Research:

The advantages of using biochar are comprehensive, vast and replicated in both labs and real-world applications.  Top universities as well as research institutions globally have demonstrated the efficacy of high-quality biochar in agriculture, horticulture, soil and water remediation as well as reduction of greenhouse gasses and carbon-cycle benefits.  The following summaries of biochar research are by no means comprehensive but highlight important findings on the benefits of biochar.  

For a full list of compiled resarch internationally, please look at the International Biochar Iniative website.  

Agriculture:

Professor David Laird, a learding researcher on the benefits of biochar in agriculture summarizes in the Iowa State Journal (2013) that biochar is an investment in soil.  Dr. Laird shows that the water-holding of biochar is hugely valuable in the slow release of water in times of drought which can devastate a crop.  Biochar's water-holding capacity is vital to areas susceptible to dry spells and our biochars possess the characteristics of  top water-holding capacity - our Ag/Hort product holds 5.5 times its weight and our Environmental Ultra holds 9 times its weight.

Also of significance, Laird differentiates biochars and their relative effect on cotton growth.  While both a hard wood biochar and poultry litter biochar improved cotton crops, biochar made with wood had a more significant affected cotton growth. The findings are illustrated in this easy to understand research poster.  

Professor David Laird, a learding researcher on the benefits of biochar in agriculture summarizes in the Iowa State Journal (2013) that biochar is an investment in soil.  Dr. Laird shows that the water-holding of biochar is hugely valuable in the slow release of water in times of drought which can devastate a crop.  Biochar's water-holding capacity is vital to areas susceptible to dry spells and our biochars possess the characteristics of  top water-holding capacity - our Ag/Hort product holds 5.5 times its weight and our Environmental Ultra holds 9 times its weight.

Also of significance, Laird differentiates biochars and their relative effect on cotton growth.  While both a hard wood biochar and poultry litter biochar improved cotton crops, biochar made with wood had a more significant affected cotton growth. The findings are illustrated in this easy to understand research poster.  

Researchers at the University of Arkansas concluded that the addition of biochar to cotton significantly improved the crops by producing increased leaf area, number of fruits, total plant stem and dry matter weight (J.M. Burke, D.E. Longer, E.M. Kawakami, D.M. Oosterhuis, D.A. Loka, 2012).

Also of significance, this study differentiates biochars and their relative effect on cotton growth.  While both a hard wood biochar and poultry litter biochar improved cotton crops, biochar made with wood had a more significant affected cotton growth. The findings are illustrated in this easy to understand research poster.  

Black Owl Biochar (TM) is made from wood - one of the best feedstocks for agricultural growth. 

Composting:

Washington State University researchers, in conjunction with the Department of Ecology show several synergies take place when biochar is mixed with compost  (J.Ma, K.Wilson, Q.Zhao, C.Frear, J.Yorgey, 2013. p. 32-38).  A small addition of biochar to compost (2% application rate) improves the metabolic efficiency of soil life forms; lowering both CO2 and N2 emissions, retaining ammonia, reduces leaching, and mitigating odors. Furthermore, they concluded that the addition of biochar to compost increases the value of the compost. This article also illustrate that biochars are not created equally - those with more surface area and porosity and high activity generate much greater gains in than standard or sub-standard biochar.  Black Owl Biochar, originates from an A+ quality feedstock, thereby making it a superior biochar for the composting-process.

Stormwater Treatment:

Professor David Laird, a learding researcher on the benefits of biochar in agriculture summarizes in the Iowa State Journal (2013) that biochar is an investment in soil.  Dr. Laird shows that the water-holding of biochar is hugely valuable in the slow release of water in times of drought which can devastate a crop.  Biochar's water-holding capacity is vital to areas susceptible to dry spells and our biochars possess the characteristics of  top water-holding capacity - our Ag/Hort product holds 5.5 times its weight and our Environmental Ultra holds 9 times its weight.

Also of significance, Laird differentiates biochars and their relative effect on cotton growth.  While both a hard wood biochar and poultry litter biochar improved cotton crops, biochar made with wood had a more significant affected cotton growth. The findings are illustrated in this easy to understand research poster.  

Riparian Areas:

Agricultural runoff is a major pollutant for large riparian and wetland areas.  In an attampt to minimize eutrophication, reasearchers have been collaborating with farmers to improve best management practices in cleaning up nutrient leaching.  A. Sweet, J.E. Schoonover, K.W.J. Willard, R.L. cook and N.L. Holm at Southern Illinois University looked at biochar's role in suspending nutrients (2012).  The biochar was tilled in with a modified seed dropper Sweet et. al. found that adding biochar to flumes was effective in reducing soil and water concentrations of NH4, DRP, TP and TSS.  The study is detailed in this powerpoint.

Mine Reclamation:

Abandon mines face significant challenges brought on by waste rock piles and mine tailings with include the erosion of highly-contaminated soils resulting in acidic soil, depletion of vegetative cover, soil compaction, erosion and low water retention. 

Green Roofs:

Many green roofs in urban areas continue to grow internationally and designing green roof media to reduce the nutrient leaching in stormwater runoff from these roofs is essential.  Portland State University researchers D. Beck, G. Johnson and G. Spolek assessed the efficiacy of biochar in green roof media in cleaning up stormwater and increase soil fertilitiy. 

Beck et. al. showed trays containing 7% biochar showed increased water retention and significant decreases in discharge of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, nitrate, phosphate, and organic carbon. The addition of biochar to greenroof soil improves both runoff water quality and retention.  Biochar Surpeme's Environmental Ultra has the ideal properties for green roofs as it is light and can hold 9 times it's weight in water - making it available on a slow release to plants. 

Pathogen Suppression:

In the first study of its kind, Rice University researchers G. Silberg, M. Bennett, D. Wagner and S.H.Y Cheng (2013) utilized synthetic biology to study how a biochar can interfere with the chemical signals that some microbes use to communicate. The class of compounds studied includes those used by some plant pathogens to coordinate their attacks.  Rice's lab had two tailored forms of E. coli bacteria and put them in a petri dish to see how they would react when put in contact with biochar.  In each replicated case, the scientists found that biochar could interfere with the cell signaling of the E.coli.  Of importance, the study concluded that biochar created with high temperatures was much as 10 times more effective at shutting down conversations than that of biochars created at lower temperatures.  An abstract of this study can be found here.