IBI Publications

June 2024. Created by IBI and HAMERKOP, this e-book provides a roadmap for biochar producers, investors, and stakeholders keen on understanding the intricacies of biochar carbon removal certification.

March 2024. This two-page fact sheet provides a beginner-level introduction to biochar as a multi-pronged solution to climate change for all audiences.

February 2024. This publication serves as a comprehensive guide for policymakers, researchers, and biochar stakeholders alike, offering insights into the potential of biochar as a solution. Through research, advocacy efforts, and investments, we can accelerate the adoption of biochar technologies and significantly reduce PFAS contamination.

October 2023. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Biochar and commissioned by IBI, ground-breaking research shows that biochar can play a significant role in global emissions reductions at the global and national levels. The research quantifies biochar’s CDR potential across 155 countries, with net removal potential on a national and global scale.

May 2023. From dairy farms to oilfields to landfills, biochar, best known for its carbon removal capability, is also a proven and highly effective method for keeping methane emissions out of the atmosphere.

October 2018. This paper reviews ways that biochar is being incorporated into coffee production and coffee processing systems to improve overall economic and environmental impacts.

July 2018. This paper reviews ways that biochar is being incorporated into maize production and processing systems to improve overall economic and environmental impacts.

February 2015. This paper provides information on the use of biochar in composting and highlights the potential benefits, including the ability to accelerate the process of composting and reduce the loss of nutrients.

July 2014. IBI and Cornell University worked with the World Bank to identify promising biochar systems in developing countries in order to help direct potential funding for biochar projects. More than 150 responses from 43 countries form the basis for the report.

June 2013. This white paper briefly explores experiences of pyrolysis and gasification of biosolids as a waste management strategy, and research into biosolids biochar (BSB) as a soil amendment.

May 2013. This research summary highlights the impact of biochar on crop yield, economic performance, fertilizer use efficiency and soil fertility, water uptake/availability, mycorrhizal fungi colonization and microbial activity, and greenhouse gas flux measured and reported in peer-reviewed, published field studies.

June 2012. This paper outlines the specific characteristics of poultry litter (PL) biochar based on existing research and literature, a limited number of demonstration projects in the US, and the potential market opportunities for this type of biochar.

April 2012. This paper examines dioxins and how IBI has addressed them in the context of the Biochar Standards and Testing Guidelines.

Showing a 91% CAGR production growth rate from 2021 to 2023, IBI and the US Biochar Initiative (USBI) released the 2023 Global Biochar Market Report. This study, the first industry- produced global research since 2015, highlights the significant strides and potential of biochar as a CDR technology, under- scoring its increasing role as a climate change solution.

A 23-page illustrated guide providing information on techniques for applying biochar in different agricultural systems.

A 32-page document that covers all aspects of designing and setting up a biochar experiment in a nursery or field plot. This guide covers quick and easy methods for testing biochar suitability, designing replication and controls, how to do soil testing, and how to analyze your results.

A 32-page document to assist in the development and testing of small pyrolysis plants. This guide provides advice on equipment design and testing as well as the specification and testing of the biochar product.

This document contains tests to determine whether a biochar material contains compounds that are potentially harmful to plants.

Boletín Técnico de IBI #101. Pruebas para verificar la seguridad del biochar.

This document contains practical aspects of biochar application to tree crops.

This document contains ideas for using biochar to create artwork in the landscape.

A simple guide for testing biochar in soil.

This all encompassing book on biochar is edited by Johannes Lehmann and Stephen Joseph, published by Routledge. The second edition, published in 2015, contains a significant increase in biochar research and publications, in-depth news coverage, and a growing commercial industry.

Burn, authored by Albert Bates and IBI Board Chair Kathleen Draper, looks beyond renewable biomass or carbon capture energy systems to offer a bigger and bolder vision for the next phase of human progress, moving carbon from wasted sources.