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Biochar Workshop
Where: Biosciences Complex, Rm. 1120
When: February 16 2010
Hugh McLaughlin, Director Biocarbon Research, Alterna Biocarbons
Understanding Adsorption in Carbonaceous
Materials with Implications for Biochar
Biochar is a term used to designate charcoal or biocarbon destined for addition to soils. As such, biochar is both a class of materials capable of sequestering carbon (CO2 equivalents) in soils and is tasked with an ambitious goal of improving long-term soil productivity. Soil improvements attributed to the addition of biochar include increased moisture retention, improved air permeability, elevated cation exchange capacity, increased buffering of soluble organic carbon, and synergistic interactions with soil microbial populations. This unique three-part workshop includes:
Part A: Characteristics of adsorption in activated carbon and biochars - building up the predictable behavior from molecular level interactions and incorporating the macro characteristics of the solids that also influence the kinetics of a given adsorption application.
Part B: Deciphering Biochar structure: beyond proximates and ultimates. How to characterize biochar for what counts? This guided tour through biochar properties surveys the existing characterization techniques developed for fuels and how they need to be modified when applied to biochar as a soil amendment. It moves on to the appropriate techniques for adsorption characterization as a key property behind the unique role of activated carbon as soil amendment and possible soil remediation vehicle.
Part C: Demonstration of several simple biochar bench-top generation techniques. The intent of this demo is to show how surprisingly simple arrangements can produce quality biochar and combustible gas. It also serves to illustrate critical process parameters that need to be watched for during the operation of wood pyrolysis processes and associated biochar production.
The seminar is intended for scientists and engineers who work with carbonaceous adsorbents their application to soils and requires a basic understanding of chemical bonds and molecular structures, but not an advanced training in chemistry.
Schedule:
Tuesday, Feb. 16:
1:00-2:00, Part A
2:00-2:30, Break
2:30-3:30, Part B
3:30-4:00, Break
4:00-5:00, Part C
Note: There will also be a free public lecture by Dr. McLaughlin entitled "Biochars - what we know, what we think we know and what we do not know", on February 18th, 9:00 am at the Wilton Women's Institute Hall, Wilton Ontario, followed by a tour of Burt's Greenhouses heating system and char making process in Odessa.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. McLaughlin has over 25 years of experience with activated carbon and its applications. He has performed fundamental research on activation and regeneration of activated carbon, with particular insight into the extent of adsorption performance and impact on the activated carbon physical properties. As such, he is an "Activated Carbon Guru".
Dr. McLaughlin has in-house capabilities to produce laboratory scale high temperature steam-activated carbon samples from a wide variety of carbon precursors, including biomass-derived and polymeric raw materials. The activated carbon samples can be characterized by various analytical techniques or generated for application testing. Specifically, he has the ability to generate entire "activation series", based on any carbon-rich starting material, and characterize the evolution of the adsorption properties by GRPD (Gravimetric Rapid Pore Determination).
Dr. McLaughlin also has consulted extensively on industrial applications of granular activated carbon, including vapor phase emission control and product recovery, storm water applications and numerous applications of treatment of aqueous wastewater and contaminated groundwater. He has several patents in the area of activated carbon use and regeneration. Dr. McLaughlin has led the efforts at Alterna Biocarbon to enhance the Native Adsorption Capacity of Alterna's Biocarbons, whereby biocarbons can be utilized in applications traditionally requiring more expensive activated carbon products.
The cost to attend is $50 ($25 for students). The deadline for registration and cancellation is Monday 15 February 2010 by 5:00 pm.
To register, please print the registration form and mail, fax or email it as attachment to Darko Matovic at Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, darko@me.queensu.ca, fax 613-533-6489.
McLaughlin-Registration-form.pdf
Sponsored by:
