Prospects of Biochar Use in Forestry Deborah Page-Dumroese Hongmei Gu Nate Anderson Rick Bergman A li le background Using forestry feedstocks to: • Reduce wildfire risk • Lessen insect and disease risk • Improve soil water rela ons • Healthy trees/forests • Soil resilience to drought and flood • 10 long-term forestry field trials
Overview
• Forest harves ng and feedstock management • Changing forest produc vity • Understanding the benefits • Climate change mi ga on Historic Issues of Land Management in the USA • 1979 • “A major problem confron ng forestry is how to more efficiently harvest mber without crea ng unacceptable impacts on the forest environment.”
• “The full u liza on of residual material le in the woods following logging and thinning opera ons, and disease, and insect a ack, and windthrow has long been a source of concern and frustra on to the forest manager.”
From: Environmental Consequences of Timber Harves ng in the northern Rocky Mountains. GTR-INT-190 Too much of a good thing… • Sites with too much logging slash • Wildfire risk • Not feasible to broadcast burn • Piles are created (and burned) Common prac ces on many forest sites
• Piled and burned • Biomass from harvest opera ons • Burning alters soil condi ons • Long-term altera ons
Long-term impacts of pile burning
• Many hectares impacted from hot, concentrated fires • Loss of OM • Nutrient vola liza on • Few trees or shrubs • O en non-na ve species Forest Supply Chain Context Current harves ng model: Forest biomass to bioenergy 1. Felling trees (harvester) 5. Trucking (chipped biomass)
6. BIOENERGY! 2. Moving biomass (forwarding) 3. Storage (drying)
4. Chipping (roadside or mill) Or: Forest biomass to waste
1. Felling trees (harvester)
6. NO ENERGY and no C sequestra on!
2. Moving merchantable biomass 3. Piling or Storage (drying)
4. Burning Envisioned ‘in woods’ model: Forest biomass to bioenergy
5. Trucking 1. Felling trees (high value bio-oil, (harvester) Biochar, pellets)
6. BIOENERGY!
2. Moving biomass to landing (forwarding)
3. Slash piles 4. Chip, create biochar, spread (drying) on forest sites Concerns about biomass harves ng and ecosystem services
• Destruc on of wildlife habitat • Decline of fresh water quality and quan ty • Visual impacts • Erosion • Overall nega ve impact on long- term produc vity, sustainability, or changes in succession Assessing the Effects of Biomass Removal for Bioenergy Stand level Do biomass utilization treatments impact stand Question 2 production?
Do biomass utilization treatmentsQuestion impact 3 vegetation composition, natural regeneration, and ecosystem structure?
Do individual trees respond to biomass utilizationQuestion treatments? 1 Tree level Regeneration Do biomass utilization treatments impact Questionartificial regeneration? 4
Soil produc vity DoesQuestion total removal 5 of excess biomass alter soil productivity? (Jang et al., 2014) 40 years of Bioenergy Harves ng data
• Forest sites are resilient • Iden fy sites that are sensi ve to compac on or other impacts • Soil carbon rebounds within a rota on (or less)
Biochar is equivalent to na ve charcoal in forest ecosystems
• Char is common in fire-adapted ecosystems • Fire suppression decreases charcoal inputs • Biomass removal decreases the likelihood of fire occurring • Applying biochar as a co-product of pyrolysis removes wildfire hazard and retains soil ecosystem func on What can biochar do on forest sites? What can biochar do on forest sites? Changes in decomposi on rate
60 Biochar alters the rate of 50 wood decomposi on • Increasing soil organic 40 Year 1 ma er for water, nutrients 30 Year 2 Year 3 and microbial ac vity Weight loss (%) 20 Year 4 Year 5 10
0 Control Wood Biochar Fer lizer Biochar + chips only only Fer lizer What can biochar do on forest sites? Changes in tree growth
3,5
3 Biochar alters tree growth • Within 5 years an 8% 2,5 increase in tree height 2 increment.
1,5 • Both above- and belowground long-term 1 Height growth increment (m) carbon sequestra on 0,5
0 Control Wood chips Biochar Fer lizer Biochar + only only Fer lizer What can biochar do on forest sites? Changes in soil moisture
16 Biochar alters soil moisture 14 • Within 3 years we see 12 increases in soil water 10 holding capacity 8 5 cm depth • Decreases insect and 10 cm depth 6 Soil Moisture (%) disease risk 4 • Healthier forest stands 2 0 Control Biochar Wood chips Is this feasible? • Conducted Life-Cycle Analyses for Biochar-based Ac vated Carbon(AC) and compared to Coal-based AC • Cradle-to-gate LCA Impact category Unit Biochar AC Coal AC Global warming kg CO2 eq 8.60 18.28 Fossil fuel deple on MJ surplus 17.09 22.65
• Made ac vated carbon from managed forest residues • Physical proper es of ac vated carbon were be er than coal-based AC Global warming impacts for electricity
1,079
w/o biochar carbon sequestration
0,748 0,720
0,499 w/ biochar carbon sequestration
0,330 GWP (kg CO2 eq/kWh)
0,046
COAL NATURAL GAS NORTHWEST US GRID BIOMASS TUCKER RNG SYNGAS (W/O C TUCKER RNG SYNGAS (W/ C SEQUEST) SEQUEST)
22 Understanding harvest and biochar risks and benefits Harvest • Li le evidence that long-term site produc vity declines with bioenergy harves ng • Biochar increases carbon sequestra on and may increase site produc vity Biochar • Match biochar to sites to maintain microbial ac vity Some final thoughts Forest biomass is a promising feedstock for bioenergy, biochar, and biofuel • Widely available as a byproduct of mber harves ng • Avoids slash pile impacts on the soil • Renewable • Can achieve energy objec ves of reducing GHG emissions of fossil fuel • Revive the declining industrial base in many rural US communi es • Using a supply chain approach increases efficiencies for delivering biochar products
Thank you