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Canadian Carbon Solutions Group offers one of the most efficient, clean, and fiscally responsible answers to reducing waste runoff and carbon emissions created by our modern society while producing BioCarbon.

BioCarbon consists of Carbon and a Bio Fuel that can be utilized in air and water purification, steel industry and agriculture, among others. Many of these applications also supply environmental benefits as well as energy producing applications.

THE PRODUCTION OF CARBON FOR CLEAN WATER AND AIR

IDENTIFYING A PROBLEM?  GREAT LAKES PHOSPHORUS LEVELS RISING

A mysterious resurgence of phosphorus in the Great Lakes is endangering the aquatic food chain and human health, says a bi-national agency that advises Canada and the U.S.

Fifteen years after the last programs to control phosphorus runoff ended, the International Joint Commission urged on Wednesday a renewed effort to get the oxygen-depleting chemical out of the water.

IS THERE A SOLUTION?

Since the beginning of industrialization, the variety and quantity of pollutants emitted into the environment has steadily increased. While the rates of development and waste production are not likely to diminish, efforts to control and dispose of wastes appropriately are rising. One of the key concerns in waste control is the protection of the world’s finite potable water supply. Although there are various methods for water purification, they are typically dated and are inadequate for the removal of the toxins known to be in today’s water supply. As a result, development of novel technologies for the remediation of contaminated water is necessary.

Water is conventionally filtered through a granular media column containing activated carbon to capture dissolved organic and inorganic material. Activated carbon, a highly micro porous adsorbent, can be produced by thermal and/or chemical treatment of materials such as wood, coal, coconut shells, and sugar. Its adsorptive properties stem from its high surface area and the ability to tailor its surface chemistry for particular pollutants.

While the carbon removes pollutants from water, it does not destroy them; accordingly, the carbon eventually becomes exhausted (i.e. fails to remove additional pollutants). For economic reasons, instead of being discarded the spent activated carbon is treated to remove the pollutants and restore the carbon to its original capacity.

Soil organic carbon, which makes up about 60% of the soil organic matter on average, has beneficial effects on many physical, chemical and biological functions of soil quality. It helps support the productivity and diversity of all living organisms in the soil. It influences water-holding capacity, aeration, soil aggregation, and other physical aspects. It affects cation exchange capacity, the supply and availability of other nutrient elements, buffering capacity and other chemical parameters of soil. Soil organic matter, with soil carbon, holds vast amounts of organic compounds, nutrients, trace elements, and cations that are essential to plant growth and biological activity.

 

WHERE CAN I FIND CARBON?

Carbon (bio-char) is the most widely used adsorbent for industrial applications and environmental clean-up operations (such as wastewater treatment, air purification and treatment of drinking water). The demand for activated carbon worldwide is increasing because of the increase in industrial activities, more strict environmental regulations and concern in protecting the environment.

Biochar can be produced sustainably or unsustainably. Canadian Carbon Solutions Group’s criteria for sustainable biochar production requires that biomass procured from agricultural and silvicultural(I) residues be extracted at a rate and in a manner that:

a)      does not cause soil erosion or soil degradation;
b)      crop residues currently in use as animal fodder not be used as biochar feedstock;
c)      minimal carbon debt be incurred from land-use change or use of feedstocks with a long life expectancy;
d)      no new lands be converted into biomass production and no agricultural land be taken out of food production;
e)      no biomass wastes that have a high probability of contamination, which would be detrimental to agricultural soils, be used;
f)       biomass crop production be limited to production on abandoned agricultural land that has not subsequently been converted to pasture, forest or other uses.

We further require that biochar be manufactured using modern technology that eliminates soot/ash, CH₄ and N₂O emissions while recovering some of the energy released during the pyrolysis process for subsequent use.

WHERE DO I FIND BIOMASS?

Biomass in the form of sustainable vegetation growth is one of the best raw materials for carbon production. This growth in the form of fast growing Bamboo, Switch-grass and existing agriculture and forestry are only a sampling of what is available. Each country in the world has its own precious feedstock that goes to waste and/or landfill yearly.

BIOMASS – SOME BASIC DATA

* Total mass of living matter (including moisture) – 2000 billion tonnes
* Total mass in land plants – 1800 billion tonnes
* Total mass in forests -1600 billion tonnes
* Per capita terrestrial biomass – 400 tonnes

Despite its wide use in developing countries, biomass energy is usually used so inefficiently that only a small percentage of its useful energy is obtained. The overall efficiency is only about 5-15 per cent, as almost 1.3 billion people met their fuel wood needs by depleting wood reserves.

In the USA, which derives 4 % of its total energy from biomass (nearly as much as it derives from nuclear power), now more than 9000 MW electrical power is installed in facilities firing biomass. Biomass could easily supply more than 20 % of US energy consumption. In other words, due to the available land and agricultural infrastructure this country has, biomass could, sustainably, replace all of the power nuclear plants generate, without a major impact on food prices. Furthermore, biomass used to produce ethanol could reduce oil imports up to 50%.  (II)

WHERE’S THE ENERGY?

