"Carbon Farming" for Palm Oil Plantation Part 4: Misperceptions Between Biochar and Ash

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Because biochar application to palm oil plantations are new, many of those who do not know and tend to equalize between biochar and ash as fertilizer for palm oil plantations. Though both are clearly very different. Judging from the occurrence of the biochar and the ash is very different. Biochar produced from pyrolysis process while the ash generated from the direct combustion (incinerator) or gasification.

Judging from biochar also many different functions of the ashes just as low quality mineral fertilizers, because biochar could be a home of microbes that will increase the soil fertility. Here are some of the reasons for the agricultural use of biochar:

-Reducing requirements for other inputs, such as conventional fertilizer

-Absorption of carbon from the atmosphere to reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

-Increase yield by overcoming obstacles to growth (eg, poor soil structure, low pH, etc.)

-Improve the quality of plant growth by overcoming obstacles (eg, poor nutrient absorption resulting in low protein content)

-Remediation of contaminated soil

-Improve the physical or aesthetic properties of the soil or growing media (for example, make it dark, lowering the density of pores or give to the soil and so on)

Biochar production process with continuous slow pyrolysis technology is also very environmentally friendly because the emission gas well below the permitted threshold. While the direct burning incinerator technology has not allowed for reasons of emission gas and ash byproduct of low economic value.

"Carbon Farming" for Palm Oil Plantation Part 3: Economics of Technology Implementation

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Basically, the conversion of biomass to the various technologies will face the final question about how much the economy in the form of investment and how much value added is generated. In many cases in Indonesia many biomass thermal conversion technology like gasification have not found economical and finally the equipment does not operate (idle) and as a result are generally the technology is not well developed. In the case of gasification which produce electricity, cost components that greatly affect their economic  is the price of raw materials, equipment investment and the selling price the electric. In fact most gasification in operation condition because the gasification groove is used for own use.

While many tools are being prepared for economical aspect of biomass thermal conversion technology, the continuous slow pyrolysis plant for own-use in palm oil mill will give a huge advantage for being able to meet the energy needs and improve the soil fertility of their plantation. For the implementation of continous slow pyrolysis technology, ultimately the question that arises again is its economic factor "how big an investment for equipment / unit / technology" and "how much value added generated". Check out our presentation to help you make a decision.

Carbon Farming For Palm Oil Plantation Part 2

Leading plantations and agronomist are searching for better ways to manage land for higher production and healthier profit, as well as a buffer against Climate Change. Soil Health is widely recognized as the key to these benefits, and Soil Carbon is the key to Soil Health.

Carbon Farming is the land management system that is the most effective in responding to Climate Change. It can be used to build a buffer against higher temperatures and lower rain fall. It can cut input costs as it taps into the nutrient reserves and productive capacity hidden in the soil. Carbon farming is the only way to increase soil carbon which the engine room of growth in Agriculture. 

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Increasing soil carbon is likely to enhance the long term sustainability of farms as it plays a central role in the physical, chemical, and biological health of the soil and hence the productive capacity of arable soils. Increasing the biomass input, decreasing the decomposition rate and increasing the potential of a soil to store carbon will all act to increase soil carbon. Soils with the greatest potential to sequester carbon will be those that have suffered a  significant loss of carbon with clearing of native vegetation and have a capacity to increase biomass production or can protect added carbon from decomposition (Baldock et al 2009).


Farmers wanting to build soil carbon may be able to achieve this though maintaining and enhancing vegetation cover, maximizing vegetation growth, minimizing soil disturbance, and changing the soil texture. Activities that broad acre farmers may consider to increase soil carbon include :

·        -Converting cropping land to productive pastures and increasing the pasture phases in crop rotation

·         -Increasing practices to retain stubble

·         -Green manuring, particularly legume crops

·         -The application of soil ameliorants such as biochar, compost, or manure  (Sanderman et al 2010), and

·         -Alterations to soil texture through the addition of clay to lighter textured soils.

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Palm oil industry in Indonesia & Malaysia which in operations generate a lot of waste biomass and on the other hand requires energy in the form of heat and electricity for the process of the fruits and high productivity of palm oil plants, then very potential to apply the continous slow pyrolysis technology to get energy and biocharnya to carbon farming.

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Carbon farming is a different way of looking at your land. It gives you a different set of priorities, if you get it right, it can deliver everything you ever wanted to get out of farming. And more…..

