 Olawale Olaniyan Aug 23, 2017 11:15  | Hello, I quite agree with you that there are some benefits of using biochar both from soil and water conservation perspectives. While a lot of work had been done in this perspective but there are still new grounds which are yet to be covered and more to be discovered about the potentials of biochar. I will like to suggest that you concentrate on the unexploited areas of using biochar especially how it relates to climate change mitigation. Best wishes, Olawale |
 Kyle Ferguson Aug 25, 2017 10:05  | Proposal contributor Olawale, Great feedback. What are some of the more critical unexploited areas that you would suggest exploring? |
 Ridwan D. Rusli Sep 4, 2017 06:50  | Assuming that you've looked into the Carbon and energy balance of burning woodwaste into biochar, and determined that these are sufficiently favourable, then you need to look into the economic costs and benefits ie economic feasibility of the woodwaste-biochar product life cycle. The latter will drive the optimal business model eg private vs public funding, who pays for the woodwaste feedstock and resp. the product ie biochar, etc. |
Kyle Ferguson Sep 6, 2017 11:10 | Proposal contributor Ridwan: The economic feasibility of biochar is a key factor for the growth of the industry. Many farmers are concerned with the cost/benefit data for biochar as they should be. It is hard to nail down the measurable benefits from biochar because there is so many other factors at play beside the quality of the biochar that is used. However, we will be working with researchers to nail down what we can for cost/benefit data. It would be great to be able to say that biochar increases water retention by X % or it increases crop yields by x % but it is difficult to make those claims as they will vary in different applications. Ultimately people are paying on average 800$/a ton for biochar and it is about a $400M global market according to grandview research. While economic feasibility studies are helpful, the market will determine whether or not biochar is worth it. Economic feasibility will become more important when we are choosing which geographic markets to enter because the availability/cost of feedstock is different in different parts of the world. |
