Project Profiles
Setting up field trials in Western Kenya with the ACON project. Photo courtesy of Salim Shaban.
Big Char unit from Black is Green - ready to operate. Photo courtesy of James Joyce.
The 3R Agrocarbon Pyrolysis Unit. Photo courtesy of Edward Someus
Geoff Moxham showcases his kiln for Project 540 in Australia. Photo courtesy of Geoff Moxham.
IBI encourages its members to submit write ups of their work to share with the wider community. In addition to the Project Profiles below, IBI members can read about others' work and submit their own information to the IBI searchable member/projects database. IBI is collecting this information to increase the ability of those working in biochar to collaborate, share data, and advise their peers.
Additionally, regional biochar groups may be operating or forming in your area--these groups focus on specific issues on a local or regional level. To look for upcoming meetings or conferences, see the IBI Calendar.
The Australia and New Zealand Biochar Researcher's Network website also has a large number of biochar project descriptions from Australia and New Zealand.
Project Profiles
Project Profiles are monthly articles in the IBI newsletter that highlight those working in biochar around the world. Please note that the inclusion of a project does not mean that IBI endorses the methods or results. All projects are strictly submissions to IBI.
Click on any of the links below for a full write up.
- Rapeseed Bio-Diesel and Rice Husk Charcoal: A model for a recycling society through a partnership between Higashiomi City and KANSAI Corporation (as featured in the August 2010 Newsletter).
- Landscape Ecology: Creating a Market for Biochar in Hawaii through Field Trials and Public Outreach: Josiah Hunt's work to set up a biochar business in Hawaii (as featured in the August 2010 Newsletter).
- The Biochar Engineering Corporation: Expanding a Start up Biochar Company: BEC's work in engineering new pyrolysis units (as featured in the July 2010 Newsletter).
- Using Improved Cookstoves and Biochar in Western Kenya: African Christian Organization Network (ACON) work in Kenya to improve cooking and farming techniques (as featured in the June 2010 Newsletter).
- Burt's Greenhouses: Using Co-Generation to Heat and Produce Biochar: Write up on work to produce biochar while heating the greenhouses in Canada (as featured in the May 2010 Newsletter).
- Biochar at Heritage High, USA: Featuring student biochar projects at a highschool in the US (as featured in the May 2010 Newsletter).
- World Stove: Transforming Haiti and the World: Nathaniel Mulcahy's work to provide biochar-producing stoves and jobs in Haiti (as featured in the April 2010 Newsletter).
- Pro-Natura and Garden work in Senegal: Feature on new agricultural work in Senegal including biochar from Voice of America (VOA).
- BlueLeaf Inc: Setting up large-scale biochar field trials in Canada: Analysis of BlueLeaf field trials set up in Quebec (as featured in the March 2010 Newsletter).
- Dynamotive: Building Biochar Technologies and Markets: Using fast pyrolysis systems to produce bio-oils and biochar from waste biomass (as featured in the March 2010 Newsletter).
- Smell the Coffee, Not the Smoke: Biochar Stoves on Coffee Farms in Central America: Good coffee and great biochar are a match made in heaven. Especially since one product of that match is a cleaner cook stove for migrant coffee pickers who often have only open fires to cook on (as featured in the February 2010 IBI Newsletter).
- Black is Green (BiG): Producing Biochar with a Mobile Pyrolysis Unit in Australia: Using a mobile pyrolysis unit to make biochar from sugarcane residues left in agricultural fields (as featured in the January 2010 IBI Newsletter).
- 3R Environmental Technologies, LTD: Pyrolysis Technology in Hungary: A description of Edward Someus's 3R Agrocarbon Technology which after years of research, development and testing, has received a European Union (EU) Authority permit to offer agrocarbon for open field application on low input and organic farms in Europe (as featured in the November 2009 IBI Newsletter).
- Exceptional Results from Biochar Experiment in Cameroon: Chris Goodall's report on the BiocharFund work in Cameroon with biochar used in maize plots (as featured in the October 2009 IBI Newsletter).
- 20 Years of Biochar in Costa Rica: IBI board member Stephen Joseph visited a successful biochar compost facility in Costa Rica along with Gabi Soto of the Center for Tropical Agriculture Research and Teaching (CATIE) and other colleagues (as featured in the September 2009 IBI Newsletter).
- Dr Paul Blackwell: Using Biochar Mineral Complexes in Arid Zones: Highlighting the use of biochar mineral complexes to improve soils in Western Australia (as featured in June 2009 IBI Newsletter).
- Pro-Natura: Using Green Charcoal for Sustainable Development: Working with farmers in Senegal to utilize biochar for improved agriculture (as featured in March 2009 IBI Newsletter).
- Project 540: Biochar Kiln Designs for Small Farms in Australia: Creating open space plans for small biochar kilns to be used in farm settings (as featured in February 2009 IBI Newsletter).
- Using Chicken Litter for Biochar in West Virginia, United States: Poultry farmer Josh Frye discusses his gasifier system for using poultry litter to heat barns and produce biochar (as featured in October 2008 IBI Newsletter).