Project Profiles

Biochar Project Registration: Help IBI Help You!

Are you starting a biochar production company? Are you a researcher looking for funding? Are you a teacher wanting to network with other schools doing biochar science projects? Are you a philanthropist or investor looking for interesting projects? The IBI Project Registry is for you!

IBI staff members get requests for information and help every day. Being in at the center of this information flow has allowed us to help a number of projects get connected to resources and partners, like the National Geographic funding opportunity. Help us connect your project to others by letting us know about your work and your needs. We invite you to fill out the IBI Biochar Project Registration form online:
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/581013/IBI-Biochar-Project-Database

Additionally, regional biochar groups may be operating or forming in your area--these groups focus on specific issues on a local or regional level. To look for upcoming meetings or conferences, see the IBI Calendar.

Project Profiles

Project Profiles are monthly articles in the IBI newsletter that highlight those working in biochar around the world. Please note that the inclusion of a project does not mean that IBI endorses the methods or results. All projects are strictly submissions to IBI.

Click on any of the links below for a full write up.

• Switchgrass Biochar for Soil Restoration and Food Security: Ed Cahoj's work with making switchgrass biochar in the United States (as featured in the January 2012 Newsletter).
• North Vietnam Villages Lead the Way in the Use of Biochar: Building on an Indigenous Knowledge Base (as featured in the January 2012 Newsletter).
• Using Bamboo for Stoves in Uganda: Julius Turyamwijuka's work with biochar stoves with the Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI) (as featured in the December 2011 Newsletter).
• Sustainable Biochar in the Pacific Northwest Region of the US: John Miedema's work with Thompson Timber (as featured in the November 2011 Newsletter).
• Using Biochar to Improve Soil Health and Leaf Production at Tea Plantations in Sri Lanka: Dilmah Tea Gardens is using biochar to improve soils onsite (as featured in the October 2011 Newsletter).
• Greening Australia: Helping to Restore Original Vegetation with Biochar and Bioenergy (as featured in the October 2011 Newsletter).
• CSIRO Sustainable Agriculture Flagship: Leading Biochar Research Activities in Australia (as featured in the September 2011 Newsletter).
• re:char—Creating Affordable Opportunities for Biochar Production and use in Western Kenya: working with Kenyan organization ACON, re:char is creating local manufacturing opportunities for biochar production units (as featured in the August 2011 Newsletter).
• Terra Preta Closes the Loop in Germany: an update on new biochar research and companies in Germany (as featured in the 2011 Newsletter).
• Three Dimensional Timberlands – Sustainable Biomass Pyrolysis Using Forestry Waste: a new biomass pyrolysis company in southwest Oregon, United States (as featured in the July 2011 Newsletter).
• Control Laboratories Inc – Biochar Testing Pioneers: Frank Shields's work with different biochar testing proceedures (as featured in the July 2011 Newsletter).
• A Partnership between form and function: Proyecto Estufa Finca uses local materials to build elegant and sustainable biochar stoves in Costa Rica (as featured in the June 2011 Newsletter).
• Pacific Pyrolysis: Participating in the Australian Research Agenda while Pursuing Commercial Opportunities for Biochar Production (as featured in the May 2011 Newsletter).
• The North Carolina Farm Center for Innovation and Sustainability: Setting up Large Scale Biochar Field Trials (as featured in the May 2011 Newsletter).
• Carbon Gold: Working with Cacao Farmers in Belize to Create a Rotating Biochar Production and Utilization System (as featured in the April 2011 Newsletter).
• Developing Biochar Research and Production Capabilities in Ghana: Edward Yeboah's work with biochar in Ghana (as featured in the March 2011 Newsletter).
• The first brand of biochar-based fertilizer enters the Chinese market: The China National Research Center of Bamboo (CNRCB) creates an amino-acid/biochar fertilizer mix in China (as featured in the February 2011 Newsletter).
• New England Biochar: Designing, Building and Marketing a Biochar Unit: Peter Hirst's and Bob Wells's journey to provide a good source of biochar for their local community through designing and building an Adam Retort (as featured in the January 2011 Newsletter).
