The Charcoal Vision: A Win–Win–Win Scenario for Simultaneously Producing Bioenergy, Permanently Sequestering Carbon, while Improving Soil and Water Quality

• DOI: 10.2134/agronj2007.0161
• Publication Date: 2017-09-19T16:27:42Z
• Authors: David A. Laird
• Keywords: Charcoal

Processing biomass through a distributed network of fast pyrolyzers may be sustainable platform for producing energy from biomass. Fast thermally transform into bio‐oil, syngas, and charcoal. The syngas could provide the needs pyrolyzer. Bio‐oil is an raw material (∼17 MJ kg −1 ) that can burned to generate heat or shipped refinery processing transportation fuels. Charcoal also used energy; however, application charcoal co‐product soils key sustainability. Application hypothesized increase bioavailable water, build soil organic matter, enhance nutrient cycling, lower bulk density, act as liming agent, reduce leaching pesticides nutrients surface ground water. half‐life C in excess 1000 yr. Hence, soil‐applied will make both lasting contribution quality removed atmosphere sequestered millennia. Assuming United States annually produce 1.1 × 10 9 Mg harvestable forest crop lands, national implementation Vision would enough bio‐oil displace 1.91 billion barrels fossil fuel oil per year about 25% current U.S. annual consumption. combined credit displacement permanent sequestration, 363 Tg year, 10% average emissions CO 2 –C.