A visiting United States advocate of biochar says closed-loop production systems can eliminate waste, improve energy efficiency and the business bottom line.
“Closed loop systems, that’s what I’m really energised about,” says Kathleen Draper.
“On farms there are tonnes of different ways you can produce it, [and] use the heat and the biochar.”
The self-styled ‘bioCHARista’ and ‘CHARector’ at Ithaka Institute for Carbon Intelligence in the Finger Lakes district of the United States is visiting Tasmania in the wake of the Mullumbimby Bio-charfest, an event held in northern News South Wales early in September.
“I’m most interested in producing the biochar where the biomass exists, and then using the biochar as close to that as possible,” says Ms Draper.
She says a number of Tasmanian rural businesses are researching closed-loop biochar production models, to eliminate waste and improve their energy efficiency and their bottom line.