"Carbon Farming" for Palm Oil Plantation Part 1

Fertilization in palm plantation business is costly, even this is the highest cost component of the business. Fertilization is a vital activity to the success and sustainability of the business. Fertilization get a portion of 65% and up in the plantation-based business expenses. Analogues same as livestock business that feed holds the highest component of about 80 percent. Thus reducing the need for fertilizer will benefit the business. Moreover, chemical fertilizers are used in the oil palm plantation business are also non-subsidized. There are a number of efforts that can be done to reduce the fertilizer, which in essence is to increase the efficiency of absorption of the fertilizer for plants.

Basically plants will always require fertilizer in certain amount as the nutrients for the growth and productivity of fruit. Thus ensuring adequate fertilizer as the nutrition for the palm trees are principles that should be sought for this business. In fact, to provide a sufficient number of that is costly, due to a variety of site-specific environmental factors such as palm oil is located. Fertilizer in general will be a lot of washed / leaching (50% in average) giving rise to much waste to the detriment of the economy. It can not be allowed to continue and need immediate solutions to overcome them.

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Application of biochar is one perfect solution for it. CPO plant every day produces excess waste biomass will potentially be used for biochar feedstock. Production of biochar by JF BioCarbon continous slow pyrolysis  reliable to process the amount of waste biomass. In addition to producing biochar also be produced green energy (renewable energy) that can be used for the industrial production of CPO or its various derivatives. Current regulation that prohibits direct burning of biomass waste with the incinerator will further strengthen the continuous slow pyrolysis technology as the best solution for the problem.

There are many scenarios that we can use for biochar application in palm oil plantations, among others enriched with chemical fertilizers (NPK), enriched with compost (and plus mulch), or adding a bacteria that contributes greatly to soil enrichment. If your palm oil industry have a concept for prioritizing environmentally friendly with the use of renewable energy, and energy efficiency, zero waste, sustainable and would like to play real to nourish the planet from global warming, then the application of biochar to "Carbon Farming" is the best solution.

Continous Slow Pyrolysis Is The Best Technology For Biochar Production

Slow pyrolysis technology will maximize the resulting biochar product with yield about 30 percent of the raw material of biomass. With the modern technology of slow pyrolysis JF BioCarbon , operating conditions for the production of biochar can be arranged in such a way as to get the target with the desired qualitiy of biochar, in addition to raw material of its biomass which is also very influential in the quality of the resulting biochar. Characteristics of biochar production factor depending on, among others:

-the type of raw material

-treatment of raw materials prior to the production of biochar

-temperature production

-production residence time

-heating rate

-levels of oxygen during production

Research presented at a recent American Chemical Society annual meeting suggests that biochar plus chemical fertilizer yields increased growth of winter wheat and several vegetables by 25-50% compared to chemical fertilization alone. Soil Science Society of America experiments found that biochar supplemented with fertilizer outperformed fertilizer alone by 60%.

Reason for biochar use are likely to be one or more, but not necessarily all, of the following : -reducing requirements for other inputs, such as conventional fertilisers -sequestering carbon and hence reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations -increasing crop yields by addressing a constraint to growth (e.g. Poor soil structure, low PH etc) -increasing the quality of the crop by addressing a constraint (e.g. Poor nutrient uptake resulting in low protein content) -remediation of contaminated soils -improving the physical properties or aesthetic of the soil or growing media (e.g. Making it dark in colour, decreasing bulk density etc.)

Biochar will enrich Soil organic matter

 

When we see the biomass thermal conversion such as torrefaction, fast pyrolysis, gasification and hydrothermal carbonization will look real that slow pyrolysis technology is the most appropriate and best to produce biochar in terms of the quality and quantity of biochar.This is because Torrefaction mainly to produce fuel in the form of torrified wood, fast pyrolysis primarily to maximize product biooil with applications especially for fuel and chemicals production, gasification applications for energy by maximising its gas products and hydrothermal carbonization (wet pyrolysis) mainly produces solid products which are suitable as fuels such as application co-firing in coal powerplant.

Agro-industries business such as sugar cane and palm oil plantations that produce abundant biomass waste is very potential for harnessing the JF BioCarbon technology because of the dual benefits, in plantation sector with biochar application and fulfilment of environmentally friendly energy for agro-industrial operations.

