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November 11, 2005

Partially Burning Biomass May Reinvent Agriculture

Ames, Iowa [RenewableEnergyAccess.com]

Researchers say partially burning some of the residue left in corn fields (stalks, husks and cobs) after every fall's harvest produces products that can be used to improve soil fertility, boost in-soil storage of greenhouse gases and reduce the amount of natural gas used to produce anhydrous ammonia fertilizer.

"This new approach to agriculture has the goal of actually improving soils."

-- Robert C. Brown, Iowa State University, Bergles Professor in Thermal Science

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns recently announced a three-year study that will be supported by $1.85 million from the Biomass Research and Development Initiative, a joint project of the U.S. agriculture and energy departments. More than 670 research teams applied for initiative funding. Eleven won grants.

The leader of the Iowa State University researchers to study the process is Robert C. Brown, Iowa State's Bergles Professor in Thermal Science, who is said to describe the research as reinventing agriculture: Corn stover will be harvested from fields and partially burned to create charcoal and a bio-oil about as thick as motor oil. The bio-oil will be reacted with steam to produce hydrogen. That hydrogen will replace the natural gas typically burned to make anhydrous ammonia fertilizer. The fertilizer and charcoal will be incorporated into the soil.

"The conventional goal of good land stewardship is to minimize soil degradation and the amount of carbon released from the soil," said Brown. "This new approach to agriculture has the goal of actually improving soils."

Brown estimates a 640-acre farm could sequester the equivalent of 1,800 tons of carbon dioxide in the soil. That's the annual emissions created by about 340 cars.
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Reader Comments (4)
 
November 12, 2005
Composting, biological breakdown in soils and pyrolysis are all forms of combustion. If one removes the organic material, combusts it and returns a portion to the soil, that is less carbon to build up tilth. If there is excess stover, as proposed for biofuels, leaving enough on the soil, then, perhaps pyrolysis makes better sense. If the highest and best use for the carbon is back on the soil rather than as activated carbon for industrial use, then, maybe this idea makes sense.

The real question is whether corn/beans or corn/corn rotations with synthetic nitrogen makes sense environmentally or economically when there are other options. This looks like a last gasp hope to maintain a failing production system, subsidized in a global market place.
Comment 1 of 4
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November 13, 2005
I would like to offer the material handling technology I have developed and can be seen at http://www.aaecorp.com/ceo.html to Professor Brown in his ongoing research of the issues surrounding partially burning biomass to create charcoal and bio-oil. My SG system can handle and process loose or baled corn stover and many other forms of biomass.

Professor Brown please call 785-842-1943 to discuss this if interested, or please write Lbj4@mindspring.com for more information.
Comment 2 of 4
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November 14, 2005
It is very nice to return carbon to the soil. But it makes more sense to compare this process to traditional methods, not to current methods. How does this new process compare with simple rotting in place or plowing under? What if beans were planted, either in rotation or as a companion to the corn, to boost nitrogen. How does this compare to oil to hydrogen to fertilizer?
Comment 3 of 4
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May 17, 2007
There are two criticalfacts explaining the effectiveness of adding charcoal to soil to increase fertility and to sequester carbon. First is the fact that charcoal particles can easily adsorb nutrient molecules and equally easily give them up. Carbon is to nutrients what haemoglobin is to oxygen. Secondly, once plant material is turned to charcoal, the charcoal has a very very long life in the soil. It is hardly oxidized or acted upon by micro organisms at all. If all organic wastes from all the world's farms was carbonized and added to the soil, not only would a huge amount of carbon be removed from the atmosphere but the carbon which is added to the atmosphere(to produce energy) to produce fertilizers would be greatly reduced.
Comment 4 of 4
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