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Tag: Biochar

Coffee Biochar Concrete Carbon Sequestration

Posted on by dishanth
Coffee Biochar Concrete Carbon Sequestration

Coffee is one of the most popular drinks worldwide; on average, 400 billion cups of coffee are consumed each year. As a result, approximately 18 million tonnes of coffee grounds are produced annually. Coffee grounds can be used for a variety of purposes. It can be used to fertilize your garden or added to compost. Coffee grounds can neutralize odors, can be used to exfoliate your skin, tenderize meats, and many other uses.

Despite all of these amazing uses for coffee grounds, the reality is that most of the coffee grounds produced actually end up in landfills; about 75% in fact. Rotting coffee grounds generate methane, a powerful greenhouse gas contributing to warming. Rotting coffee grounds also emit carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and ammonia. While there have been programs from coffee shops that will donate their coffee grounds to customers to use in their gardens (Starbucks has been part of the Grounds for Your Garden program since 1995), but most coffee shops are not implementing these initiatives.

Researchers from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University in Australia have found a way to use coffee grounds on a larger scale and to eliminate the risk of them ending up in landfills. And that is to use coffee biochar concrete in the construction industry.

The researchers have developed concrete that is almost 30 percent stronger than traditional concrete by mixing in coffee-derived biochar. The coffee biochar was created using a low-energy process called pyrolysis. The organic waste is heated to 350 degrees Celsius without oxygen to avoid the risk of generating carbon dioxide. Under pyrolysis, organic molecules vibrate and break down into smaller components, creating biochar. This is a similar process that is used to roast unused beans to enhance their taste, except without the use of oxygen.

In coffee biochar concrete, about 15 percent of the sand they would use to make concrete is replaced with the coffee biochar, thus creating new concrete. The coffee biochar is finer than sand, and its porous qualities help to bind to organic material. Reducing the total use of sand in concrete will minimize the construction industry’s environmental footprint. It is said that over 50 billion metric tons of natural sand are used annually in construction. Sand mining significantly stresses ecosystems, including riverbeds and riverbanks, coffee biochar concrete can relieve some of that pressure on the environment.

The cement industry is the third largest source of industrial air pollution, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide. Moreover, cement currently accounts for around 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions. Turning coffee- biochar into concrete will reduce the construction industry’s reliance on continuous mining of natural resources, making the industry more sustainable.

When introduced into concrete mixtures, the coffee biochar concrete was found to act as a microscopic carbon repository within the concrete matrix. The alkaline conditions within hardened concrete enable biochar to mineralize and firmly bind carbon dioxide into its structure over time. Concrete containing even a small percentage of spent coffee biochar was shown to sequester meaningful quantities of CO2 from the curing process and surrounding environment.

Utilizing waste coffee grounds to synthesize biochar for carbon sequestration could offer a sustainable way to offset concrete’s sizable carbon footprint while giving new purpose to spent grounds. With further research, coffee biochar concrete could provide a feasible carbon capture pathway for the construction industry.

The researchers estimate that if all the waste grounds produced in Australia annually could be converted into coffee biochar, it would amount to roughly 22,500 tonnes. Compare that to the 28 million tonnes of sand that are required to produce over 72 million tonnes of cement concrete in Australia. Just think: Australia has over 13 thousand coffee shops, whereas the United States has over 38 thousand coffee shops. If this project expands outside of Australia, coffee biochar concrete could significantly impact the environment and waste.

The research on coffee biochar concrete is still in the early stages; there is still a lot of testing to be done, but it shows that there are innovative and unique ways to reduce and repurpose organic landfill waste. Once the researchers can account for things like durability, the researchers will collaborate with local councils on future infrastructure projects, including the construction of walkways and pavements. Just think, we are one step closer to adding sustainability into the construction industry and one step closer to walking on coffee biochar concrete!

 

 

 

 

Source   Happy Eco News

Harnessing Carbon Mineralization: A Powerful Tool to Combat Climate Change

Posted on by dishanth
Harnessing Carbon Mineralization: A Powerful Tool to Combat Climate Change

Carbon mineralization, the process that converts carbon dioxide into solid carbonate minerals, holds immense potential to combat climate change. While it occurs naturally, humans can accelerate this process through various methods.

By refining techniques such as biochar utilization, enhanced weathering, and ocean fertilization, we can unlock the power of carbon mineralization to effectively reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change.

There are many ways in which we can accelerate the amount of carbon we sequester using the process. Biochar, a form of charcoal derived from biomass, offers a sustainable solution to enhance carbon mineralization. When integrated into the soil, biochar amends its composition, enhancing its capacity to sequester carbon. The porous structure of biochar acts as a long-term reservoir, promoting carbon retention while fostering beneficial microbial activity in the soil. This method bolsters soil fertility and carbon storage, contributing to climate change mitigation and sustainable agriculture.

Enhanced weathering harnesses the natural process of rock breakdown to expedite carbon mineralization. Techniques involve accelerating rock weathering by introducing acidic or basic substances or fragmenting rocks into smaller particles. Carbon dioxide reacts with the minerals, forming stable carbonate compounds that can endure for centuries. By leveraging enhanced weathering, we can significantly augment carbon sequestration rates, offering a tangible solution to counteract rising carbon dioxide levels.

