470
Download
Hayes, M. H. B., Haverty, D., Byrne, C. M. P., Melligan, F. J., Novotny, E. H., Wolfram, P., Leahy, J. J., Kwapinski, W. (2010) Biochar from Biorefinery Residuals, pp. 22-23, 3rd International Biochar Conference IBI 2010, Rio de Janeiro 12-15 Sept 2010. Processing for Terra Preta de Índios to the whole world.
Download
Hayes, M. H. B., Byrne, C. M. P., Kwapinski, W., Wolfram, P., Melligan, F. J., Novotny, E. H., Leahy, J. J. (2010), Development of a Biochar Classification System Based on Plant Growth Effects. Page 93-94. 3rd. International Biochar Conference: IBI 2010, Rio de Janeiro, 12-15 Sept. 2010. Processing for Terra Preta de Índios to the whole world.
Download
Kwapinski, W., Byrne, C. M. P., Kryachko, E., Wolfram, P., Adley, C., Leahy, J. J., Novotny, E., Hayes, M. H. B., 2010. Biochar from Biomass and Waste. Waste and Biomass Valorization 1(2), 177-189
Download
Hayes, M. H. B. (2006) Biochar and biofuels for a brighter future. Nature 443, 144
Download
Novotny, E. H., Hayes, M. H. B., deAzevedo, E. R., Bonagamba, T. J. (2006), Characterisation of black carbon-rich samples by 13C solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, Naturwissenschaften 93, 447-450
Download
Novotny, E. H., deAzevedo, E. R., Bonagamba, T. J., Cunha, T. J. F., Madari, B. E., Benites, V. M., Hayes, M. H. B. (2007), Studies of the compositions of humic acids from Amazonian Dark Earth soils, Environ. Sci. Technol. 41, 400-405.
Download
"Biochar Produced by Pyrolysis and its Effects on Plant Growth and Carbon Sequestration" - A presentation given by Prof. Roger Swift, of the University of Queensland, in conjunction with Prof. Hayes on Sep 29th 2011 at CHEMRAWN XIX in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Download
"Biochar from Biorefinery Residuals" - A presentation given by Corinna Byrne at the 3rd International Biochar Conference: IBI 2010, in Rio de Janeiro, September 12 – 15, 2010.
Download
"Pyrolysis and the Production and Utilisation of Biochar" - Presented by Daniel Hayes on the subject of biocharto the EPA Waste to Resource Conference in Dublin on Sept. 27th 2010.
Download
"Biochar from Miscanthus and its Effects on Plant Growth" - A presentation that Corinna made at the the 2nd annual UK Biochar Conference which was held at Rothamsted Research 28th-29th April 2010.
Download
"Biochar Characterization" - A keynote presentation by Prof. Michael Hayes at the 2008 Conference for the International Biochar Initiative (Sept 8-11, 2008). This presentation covers the advanced biochar and terra preta characterisation techniques that have been developed at Carbolea.
Download
"Pyrogenic Carbon" - A presentation by Etelvino Novotny on the pyrogenic carbon in soils (in particular the terra preta soils of Brazil).
Download
"Effect of Residual Vanadyl on the Spectroscopic Analysis of Humic Acids" - A presentation by Etelvino Novotny on the analysis of humic acids; of relevance to biochar and terra preta studies.
Download
"Enhancements of Soil Fertility from Biochar Amendments" - A poster by Katerina Kryachko detailing the plant growth trials that have taken place utilising biochar as a soild amendment.
Download
"Biochar and Plant Growth" - An earlier poster by Katerina Kryachko on biochar plant growth trials.
Download
"Biomass Pyrolysis and Gasification and Their Applications" - A poster by Witold Kwapinski detailing the Carbolea research areas of pyrolysis and gasification.
Download
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This is a video of a presentation by Corinna Byrne at the Feasta "Emergency Conference: Managing Risk and Building Resilience in a Resource Constrained World" (10-12 June, 2009). She examined the policies needed to get Irish land to absorb CO2 rather than release it. She reviewed the role that biochar could play in reducing nitrous oxide and methane emissions and building up the fertility and carbon content of the soil. A video of it the presentation be watched here or below.
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