Permachar
POSSIBLE BIOCHAR ECONOMIES
| A rough overview of biochar applications for the physical Green Economy |
| Agronomy |
| Water retention-conservation-buffering-filtration |
| Plant nutrient retention |
| Soil conditioner |
| Microbial housing |
| Soil structure |
| -porosity |
| Slow release fertiliser |
| Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) |
| -Areas |
| Agriculture |
| Animal feed |
| Silage agent |
| Animal bedding eg. livestock, chickens |
| Litter feed |
| Viticulture |
| Substitute for peat or sphagnum moss in potting soil |
| Forestry |
| Horticulture-Gardening |
| Herbs |
| Agroforestry |
| Hydroponics |
| Microgreens |
| Seedballs |
| Fungae production |
| Reforestation, afforestation |
| Aquaculture |
| -onshore fish farming or other marine life |
| -Aquaponics |
| -Fish food |
| -water filtration |
| Specialty materials |
| Biochar fillers |
| -paper eg. packaging materials |
| -paints |
| 3D printer ink |
| Biochar-based composites |
| -Carbon fiber |
| -Hempcharcrete |
| -bamboo |
| Biochar-Inorganic-based composites |
| -Epoxy resin |
| -Carbon steel |
| -Biochar-Containing reinforced plastics |
| -Concrete |
| -Render |
| -Insulation |
| Automotive, Trucking, Aviation industries |
| -rubber tyres |
| -Bitumen |
| -vehicle parts eg. macrostructure, interiors |
| Chemical |
| Air filtration |
| Water filtration |
| -distillation eg. Whisky |
| -Water softening |
| -Capacitive Deionis(z)ation (CDI) for water desalination |
| -Wastewater treatment |
| Catalyst |
| Absorbent |
| A barrier preventing pesticides getting into surface water |
| Electrochemical measurement devices |
| -relative humidity sensors |
| -detection of ions |
| Antibacterial |
| Energy Storage |
| -Supercapacitors |
| -Ultracapacitors |
| -Batteries |
| -Hydrogen tanks |
| -Stabilise biodigestors |
| -improve short chain fatty acid algae anaerobic fermentation |
| -biogas slurry treatment |
| Electronics |
| -Electrodes |
| -Circuit boards eg. Silica replacement |
| -Photovoltaics eg.printed solar cells |
| Hydrogen |
| -?Photocatalyst aggregates with biochar, hematite and microalgae |
| -storage |
| -Hydrogen fuel cells |
| Microbial Fuel Cells |
| Fuel |
| Gasification eg.TLUD stoves, Kon-Tiki, Power Pallet, ECHO2 |
| Co-firing |
| Combustion |
| Carbon credits |
| Carbon sequestration |
| Stable Carbon eg. up to 60+ million years in phytoliths/plantstone/PhytoOCs |
| NORI |
| Other Carbon credit schemes |
| Other uses |
| Textiles |
| -sportswear |
| -military uniforms |
| -outdoor gear |
| Fabric additive for functional underwear |
| Thermal insulation |
| Deodorant for shoe soles |
| Household |
| -water filtration |
| -air filtration |
| -Microgreens |
| -Aquaponics |
| -self-composting toilet |
| -Cooking eg. rice cooking |
| -Crockery |
| -Utensils |
| -Pets eg.aquarium, kitty litter |
| -pillow filling |
| -mattress filling |
| -paints |
| -plasters for humidity regulation |
| -building insulation |
| -renders |
| -diapers |
| Biomedical |
| Pharmaceutical |
| -activated biochar eg. detox, drug overdose |
| -medicinal herbs |
| -carrier for active pharmaceutical ingredients |
| -other medicinal plants |
| Cosmetics |
| -soap |
| -moisturisers |
| -toothpaste |
| Chemical industry |
| Radiation-blocking materials |
| Electromagnetic shielding from ‘Electrosmog’ |
| Environmental Remediation |
| Wastewater treatment |
| Sewage treatment |
| -Slurry treatment |
| -Sewage farms eg. stabilisation ponds |
| -self-composting toilets |
| Heavy metal removal |
| Nutrient reclamation |
| Soil remediation |
| Inorganical pollutants removal |
| Organic pollutants removal |
| Gaseous pollutants removal |
| Eutrophication |
| REFERENCES |
| Bates & Draper, ‘Burn: Using Fire to Cool the Earth’, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018 |
| Bartoli, Giorcelli et al, ‘A review of Non-Soil Biochar Applications’, MDPI, 2019 |
| Schmidt,H-P, ‘The 55 uses of biochar’, Ithaka Journal, 2012 |
Biochar in SE Asia
Biochar in forestry
Biochar in coffee production
For more biochar applications try 'Google Images' and search for 'biochar economy' or go directly to A biochar economy wiki