The Biochar Factory

Biochars affects seed germination and fast growth of seedlings      Biochar has been reported to both increase (Chan et al. 2008; Yamato et al. 2006) and decrease (Deenik et al. 2010) plant growth and yield but there have been few studies reporting the influence of biochar on early stages of plant growth such as on seed germination and seedling growth. The stimulation or inhibition of seed germination due to biochar application has mostly been investigated for forest plants (Choi et al. 2009; Pierce and Moll 1994; Reyes and Casal 2006; Tian et al. 2007).     For agricultural plants,activated charcoal (steam treated) enhanced seed germination of potato (Bamberg et al. 1986) while Van Zwieten et al. (2010) showed that wheat seed germination was increased with a single dose (10 t/ha) of paper mill biochar. In contrast, Free et al. (2010) reported that maize seed germination and early growth were not significantly affected by biochars made from a range of organic sources.    

Bottom ash and biochar   For this experiment, Different BA was obtained from a BA recycling facility located in Southern Taiwan. YING CHENG COMPANY -  where incineration bottom ash is treated      Bottom ash from three different cities (Pingtung, Chiayi and Chunghua City) was collected and was air dried for 3 days at room temperature. Then it was sieved using two mesh sizes (mesh 1- 19.10 mm and mesh 2- 4.700 mm). For the effect of sieve size two different mesh sizes were chosen, according to Skorupskaitė and Denafas (2004) the all kinds of ash particles, especially in the area of small particles, have a relatively big surface area, porous surface, and for this reason they could have a huge absorptions capacity.   Two different feedstocks were used to produce the biochars used in this report: rice husks and bamboo, each material was generated at different temperatures. The rice husks from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) from the Phili