Climate protection: biochar as a CO₂ dump in the soil

Magunguli, 2022-05-31. Final storage of CO₂ is on everyone’s mind. farip has found a partner for “Terminal Carbon Sequestration in Soils” in the Ithaka Institute in Valais. TECASESO is the final sequestration of CO₂ from the atmosphere by putting vegetable charcoal into the soil, for example mixed with the “boma” manure of cattle for vegetable cultivation.

Charcoal dust from waste biomass (round wood is NOT being used!) is being placed in the soil, where the carbon can no longer burn to CO₂ and escape. The favourable properties of charcoal in the soil allow cultivation of vegetable crops. Charcoal stores a lot of water and accumulates nutrients thanks to its enormously large inner surface. These effects have been intensively studied in science and practice, for example by Agroscope.

Our local partners make use of the favourable properties of coal: Charcoal is produced from organic waste. Branches, cuttings and leaves from logging, crop residues, field weeds, savannah grass, etc. This charcoal dust is then filled into registered bags, dumped on the “bomas” – the cattle campsites of the Maasai – and filmed on site. These videos are proof that a bag full of coal got into the ground. This can get funded by climate compensation funds or certificate trading.

Magunguli, 2021-10-14. The fact that the mixture of coal and cow dung is used in vegetable gardens nearby for intensive crops is a secondary aspect from the point of view of CO₂ disposal, but it becomes interesting for the farmers as an additional stable income. The advantage: this permanent dumping of carbon does not require any high-tech processes!

Magunguli, 2021-11-04. First experiments in Magunguli in the southern highlands of Tanzania to create a vegetable cone bed with coal dust and boma dung show encouraging results: In the first picture, the cone bed. In the second picture, the Chinese cabbage plants just two weeks later.