As with any technology, there are a range of issues to be addressed and solved. The commented list below is a non-exhaustive attempt to identify key issues for Europe.
European Biomass Inventory
Europe produces colossal quantities of bio-mass. There are two issues that need to be addressed in this area in the context of bio-char:
- the quantity of bio-mass that could be available for use in a bio-char process,
- processes and uses that could compete for bio-mass with bio-char.
Clearly the forestry industry has a number of well defined uses for its timber. These include paper, wood chip, furniture, construction timber and as fuel for CHP power stations. However, other sources of bio-mass have less evident or well defined uses. For example the bales of straw one sees at harvest time.
Biochar in European Agriculture
If European agriculture is to be one (the main?) source of biomass for the biochar process, issues relating to the process by which the biomass is collected, processed and the resulting biochar incorporated into soil needs to be considered.
- Localised collection, production and distribution?
- Regionalised system?
- Accounting processes with respect to ETS