Urgency of Biochar Production Industrial Capacity

The provision or application of biochar to agricultural land follows the 4Rs rule, namely the right source (appropriate biochar raw material), right place (appropriate application area), right rate (appropriate dosage) and right timing (appropriate time). The physical and chemical properties of biochar differ depending on the raw material and production process. By following the 4R rules, biochar performance can be maximized. The effect of biochar on plants will be clearly visible (significant) when the 4R rules are met. With a dose / rate reaching 20 tons / ha (depending on the influencing condition factors), the need for biochar is also large. This is why biochar products are rarely sold online, namely because of the large volume.

Unlike soil amendments such as compost, the effects of biochar can be felt for quite a long time or for several types of agricultural crops, namely not only in one planting season, but repeatedly. This also makes the provision or application of biochar not as frequent as compost. And in the end, of course, the economic aspect is a determining parameter whether biochar makes agricultural businesses more profitable or not. The price of biochar on the market is an important concern for users or farmers.

The lack of biochar production in Indonesia is currently a barrier to biochar application in large agricultural lands, even when farmers' awareness of biochar is also increasing. This is the driving force for the importance of adequate biochar production, especially industrial capacity. Only with adequate biochar production can biochar application in agricultural lands or degraded lands be carried out optimally. The urgency of industrial capacity biochar production is even greater, especially when the biochar production also gets carbon credit, of course this will be even more interesting.

Biochar and Food & Energy Security

As the population increases, so does the need for food and energy. This is why food and energy production must also be increased. Increasing food production is closely related to the quality and quantity of land. However, although the quantity of land is very large, its quality tends to decline so that plant productivity automatically also decreases. The decline in land quality or land damage occurs on very large areas of land up to millions of hectares. With the area of ​​sub-optimal and degraded lands reaching hundreds of millions of hectares consisting of 122.1 million hectares of dry land; 8 million hectares of post-mining land; 24.3 million hectares of critical land; a total of around 154.4 million ha, it can be said that the potential loss of food products also reaches millions of tons. Meanwhile, damaged land will be further damaged if no repair efforts are made. Efforts to upgrade or improve the quality of this land should be an important priority in efforts to achieve food and energy security.

Biochar application is a solution for improving these lands. Raw materials for biochar production are also very abundant, including dry palm oil EFB of around 30 million tons/year, bagasse of 2 million tons/year, corn cobs of 5 million tons/year, cassava stalks of 3 million tons/year, waste wood of 50 million tons/year, rice husks of 15 million tons/year, cocoa shells and so on. With the application of biochar, agricultural productivity can increase by an average of 20% or even up to 100%. If applied on a macro or national scale, say with a 20% increase in production, for example, rice production will increase to 36 million tons/year from the previous 30 million tons/year, corn will increase to 18 million tons/year from the previous 15 million tons/year, crude palm oil or CPO to 60 million tons/year from the previous 50 million tons/year. This will save land use so that the opening of forest land for food crops and (bio)energy such as food estates may not be necessary or at least slow it down. But why until now has biochar not received attention and been used as a solution?

In addition, biochar production with pyrolysis will also produce a number of by-products that can be used for energy applications or others, as in the diagram above. Many agro-industries require drying in their production processes, so this is an additional advantage of using pyrolysis technology for biochar production. While from the environmental aspect, biochar is also a carbon sequestration so that it is a climate solution and can get carbon credit. Likewise in waste management, because the raw material for biochar is biomass waste from agriculture, plantations and forestry, even from organic waste, the pyrolysis and biochar business is also a solution to this problem.

Calliandra Planting For Soil Improvement Thus adequate Food, Energy and Water

That Muslims should organize in the management of land - grasslands or sources of food, water, fire or energy it is clear there in the direction of the Prophet Muhammad: "The Muslims were syirkah (cooperation) in three ways pasture, water and fire" (HR . Sunan Abu Daud).

