Post on 24-Aug-2020
Christoph Steiner, Bruno Glaser, Wenceslau G. Teixeira, Johannes Lehmann, Winfried E. H. Blum and Wolfgang Zech
Austrian Academy of ScienceUniversity of Bayreuth
Nitrogen Retention and Plant Uptake on a highly weathered central Amazonian Ferralsol amended with Compost and Charcoal
EUROSOIL 200825 – 29 AugustVienna, Austria
• Infertile Soils
•Low CEC
• leaching of mineral fertilizer
• Low soil organic matter contents
→ maximum 3 harvests
→ new burning
Amazonia Ferralsol
Terra PretaFerralsol
Terra Preta de Indio
B. Glaser
Cash crop farming
Irrigated horticulture lawn production
Terra Preta fertility
C. Steiner, UN climate change conference 2007; Bali – Indonesia, www.biochar.org
Terra Preta charcoal
Terra Preta fertility
Terra Preta research (Glaser et al. 2000)
Terra Preta: CEC = 4,6636 OC - 13,931R2 = 0,8286 ***
Ferralsol: CEC = 0,2166 OC + 4,579R2 = 0,1993 **
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
0 50 100 150OC [g kg-1]
CEC
eff
[mm
olc
kg-1
]
Days after fertilization0 10 20 30 40Am
mon
ium
cum
ulat
ive
leac
hing
[kg
ha-1
]
0
20
40
60
80
100
FerralsolFerralsol + fertilizerFerralsol + charcoalFerralsol + charcoal + fertilizerAnthrosolAnthrosol + fertilizer
LSD0.05
Terra Preta & Charcoal research (Lehmann et al. 2003)Reduced Ammonium leaching
~50% of C remains as charcoal
Amazonia Slash and Char as Alternative to Slash and Burn
~2% of C remains as charcoalPhoto: Steve Welch
C. Steiner, UN climate change conference 2007; Bali – Indonesia, www.biochar.org
Biochar Research Terra Preta Nova
http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Experimental station of EMPRAPA Amazonia Ocidental
Ca. 30km north of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil (3°8´S, 59°52´W; 40-50 m a.s.l.)
Humid tropical climate- 2500mm rainfall yr-1
- mean temperature 26°C
- mean humidity 84%
Research location
FAO: Xanthic Ferralsol
Terra Preta Ferralsol
Clay ~75%N g kg-1 < 2pH 6.3 3.7CEC [cmolc kg-1] 44 < 2P [g kg-1] 2 0.004Ca [g kg-1] 7.8 0.01C [g kg-1] 92 20-25
Zech et al. (1990)
Research soil characteristics (0-0.1m)
Organic Matterials in February 2001:The amount of OM was calculated after the C content and was approximately the charcoal yield of a 10-12 year old secondary forest (Uhl+Jordan 1984, Sanford 1985, Buschbacher 1988, Hölscher 1995)
• Increase Corg by 25% in 0-0.1 m
– Applied OM: Charcoal 11 t / haCompost 67 t /ha
First Mineral Fertilization (MF) in March 2001 : N (30), P (35), K (50), lime (2100)
Research setup
NPK fertilizer & charcoal NPK fertilizer without charcoal
Plants after 55 days
Research results, second harvest sorghum
Research results, cumulative yield
Steiner et al. (2008), Plant and Soil, n=5, means and SE
Second fertilization 15N
• Second Fertilization:April 2002 N (55 kg ha-1), P (40), K (50), lime (430)
• 15N isotope enrichment
• 15N labelled (NH4)2SO4 , 10 atom % 15N excess.
• Mixed in a ratio 1:1 with conventional (NH4)2SO4
Research tracer application
1 Control2 Litter3 Burned litter
4 Mineral fertilizer (MF)5 Chicken manure
6 Compost (CO)7 Charcoal powder
8 CO + MF9 Charcoal powder (CC) + MF10 ½ Charcoal powder + ½ OS
11 ½ Charcoal powder + ½ CO + MF12 Charcoal powder 25% + OS 12,5%
13 Charcoal powder + ½ CO + MF14&15 Charcoal pieces 25% + OS 12,5%
Research setup
Research results, total carbon
Steiner et al. (2008), J Plant Nutr Soil Sci, n=5, means and SE
Research results, total nitrogen
Steiner et al. (2008), J Plant Nutr Soil Sci, n=5, means and SE
Research results, C/N ratio
Steiner et al. (2008), J Plant Nutr Soil Sci, n=5, means and SE
Research results, increased N recovery
Steiner et al. (2008), J Plant Nutr Soil Sci, n=5, means and SE
Research results, increased N recovery15
N R
ecov
ery
%
MF
+CO
+CC+½CO + ½CC
+½CO+CC
CO= CompostCC= Charcoal
Sieving
Charcoal Use in Agriculture (Biochar)
C. Steiner, UN climate change conference 2007; Bali – Indonesia, www.biochar.org
Carbon negative EnergyBio-energy with charcoal carbon capture and storage (BECCCS)
www.biopact.com
Clean and efficient cooking biomass
Robert Flanagan, SAFFE
C. Steiner, UN climate change conference 2007; Bali – Indonesia, www.biochar.org
Corn cobs biomass/biochar
C. Steiner, UN climate change conference 2007; Bali – Indonesia, www.biochar.org
Robert Flanagan, SAFFE
200 Mg per day
60-75% BioOil
15 – 20% Charcoal
10-20% Non-condensable gases
Dynamotive fast pyrolysis
3R Agrocarbon European Zero Emission Carbonization Plant - EU FP6 RTD programme
Field demonstration plant in Hungary, Full scale is of 30,000 m3/yr throughput design
UGA Biorefining and Carbon Cycling Program
www.biorefinery.uga.eduwww.biochar.org