Biochar is the collective term for charred biomass that occurs through incomplete combustion at high temperatures without or with little access to oxygen.
Biochar can be similar to barbecue charcoal and is made by heating organic material to 400-700 °C in the absence of oxygen in a process called slow pyrolysis. Here, about half of the carbon in the biomass is converted to charcoal, while the rest is converted into bioenergy in the form of heat. Pyrolysis is a process that preserves and stabilizes the plant residues' own structure, and converts the original lignin and cellulose molecules into stable, so-called aromatic molecules with a hexagonal structure that resembles the cell walls of a honeycomb.
In theory, all organic material can be pyrolyzed, but the quality of the biochar is greatly affected by the quality of the feedstock. Therefore, some types of feedstock are better suited for biochar production than others.
Some raw materials that are both available and can be pyrolyzed without much difficulty with today's available technology are: wood chips (1-5 cm), agricultural waste such as straw and grain cleaning or solid livestock manure (e.g. horse manure with litter).
Source: Norwegian Biochar Network
See and hear the sound of biochar:
If you want to learn more about biocoal, we recommend visiting the Norwegian Biocoal Network's website; www.biocoal.info
