Browsing by Subject "Biochar"
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Item Open Access A PRICING MODEL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ANALYSIS FOR MANURE-BASED BIOCHAR AS A SOIL AMENDMENT(2018-04-27) Bushell, AmandaThis document explores the environmental and market opportunity for manure-based char (MBC) to be used as an agricultural soil amendment product. Biochar is a product with multiple environmental and financial benefits to farmers. Current products on the market are made from plant-based feedstocks and are priced with little consistency; the lowest market price is $50/ton, and the highest is $5000/ton with an average global price of $2200/ton (Jerka and Thayer, 2013). A new product is being developed by a gasification company utilizing manure feedstocks for a product that is highly differentiated from other chars. In this report, I discuss the price and market opportunity for manure-based biochar as a soil amendment in California. In the first section, I discuss the environmental challenges that are relevant to gasification and biochar application. These challenges include manure management, soil degradation, water-use and fertilizer use for crop and livestock farming in the United States. In the next section, the technology, business model, and location of application are explored. Then, I discuss the alternative applications for biochar and the differences between plant-based char and manure-based char as well as the farmer willingness to adopt biochar. I then use a breakeven analysis to find a minimum viable price for the biochar and a value-based pricing model to determine an appropriate target price in early years of adoption. In the breakeven analysis, I find that the minimum price for biochar that allows gasification to be profitable is $383 per ton to achieve a debt service coverage ratio of 1.00x and $485/ton to maintain a DSCR of 1.25x. The economic value-added analysis finds that a dairy feedstock could achieve a market price between $388-688 and a blended feedstock could achieve a market price between $422-722 depending on market conditions for the closest competitor, plant-based char. In the final section of the report, I conduct interviews with farmers about water and fertilizer-use as well as willingness to adopt biochar. Based on farmer interviews, I recommend that the company sell the product at $485 per ton. I also suggest that the company focuses on indoor agriculture producers who are price insensitive and then vineyard managers whose water and nutrient needs align with the attributes of the char. Finally, I recommend that the company collaborate with respected academic institutions and extension services to continue research trials and gain credibility with farmers in California. The document will be submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Environmental Management degree in the Nicholas School of the Environment of Duke University to be made available to the public and will be shared with the company developing the technology to aid in market development.Item Open Access Farm to Fork to Farm: Biochar, Compost, Working Landscapes, and a Circular Economy in Warren Co., NC(2023-04-28) Fast, Clara; Bowers, Madeline; Carter, Eliza; Taragittigul, KarinaWorking Landscapes, a non-profit organization located in Warren County, NC, aims to create new value from their natural and cultural assets and share them in more equitable ways. This project explores the market opportunity, community interest, and externalities of installing and operating a biochar unit in and around Warren County. Biochar, a carbon-rich, solid by-product that results from the pyrolysis of discarded woody material sourced from the community, combined with compost generated by Working Landscapes’ food scraps, can increase soil health and contribute to the creation of a circular supply chain. Beyond the economic benefit of waste reduction is the environmental benefit of keeping natural materials from producing greenhouse gasses in landfills. We conducted a market and cash-flow analysis, a geospatial analysis of the soil types, and analyzed results from an electronic survey for community input. To demonstrate a tangible example of a circular supply chain in Warren County and make use of otherwise wasted materials, we recommend that our client invest in biochar production along with scaling up their compost generation. Working Landscapes will gain a new customer touchpoint, reduce its waste, and increase circularity within its supply chain.Item Open Access Scaling Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR): Beyond Carbon Markets(2024) Katzenmeyer, KaceyDue to limited emissions abatement to date, there is a scientific consensus that carbon dioxide removal (CDR) will be required on the gigaton scale annually by mid-century to limit global warming to 1.5°C. One challenge for achieving CDR at scale is that it operates primarily as a waste management industry in markets which most often lack mandates for managing CO2 waste. As such, expected demand and deployment of CDR is currently on track to fall vastly short of required levels. Given demand for CDR as a waste management product is insufficient, this research sought to characterize the potential for CDR-based products that offer value beyond waste management. It identifies CDR methods that generate a useful product or service in addition to removing CO2 and evaluates their performance to determine the potential, if any, for a significant impact on scaling CDR.Item Open Access The effects of biochar on wetland and agricultural soil carbon and nitrogen emissions in North Carolina(2016-04-29) Keenan, ChandlerBiochar is an increasingly popular topic in environmental management due to its potential effects on several ecosystem functions. Specifically, biochar has been linked to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, including nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and methane when used as a soil amendment. It has also been suggested as a long term mechanism to sequester carbon in soil. The magnitude of such an effect is highly dependent on a variety of environmental factors, as well as the feedstock and temperature at which the char was produced, so it is essential to put biochar studies in specific land use contexts to fully understand its potential impacts. Additionally, naturally occurring char material is a byproduct of prescribed burns and wildfires in fire-adapted ecosystems such as North Carolina peatlands. It is unclear to what extent this naturally occurring char aids in greenhouse gas suppression in these carbon sinks. In order to fully understand the existing and potential role of biochar for land use management in North Carolina, an experiment was designed to quantify the effect of biochar on soil greenhouse gas emission. This experiment looked at agricultural soils, organic peat soils, and heated peat soils. Treatment groups received a 10% by weight char amendment and incubated in the lab for seven months. Gas samples were collected from the headspace to determine gas emissions over time. This study finds modest effects of biochar on greenhouse gas emissions. Char-amended agricultural soils saw reduced nitrous oxide emissions, but increased carbon dioxide emissions. Peat soils saw non-significant reductions in emission rates for all three gases, including a 12% reduction in net methane emission and a 9% reduction in average carbon dioxide emission. Heated peat, which was produced to simulate the effect of a prescribed burn, released large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane in the first sampling date but stabilized to low levels after 17 days. This resulted in heated peat having net positive methane emissions, but lower net carbon dioxide outputs as compared to unheated peat. This study therefore finds evidence that fire regimes in natural peatlands disrupt normal carbon cycling even without igniting the peat, but that the presence of char in the soil contributes to stable carbon storage and greenhouse gas suppression. Effects on nitrogen flux from soils are less clear because changes in emission are driven by difference on individual sampling dates and not any apparent trend over time. Biochar addition to wetland peat soils may be a potential avenue for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions in order to maximize ecosystem services like carbon sequestration from these crucial habitats. However, more research is needed to understand impacts of biochar for agricultural management since results in this study were inconclusive. Additionally, the interaction of soil moisture and biochar on gas flux and a more holistic microcosm study design are recommended as future avenues for research.