Biochar Based Slow Release Fertilizer And Soil Quality Improvement In Indonesian Palm Oil Plantation

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Expansion (extensification) of palm oil plantation in Indonesia increasingly encouraged to pursue non-oil commodities. The allocation or designation of land for oil palm plantations should be done with careful consideration and comprehensive, so it does not upset the balance of the environment. This factor which highlighted a lot of environmentalists, and the user market oil products from Indonesia. Another factor that I think needs to be considered is the productivity of the oil palm plantation itself. With good farming techniques or start intensification then I am sure Indonesia will increase the productivity of palm oil.

Compared to Malaysia with palm plantation productivity 3.5 tons of CPO per ha, while Indonesia only 2.5 tons of CPO ha per year. Due to differences in the productivity of Malaysia's vast palm plantation only 61.5% of the area of ​​Indonesia but is capable of producing up to 17 million tons of CPO or 85.3% of Indonesia's CPO production. In this case, Indonesia needs to learn from Malaysia. Currently, the land has been planted with oil palm in Indonesia has 7.8 million ha, about 16.5% of the farms and plantations or 8.3% of the total forest area. There are still 7 million ha of arable land palm, a great opportunity to increase the production of CPO and its derivatives. Trade policy of developed countries that want to kill off Indonesia palm oil industry as edible oil industry afraid to compete with palm oil needs attention is important for the government for the betterment of the palm oil industry in Indonesia. All of the government, NGOs and industry have one vote for this.

Increased productivity is one of them with a good fertilization and using quality fertilizer. If you see activity on the production of CPO will be a lot of waste biomass produced can be used to meet energy needs and CPO mill byproduct of biochar. As a porous material that has the ability as adsorbent, biochar able to hold nutrients and water for longer, so that it can act as a slow release fertilizer. When all the oil mill biomass waste can be converted into energy and fertilizer byproducts biocharnya to the oil mill has reduced global warming (carbon neutral fuel with biomass and carbon negative with biochar application) and absolutely zero waste. This obviously also be a solution to the negative campaigning of oil palm plantations in Indonesia. Reliable continuous pyrolysis technology appropriate to the scale of the pool is a necessity. JF BioCarbon will able to answer it.

Judging from the condition of the global climate, carbon balance balance between the expansion of palm oil plantations, the carbon released when the process of biochar production by pyrolysis and carbon sequestration from the atmosphere by biochar. Optimization of the three will give the best results for the environment, human welfare and ecosystem.

7 Reasons Why Future of World Economy Depends on Renewable Energy

There are various reasons as to why the global economic future depends on alternative renewable energy sources. Here are seven of these reasons.

1. Reducing the effects of global warming. Alternative renewable energy sources will provide a solution to the ecological crisis that is caused in part by global warming. If the switch to alternative renewable energy sources is not made soon, this may have a very serious impact on the world economy and the world’s communities.
2. Fossil fuels are running out. Oil and natural gas are not infinite and will run out eventually. Even before they run out, they will become increasingly expensive because of scarcity. The resulting energy crisis will have a devastating impact on the global economy.
3. Reducing pollution. Alternative renewable energy sources are a wonderful way for reducing the global levels of pollution. For example, waste to energy is a great method of turning discarded trash into desperately needed energy to power and heat our homes.
   
   
4. Supporting developing countries. The need for energy goes up every year, especially as more developing countries advance. When they have access to domestically produced energy, it will make their development process easier, as local economies benefit from the abundance of businesses and jobs. The countries of the future will be the countires that are embracing green energy sources right now. Look at China – they got into the act this last few years as they understand that there future depends on it. More and more countries are taking action. Anything to do with the green economy is going to be huge in the next few decades.

5. Moving away from foreign oil dependency. It is possible to produce alternative renewable energy sources domestically in every country. This means that no nation will depend on another to provide it with the means to produce energy, as well as a cleaner domestic environment overall.
6.  Investing in alternative energy. It is a smart choice to invest in alternative energy. This means that it is not only a great opportunity to help our planet, but also one to receive a good financial return in the end. 
7. Creating green jobs. Many new jobs would be created once the switch to alternative renewable energy sources is made. Factory jobs would be needed, since the manufacturing of energy source components is needed. Technicians would be needed to install, service, and repair those energy source components, like wind turbines, solar panels, or municipal waste pyrolyzer.

While for the specific reasons on the biomass for energy with thermal energy conversion route, please click here.

For the original article, click here

For more information, go to:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy