COVER PAGE

Biochar and Bioenergy Production Project,

Phase I: Test & Development (TAD) Facility Installation

& Agronomic Impact Assessment

Applicant:

Alan C. Page,* PhD, DBA Green Diamond Systems (Principal Implementer)

                        125 Blue Meadow Road, Belchertown, MA 01007

                        Phone: 413-323-4401

                        FAX:   413-323-5193

                        Email: stepitupbelchertown@verizon.net

Project Partners & Participants:

            New England Small Farms Institute

Attn. Judith Gillan*, Founding Director

                        P.O. Box 937; 275 Jackson Street, Belchertown, MA 01007

                        Phone: 413-323-4531

                        FAX:413-323-9594

                        Email: jgillan@smallfarm.org

            Eprida, Incorporated

                        Attn. Danny Day

                        1151 E. Whitehall Road, Athens, GA 30605

                        Phone: 706-316-1765

                        Email: dannymday@gmail.com

                        www.eprida.com

White Oak Farm, J. Arnold Voehringer, P.E. (farmer) and Adam Dole (UMass Plant & Soil Science student)

                        295 Jackson Street; P.O. Box 31, Belchertown, MA  01007

                        Phone: 413-323-6821

                        Email: whiteoakfarm@smallfarm.org

* Member of StepItUp-Belchertown

Funding Requested: $250,000

Request includes purchase of basic Eprida test unit – $248,000, and reimbursement to White Oak Farm for fuel/labor required for field application agronomic impact assessment - $2,000.

Matching Sources: $257,000

Green Diamond Systems: Facilities – including electric feed, land and building

Feedstock and equipment for 6 months’ testing of unit(s)

Value = $250,000

New England Small Farm Institute/White Oak Farm: Land, labor, equipment; feedstock

                                    Value = $2,000

Eprida, Inc.: Technical Assistance (Danny Day)

Value = $202,000

Begin Date: August 31, 2008

BIOCHAR AND BIOENERGY CO-PRODUCTION PROJECT,

PHASE I: TEST & DEVELOPMENT (TAD) FACILITY INSTALLATION

& AGRONOMIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT

INTRODUCTION:

Massachusetts’ farms and forest products producers actively seek access to affordable, renewable sources of energy.  At the same time, they are uniquely positioned to participate in production of energy products and co-products that can benefit both their own businesses and other members of their local communities.  State agencies that promote exploration and development of such energy sources encourage a focus on energy production technologies and practices seen as “sustainable” over the long term.  One such promising technology involves the pyrolysis co-production of biochar and bio-energy, a process that not only mitigates net emission of greenhouse gases through the production of a long lasting (hundreds to thousands of years) porous inert activated carbon material, but achieves other economic and environmental benefits as well.  These benefits can include production of co-products such as flavorings, vanillin, wintergreen, or possibly a maple derivative and solvents such as turpentine or alcohols, as well as producer gas (H_2,  CO, & CH₄) that can be utilized as fuel.  But perhaps most important to the agricultural community are the ‘agronomic benefits derived from the application of biochar, the activated charcoal, to cropland as a soil amendment that is known to enhance agricultural productivity through its effect on soil structure, microbiota and nutrient availability.’[1]

            The regional installation and operation of a farm-scale biochar “test and development” (TAD) facility can support MAIC goals in a variety of ways.  For example, commercial greenhouse operators or dairy farms with significant heating needs could be appropriate early places to site properly fine-tuned processor units.  Such operations will likely have the administrative capacity to handle personnel and the marketing of co-products.  They can readily use “waste” heat for space heating and cooling; greenhouses can utilize biochar in the preparation of potting soil and in application to field soils (possibly reducing the need for fertilizer application by 75% while enhancing the soil’s water holding capacity).  A farm-scale biochar processor would be a convenient way to sterilize waste plant materials and manures while supplying some feedstock.  Heat and fuel can be used on any farm in a number of ways, and co-product value and carbon sequestration credits can add to a farm’s bottom line.  However, the realization of these benefits requires ability to configure each biochar production unit to accurately perform the tasks required to transform feedstock(s) that may have unique properties into valuable co-products, while at the same time forming the most biologically active biochar. Information required for this kind of local source processing can only be developed by a regional TAD facility.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES, STATEMENT OF WORK & TIMELINES:

Objective #1: TAD Unit Installation and Management.  Acquire, pilot test and manage an Eprida “test and development” biochar unit, utilizing selected local cellulosic by-product(s) as feedstock.

Tasks and Timelines:

(1)   Complete specifications of a TAD unit suitable for local (MA) needs and conditions, with focus on processing forestry by-products.  Timeline: Fall 2008.

(2)   Prepare site for TAD unit location, including assembly of materials handling equipment.  Timeline: Fall 2008.

(3)   Purchase Eprida TAD unit and install at prepared location (proposed location: 125 Blue Meadow Road, Belchertown).  Link unit with greenhouse or kiln heating and electric systems.  Timeline: 3 to 6 months from Project start.

(4)   Train 6-person team to run the TAD unit during 1 to 2 month test period; run “shake-down” trials to correct problems and fine-tune.  Timeline: 2-4 weeks, upon unit installation.

(5)   Characterize co-product, energy and biochar quality possibilities available through processing selected test feedstock (white pine). Timeline: 1 to 2 months.

(6)   Report on the operation of the TAD unit using and characterizing the above cellulosic organic “waste” material (most likely Green Diamond Systems white pine thinnings and sawmill residues), and establish business plans for both the operation of the TAD unit and proposed processors with help from local experts and partners.  Timeline: 1 month.

Objective #2: Agronomic Impact Assessment. Assess crop response to biochar field application(s).

Tasks and Timelines:

(1) Acquire funding to purchase 10 tons of biochar or produce it with operation of the TAD unit (1000hours or about 2 months of 24/7 operation of the TAD unit at $55,000 per month; this funding is not part of this application).   Inoculate the new char with local micro-organisms for at least two months before use.

(2)Land-apply biochar to agricultural field(s) prior to planting field crop(s), including wheat, at White Oak Farm, Belchertown.  Timeline: 2009 growing season.

(3) Convene StepItUp team (including UMass students and faculty) to monitor and evaluate crop response.  Timeline: 2009 growing season.

EXPECTED PROJECT OUTCOMES:

•         Biochar production will be coupled with valuable clean energy production, and may be able to also produce co-products that may eventually be able to be marketed as the number of processors begins to grow.

•         A semi-permanent biochar feedstock analysis facility will be established.

•         At least one common feedstock will be evaluated for co-product production possibilities.

•         Guidance will be available to parties interested in setting up farm- and community-scale biochar processing facilities.

•         Farmers will have a convenient source of biochar and information about its production and agronomic benefits and use.

PROJECT PARTICIPANTS:

Green Diamond Systems, c/o Alan Page, PhD (CV is attached)

New England Small Farm Institute, Inc.

NESFI is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation organized in 1978 to promote regional small farm development.  It leases and manages the former Belchertown State School farm property – Lampson Brook Farmstead – as a small farm demonstration and training center.  During the 2008 season, NESFI has been the site of a field trial of Italian plum tomatoes managed with controlled agronomic applications of biochar.  The trial is managed by UMass student Adam Dole and monitored by members of Belchertown StepItUp.  Judith Gillan is NESFI’s founding director.  She has participated in field trial implementation and oversight.

Eprida, Incorporated

Eprida, Inc. was founded in 2002 as a Delaware Corporation to provide a commercial vehicle for exploring innovative solutions to global challenges. Early research focused on addressing global warming and has led to breakthrough innovations in renewable energy, carbon capture and carbon utilization for sustainable agriculture.  Learn more about Eprida, Inc. at www.eprida.com.

White Oak Farm

White Oak Farm is a small, organic field crop operation owned and operated by Arnie Voehringer, P.E.  White Oak is located in Belchertown and is currently co-managed by Adam Dole, a UMass student in plant and soil sciences.  During the 2008 production season, White Oak participated in cramby (oil seed) field trials sponsored by UMass, as well as in field trials of spring and winter wheat, rye and spelt – grown out at the request of local bakeries Hungry Ghost (Northampton) and (Amherst).  White Oak is a farming participant in the Pioneer Valley’s “Little Red Hen Project” and Heritage Grain Collaborative.