What are the consequences when we ignore these instructions - that is when we do not bersyirkah among us? Sources of livelihood are our primary form of food, water and energy managed by others and people become not self-sufficient in meeting the main of needs. When we are not self-sufficient in terms of basic needs, we are easily misled in a variety of other matters. Then the great work for people with learning syirkah in three main points as much as possible should be initiated.

In matters of energy the Muslims must start His guidance, what are the Qur'an speaks regarding the fire or energy? Qur'an talk about the source of fire from green trees (Surah 36: 80 and Surah 56: 71-72). In a matter of human beings could be the most efficient source of energy that nuclear power, which is the most clean hydro power, which is the most abundant solar energy. But when Allah SWT hinted fire from green trees, certainly a source of energy that this one has its own advantages. For example when we have firewood or wood pellets (the cutting edge  the fuel) from the woody biomass then can we save, we can use at any given time, relatively unaffected by weather conditions. Unlike hydro (water) and solar energy availability and use is affected by weather conditions. Plants or green trees also absorb CO2 and release O2 for us to breathe. In addition the plant is also able to fertilize the soil, resisting erosion and of course there are many more details. Furthermore, the text below will describe a small part of the energy advantages of green trees and environmental benefits.

According to the FAO estimated one third of the world soil layer has been damaged or degraded. Though the land is an important part in supporting life on earth. We know the food chain from plants. The life human and animal from plants. Most of our food comes from the ground, although there is plants and animals that live in the sea. Especially in agriculture, the land becomes the most important factor that determines the land is an important part in supporting life on earth. Land degradation occurs due to erosion, compaction, ground cover, the use of agricultural chemicals and soil nutrient depletion, acidification, pollution and other processes caused by land management practices that are not sustainable.

 

Degraded Lands in Indonesia

FAO Director General Jose Graziano da Silva estimates that by 2050 the fertile soil in the world lived a quarter of the benchmark in 1960. As the growth of world population continues to increase with the forecast to 10 billion in 2050 and is now almost 2 billion only experiencing food shortage, of course decreasing the amount of fertile land further aggravate the condition. Instructions from the Qur’an above which the plant types Leguminoceae then attempt to restore the soil fertility is feasible. Leguminoceae plant will capture nitrogen from the air is then stored in the root nodules and into soil fertilizer. Additionally leaves are also rich in nitrogen, when falling to the soil also will become fertilizer that fertilizes the land. When the soil has been broken so need to be restored then the legumes plants is the most suitable in these conditions. This is because such plants legumes have these characteristics: cool / moisten the soil surface, root nodules for being able to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere means that is able to fertilize the soil is damaged / barren, and able to prevent erosion. Rhizobium is a type of bacteria that grow in the roots of leguminoceae plants and act bind nitrogen in nodules. According to FAO, small organisms such as bacteria and fungi in underground acts as a primary agent driving the cycle of nutrients and helps plants through improved nutrient intake, which in turn support the biodiversity on the ground as well.

Among the more than 19,000 kinds of Leguminoceae, Calliandra is one of them and has been developed in Indonesia. Planting Calliandra has two major benefits that restore soil fertility and production of wood for fuel, especially wood pellets. More about the pattern of utilization can be read at the link 5F Project ForThe World!. While in Indonesia alone there are hundreds of millions of hectares have not been utilized well, including many have become degraded land. One grateful for the favors of Allah  SWT is with the prosperity of the earth.

Planting trees will clean the air by absorbing CO2 and produce O2. Imagine this in an era with a location not far from here, to breathe clean air people have to buy the air in the packaging - as we buy bottled water in a plastic bottle. It's very sad. In the area of Xinjiang, the region is already very bad air pollution in China, tens of millions of air in cans has been sold since last few years. And unfortunately only the rich people who can afford to buy the canned air. Islam teaches that the air and water are free goods that can be enjoyed by anyone. Important effort that can be done to make that free is still free, is to plant  trees, so that it can improve the soil fertility by planting Leguminoceae plant group, clean the air, a source of energy and also absorb water.