Biomass (when considering its energy potential) refers to all forms of plant-derived material that can be used for energy: wood, herbaceous plants, crop and forest residues, animal wastes etc. Because biomass is a solid fuel it can be compared to coal. On a dry-weight basis, heating values range from 17,5 GJ per tonne for various herbaceous crops like wheat straw, sugarcane bagasse to about 20 GJ/tonne for wood. (See tables at the end). At the time of its harvest biomass contains considerable amount of moisture, ranging from 8 to 20 % for wheat straw, to 30 to 60 % for woods, to 75 to 90 % for animal manure, and to 95 % for water hyacinth. In contrast the moisture content of the most bituminous coals ranges from 2 to 12 %. Thus the energy density for the biomass at the point of production is lower than those for coal. On the other side chemical attributes make it superior in many ways. The ash content of biomass is much lower than for coals, and the ash is generally free of the toxic metals and other contaminants and can be used as soil fertilizer.
Biomass energy can be used to generate heat and electricity through direct combustion in modern devices, ranging from very-small-scale domestic boilers to multi-megawatt size power plants electricity (e.g. via gas turbines), or liquid fuels for motor vehicles such as ethanol, or other alcohol fuels. Biomass-energy systems can increase economic development without contributing to the greenhouse effect since biomass is not a net emitter of CO2 to the atmosphere when it is produced and used sustainably.

It also has other benign environmental attributes such as lower sulphur and NOx emissions and can help rehabilitate degraded lands. There is a growing recognition that the use of biomass in larger commercial systems based on sustainable, already accumulated resources and residues can help improve natural resource management.

ENERGY TABLE

	Content of water %	MJ/kg	KW/kg
Oak- tree	20	14,1	3,9
Pine-tree	20	13,8	3,8
Straw	15	14,3	3,9
Grain	15	14,2	3,9
Rape seed oil	-	37,1	10,3
Hard coal	4	30,0-35,0	8,3
Brown coal	20	10,0-20,0	5,5
Heating oil	-	42,7	11,9
Bio methanol	-	19,5	5,4

 WHAT IS THE PLAN?

The conventional method of activated carbon production is energy intensive and requires large amount of capital including operating costs. This is the main reason why there are very few companies that invest in new plants despite the big export market and availability of raw materials.

Canadian Carbon Solutions Group has developed a technology whereby carbon/activated carbon is produced directly from biomass. With the technology developed, carbonization and activation are performed in a single continuous flow style reactor. This is in contrast to the conventional process wherein carbonization and activation are done separately. 

ADVANTAGES

• It is more affordable than the conventional method, thus, low capital cost is required. Operating expenses are also reduced.
• Energy in the form of low-calorific gas is produced which can be used for other processes such as drying of feedstock and other agro-industrial operations.
• The low production cost results in an inexpensive product. This gives CCSG’s carbon and energy a competitive edge in the export and local markets.

PROPOSAL

CCSG will make application for Government Grants. We will support and develop a working relationship with communities and academic partners, in order to build a similar CCSG system specific to the problem of phosphorus levels. Our R&D system is in place in Canada and we are presently making preparations to develop 2 full scale systems in the USA as well as one in France.

• Working with CCSG’s Associate Dr. John Woods, CCSG feels that moving forward, we can help stem the variety and quantity of pollutants emitted into the environment via runoff.
• Professor Woods is the co-founded of West Wind Technology in 1994 with his wife Dr. Susan Woods.  John is the author of many authoritative papers on Giant Reed grasses and Bamboos and is an acknowledged authority around the world in his subject. John and Susan are amongst the world’s foremost plant biologists in their field of expertise.  They are experts in the micro-propagation of elite species of Bamboo and Giant Reed grasses and have solved the problems of large scale propagation through patented biotechnological processes called somatic embryogenesis and organogenesis, which enable the development of large scale plantation sources of biomass. 

STATUS OF THE PROJECT

CCSG has a bench-scale reactor which is being used for experimental runs. The system is also used for testing feedstocks and to establish the Iodine number as well as significant information about the finished carbon. The activated carbon products are sent to laboratories for testing and the results will be available upon request.

Research activities are still pursued to further improve the process. Other biomass materials such as palm oil shell, corn cobs, coconut husks and wood chips will be used as raw materials for activated carbon production using this new process. 

BENEFITS

When fully developed, the technology would provide the following benefits:

• Establishment of activated carbon plants in places where there is surplus of biomass. This would provide additional source of income for farmers.
• Increase in the volume of activated carbon exported to other countries, resulting in increased foreign exchange earnings for the country.
• The activated carbon plant can generate surplus energy which can be used for agro-industrial operations. The surplus energy can be converted to electricity using conventional technologies. Hence, activated carbon plants can be integrated with rural electrification in farming areas. 

REFERENCE

(I)     Silviculture is the practice of controlling, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests to meet diverse needs and values of the many landowners, societies and cultures.

(II)    (Goldemberg,1992)

(III)  http://tracker.biocarbontracker.com/interface

(IV)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzmpWR6JUZQ&feature=player_embedded

(V)    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1eYn76bO4E&feature=related