TAD Unit Project Overview:

The Project proposes to set up a regional TAD facility designed to identify the extractable components of local feedstocks. Quantification of the value of these components will provide a basis for developing a profitable way for rural MA farms – and eventually, the communities where they exist – to become more stable and sustainable. The analysis of local waste organic material is a necessary first step to the integration of a series of local farm scale processors with 0.1-1.5 ton per hour raw material capacity and the capability of producing enough fuel to generate up to1 megawatt on demand or a convenient clean biofuel for space heating.  Other uses for the energy output await further technical developments.

This initial test round would both verify the Eprida technology and fully characterize the various co-products, energy sources, and biochar that can be derived from a common feedstock material, and provide heating, cooling and some portion of the electric energy for operating either a 20’ x100’ poly-carbonate glazed greenhouse or the several small dry kilns that are part of the Green Diamond Systems sawmilling operation. 

The TAD unit would fit nicely into a regional agricultural and forest demonstration space that was closely connected to the sources of actively managed forest and farm land and a structure made of local materials to showcase the variety of local products that can be found in this area and the actual affects of biochar on agricultural crops and forest tree development.  Green Diamond Systems has been hoping to establish such a demonstration area for the last twenty years, and would be happy to participate in a long term agreement to enable this to happen under a separate contract.

After initial startup and testing, the TAD unit would be expected to operate on a fee-for-service basis, with feedstock analysis costing somewhere between $15,000 to $100,000, depending on the chemical and structural complexity of the feedstock, the likely value of the co-products expected to be derived from that feed stock, and the amount of additional testing needed to assure a quality end product.  A six-person team will work steadily for 7-10 days to complete initial analyses.  Throughout the testing process, the “waste” heat, co-products and energy products produced along with biochar will be monitored and used.  A preliminary cash flow and time line for the operation has been published at http://alans.blog.vox.com.

Information about the Eprida Biochar TAD Unit: 

Eprida, Inc., located at the University of GA, has designed a skid-mounted biochar “Test and Development” (TAD) unit that is outfitted with the sensors and analytical equipment necessary to characterize compounds that can be extracted from a particular processing feedstock.  This analysis process requires use of a variety of solvents and careful documentation of temperatures and pressures reached prior to heating the material to the point where charring occurs.  The result is a “recipe” that normal char processors can use to maximize the value produced from a given feedstock.

The basic TAD unit has the capacity to analyze 50 pounds of feedstock per hour and costs approximately $450,000 retail..  Depending on the instrumentation required, a fully equipped unit runs between $400,000 and $500,000. 

Note: The actual cost of each TAD unit depends on casting costs, the cost of needed sensors and the possibility of reducing labor and shipping costs for parts by linking the order with the construction of other units.  If an MAIC grant is approved, it may be possible to link purchase of a MA unit with another being built for a coop in Australia.  For the purposes of this test the matching position of Eprida brings the out of pocket cost of the TAD unit to $248,000.

Further Discussion of Agricultural Biochar Applications:

Although agricultural use of biochar is a well-studied phenomenon, the local production and use of biochar for agricultural use is not well established in MA.  Profitable production of biochar from local organic wastes requires specialized control of the charing process.  This control is required to allow the possible extraction of valuable co-products (such as vanillin or turpentine) and clean energy (H₂), as well as the production of biochar.  It is suggested that farm-scale processors may be profitable enough to keep a crew of 12 to 15 people fully employed producing biochar, co-products and energy.  Interest in this technology is clearly growing.  For example, the recently passed 2009 Farm Bill includes the following section authorizing competitive grants focused on biochar:

 “(52) Biochar Research. - Grants may be made under this section for research, extension, and integrated activities relating to the study of biochar production and use, including considerations of agronomic and economic impacts, synergies of co-production with bioenergy, and the value of soil enhancements and soil carbon sequestration.”

Additional information about biochar is available at http://www.biochar-international.org.