Ocean fertilization presents a compelling avenue to store carbon on a large scale. By introducing essential nutrients, such as iron or phosphorus, to the ocean, the growth of algae is enhanced. These algae act as carbon sinks, absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. Subsequently, when the algae die and sink to the ocean floor, they carry the sequestered carbon along, where it can remain locked away for centuries or even longer. Ocean fertilization holds promise in its ability to mitigate climate change while fostering marine ecosystems.

Carbon mineralization represents a powerful tool in the fight against climate change, offering several noteworthy advantages over other methods:

  1. Substantial Carbon Removal: By accelerating carbon mineralization, we can remove billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually. This significant reduction in greenhouse gas concentrations would directly curb global warming and its associated impacts.
  2. Leveraging Natural Processes: Carbon mineralization harnesses and enhances naturally occurring processes. By utilizing and accelerating these processes, we minimize the need for technologically complex and energy-intensive solutions, leading to a more sustainable approach to climate change mitigation.
  3. Restoration of Carbon Balance: Historically, human activities such as deforestation and fossil fuel combustion have disrupted the carbon balance by releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Carbon mineralization offers an opportunity to restore this balance by actively sequestering carbon and reversing the damage caused by human-induced carbon emissions.

While carbon mineralization shows tremendous promise, these are early days. Implementing carbon mineralization techniques on a large scale requires substantial investment and infrastructure development. The costs associated with establishing and maintaining these methods may present challenges, necessitating collaborative efforts from governments, private sectors, and research institutions.

It is crucial to carefully assess the potential environmental impacts of carbon mineralization techniques. For instance, ocean fertilization may disrupt marine ecosystems if not executed responsibly. Thorough environmental impact assessments and regulatory frameworks are essential to ensure the sustainable deployment of carbon mineralization methods.

Carbon mineralization offers an innovative and promising approach to mitigating climate change by actively removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Through methods like biochar utilization, enhanced weathering, and ocean fertilization, we have the potential to achieve substantial carbon sequestration, restore the carbon balance, and forge a more livable planet.

 

 

 

 

Source  Happy Eco News

 

Creating Biochar to Sequester Carbon and Fertilize Plants

Posted on by dishanth
Creating Biochar to Sequester Carbon and Fertilize Plants

The slash-and-burn agriculture technique grows food whereby forested land is clear-cut, and any vegetation is burned. The resulting layer of ash from the burnt vegetation provides a newly cleared land with a nutrient-rich layer that helps fertilize crops. Traditionally, the area was left fallow and reverted to a secondary forest of bush. Cultivation would then shift to a new plot.

Unfortunately, as we’ve shifted towards a fast-past world, these techniques are deemed harmful to the environment as modern slash-and-burn techniques are a significant source of carbon dioxide emissions, especially when used to initiate permanent deforestation. Moreover, many of these plots do not get replanted.

On a smaller scale, farmers are turning to create biochar to sequester carbon emissions and aid in growing their crops. Biochar is similar to slash-and-burn techniques, except it is created artificially through a process called pyrolysis. It is made when biomass, such as fallen tree branches and crop residue, is heated at 200-400°C with little or no oxygen.

Various types of biomass have been used on a commercial scale to produce biochar. This includes agricultural and forestry by-products (such as straw or tree bark), industrial by-products (such as paper sludge and pulp), animal wastes (such as chicken litter) and sewage sludge. Converting biomass to biochar offers an excellent method for reducing waste and using these by-products.

This process decomposes the organic waste into a solid residue of carbon. Farmers can apply it to the field where around 50 percent of the carbon is stored in stable forms as a soil additive to improve drainage, aeration, plant health, crop yield, and water and nutrient retention. Biochar helps process things that settle on it, such as soil’s water and nutrients that the plants can access when needed. Biochar can also absorb heavy metals, reducing the plants’ risk of accessing them.

There are a number of ways that small farmers can use biochar to sequester carbon:

  • Incorporate it into their soil: Biochar to sequester carbon can be added as a soil amendment. This can be done by broadcasting it on the soil’s surface or by mixing it into the soil.
  • Use it as a fertilizer: Biochar can be used as a fertilizer by mixing it with compost or other organic materials. This can help to improve the nutrient content of the soil and increase crop yields.
  • Use it to produce energy: Biochar can be used to produce energy by burning it in a stove or furnace. This can provide farmers with a renewable source of energy.

This process reduces emissions from organic waste that is burned or left to decompose, producing greenhouse gases. Studies have shown that only about 10 to 20 percent of the residue carbon is recycled into the soil when crop residue is left to decompose on its own.

Biochar increases soil fertility more than simple plant matter and reduces nutrients from leaching from the crop root zone, meaning they would have to use less chemical fertilizers to grow their crops. Using biochar to sequester carbon will also benefit farmers who cannot afford to buy fertilizers or invest in organic cultivation techniques that take a long time to establish. It also helps establish independence among smaller farmers as they would not have to depend on chemical fertilizer companies.

Creating biochar to sequester carbon is a sustainable way to fertilize plants and actively remove carbon from the atmosphere. According to the IPCC, biochar is one of the safest, most durable ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere. It helps create nutrient levels in the soil that are more stable and resistant to environmental degradation. This allows farmers to save money and resources, reducing their environmental impact.

 

 

 

 

Source  Happy Eco News