Charists,
I have struggled with terminology about the name biochar.
Char is charcoal, the raw stuff created by pyrolysis of biomass. It can have variations. It can have various destinations: fuel, filters, into soil, etc. Char cannot be made from anything except biomass (including bones), but being from biomass is not the sufficient reason for calling it “BIOchar”, right? Charcoal for cooking is from biomass.
Biochar is something else. It can have 55 uses, according to one publication. Maybe more. One of those destinations is into the soil, but that does not mean that all biochar is headed to the soil, right?
I want a term that explicitly refers to char that is already in the soil or is specifically destined for being into soil in such a way that some sequestration value of that char into soil cannot be doubted. So I starting to use a new term: soilchar
Soilchar is char that is headed to the soil. It is NOT soil carbon. It is mainly carbon, and it might be counted as part of the carbon in soil (soil carbon) but it is in the form of charcoal that has prospects for long-time duration in the soil. Could a soil scientist accept this term soilchar? It is much more specific than biochar. Soilchar can be called one type of biochar, and even be a dominate type of biochar. And we can continue to use the less-specific term biochar when we refer to soilchar, especially if we are discussing biochar for soil and we clearly state in a given document or presentation that the term biochar is referring to soilchar, unless otherwise stated.
Back around 2007-08 (?? Others can correct me, please.) when discussion was about char in a role in terra preta, there was a term proposed as agrichar or agrochar. But as I was told back then, someone had already trademarked that name (in Australia???), so it was no longer acceptable as the core term for the emerging field of “biochar”. Can anyone confirm (or correct or refute) that story?
Today people talk about biochar filters and biochar in composite materials and even into concrete-like building materials. Fine. All of that can be biochar. And char into soils can be biochar, but it also can be very explicitly named and defined as soilchar.
Easy to remember if you ever see the word soilchar again. It does not need to catch on as a term. It is just a term that is available for us to use when necessary (maybe never).
Paul
Doc / Dr TLUD / Paul S. Anderson, PhD
Exec. Dir. of Juntos Energy Solutions NFP
Email: psanders@ilstu.edu<mailto:psanders@ilstu.edu> Skype: paultlud
Phone: Office: 309-452-7072 Mobile: 309-531-4434
Website: www.drtlud.com<www.drtlud.com>