Agrichar Project
Agrichar is a black carbon product, produced by heating crop residues in the absence of oxygen. This process is called pyrolysis and generates renewable energy as well as agrichar. The agrichar can be applied to soil to increase soil fertility and used as a means of removing carbon from the atmosphere.
BBIFMAC, Burdekin Dry Tropics NRM, Canegrowers Burdekin, NQACC, Burdekin Shire Council CSR Sugar and NSW DPI have partnered in a project to test the feasibility of a Burdekin pyrolysis industry.
Late last year, samples of sugarcane trash, bagasse, mill mud and infield juicer fibre were sent down from the Burdekin to BEST Energies Australia to be turned into agrichar through batch pyrolysis. All four materials were found to be suitable for pyrolysis. The cane trash will require hammer milling to improve handling in a full scale plant. The mill mud will require extra energy for drying as the energy produced during the pyrolysis process is not enough to cover the energy requirements of drying the mill mud. The other three materials were found to be net exporters of energy and therefore a source of renewable energy.
NSW DPI are about to start pot trials with the four different agrichars to determine what effect each of them have on greenhouse gas emission when incorporated into Burdekin soil.
If the results of the pot trial are positive, the next steps are to produce larger quantities of agrichar for field trials and conduct a scoping study.
The ABC Catalyst website contains a short video and more information on the benefits of Agrichar. Click here to go to the site.