• Pioneering work on Biochar in European Vineyards: Hans-Peter Schmidt's work on biochar and its potential to improve soils and grapes at the Domaine de Mythopia vineyards in Switzerland (as featured in the December 2010 Newsletter).
• Developing an Eco-Fertilizer based on Biochar in Chile: A project to produce and test biochar to better utilize nitrogen in Chile (as featured in the November 2010 Newsletter).
• All Power Labs LLC and the Biochar Experimenter's Kit: All Power serves as an incubator of open-source technology for gasifiers and biochar units (as featured in the October 2010 Newsletter).
• UK Biochar Research Centre: A research center set up to create an evidence base to support the rational deployment of biochar (as featured in the September 2010 Newsletter).
• Rapeseed Bio-Diesel and Rice Husk Charcoal: A model for a recycling society through a partnership between Higashiomi City and KANSAI Corporation (as featured in the August 2010 Newsletter).
• Hawaii Biochar Products: Creating a Market for Biochar in Hawaii through Field Trials and Public Outreach: Josiah Hunt's work to set up a biochar business in Hawaii (as featured in the August 2010 Newsletter).
• The Biochar Engineering Corporation: Expanding a Start up Biochar Company: BEC's work in engineering new pyrolysis units (as featured in the July 2010 Newsletter).
• Using Improved Cookstoves and Biochar in Western Kenya: African Christian Organization Network (ACON) work in Kenya to improve cooking and farming techniques (as featured in the June 2010 Newsletter).
• Burt's Greenhouses: Using Co-Generation to Heat and Produce Biochar: Write up on work to produce biochar while heating the greenhouses in Canada (as featured in the May 2010 Newsletter).
• Biochar at Heritage High, USA: Featuring student biochar projects at a highschool in the US (as featured in the May 2010 Newsletter).
• World Stove: Transforming Haiti and the World: Nathaniel Mulcahy's work to provide biochar-producing stoves and jobs in Haiti (as featured in the April 2010 Newsletter).
• Pro-Natura and Garden work in Senegal: Feature on new agricultural work in Senegal including biochar from Voice of America (VOA).
• BlueLeaf Inc: Setting up large-scale biochar field trials in Canada: Analysis of BlueLeaf field trials set up in Quebec (as featured in the March 2010 Newsletter).
• Dynamotive: Building Biochar Technologies and Markets: Using fast pyrolysis systems to produce bio-oils and biochar from waste biomass (as featured in the March 2010 Newsletter). 
• Update of research being carried out by the NZ Center for Biochar Research
• Smell the Coffee, Not the Smoke: Biochar Stoves on Coffee Farms in Central America: Good coffee and great biochar are a match made in heaven. Especially since one product of that match is a cleaner cook stove for migrant coffee pickers who often have only open fires to cook on (as featured in the February 2010 IBI Newsletter).
• Black is Green (BiG): Producing Biochar with a Mobile Pyrolysis Unit in Australia: Using a mobile pyrolysis unit to make biochar from sugarcane residues left in agricultural fields (as featured in the January 2010 IBI Newsletter). 
• 3R Environmental Technologies, LTD: Pyrolysis Technology in Hungary: A description of Edward Someus's 3R Agrocarbon Technology which after years of research, development and testing, has received a European Union (EU) Authority permit to offer agrocarbon for open field application on low input and organic farms in Europe (as featured in the November 2009 IBI Newsletter).
• Exceptional Results from Biochar Experiment in Cameroon: Chris Goodall's report on the BiocharFund work in Cameroon with biochar used in maize plots (as featured in the October 2009 IBI Newsletter).
• 20 Years of Biochar in Costa Rica: IBI board member Stephen Joseph visited a successful biochar compost facility in Costa Rica along with Gabi Soto of the Center for Tropical Agriculture Research and Teaching (CATIE) and other colleagues (as featured in the September 2009 IBI Newsletter).
• Dr Paul Blackwell: Using Biochar Mineral Complexes in Arid Zones: Highlighting the use of biochar mineral complexes to improve soils in Western Australia (as featured in June 2009 IBI Newsletter).
• Pro-Natura: Using Green Charcoal for Sustainable Development: Working with farmers in Senegal to utilize biochar for improved agriculture (as featured in March 2009 IBI Newsletter).
• Project 540: Biochar Kiln Designs for Small Farms in Australia: Creating open space plans for small biochar kilns to be used in farm settings (as featured in February 2009 IBI Newsletter).
• Using Chicken Litter for Biochar in West Virginia, United States: Poultry farmer Josh Frye discusses his gasifier system for using poultry litter to heat barns and produce biochar (as featured in October 2008 IBI Newsletter).