Novel Uses of Biochar

Cascading Uses of Biochar - Hans-Peter Schmidt, Ithaka Institute In addition to the use of biochar as a soil amendment, there are an increasing number of ways to incorporate biochar into different eco- and industrial systems. Thus feeding biochar to livestock has numerous benefits not only for the animals, but it also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improves nutrient retention in animal manure. The use of biochar in building materials is just beginning to be studied but shows promise in the ability to insulate, decontaminate air, provide odor and humidity control. Biochar as pillow filling to induce perfectly reposing sleep is just another way to benefit from biochar\u27s multiple qualities. There are more than 55 uses of biochar that can all be combined in cascades. All of these uses have in common that the biochar gets slowly charged with nutrients, gets oxidized and can finally be recycled as a soil conditioner. This session will introduce participants to a broad range of novel and cascading uses of biochar

Preparation, characterization and sintering behavior of barium titanate powders coated with Ba-, Ca-, Si- and Ti-containing components

An emulsion technique and spray drying were used to prepare BaTiO3 powders coated with additives. Different additive compositions (TiO2; TiO2/SiO2; CaO/TiO2/SiO2; 2BaO/TiO2/2SiO2) were used in the form of their aqueous precursor solutions. The as-received powders were compared with powders of the same composition manufactured by conventional wet-milling. The coating of the BaTiO3 powder positively influences the sintering behavior. Isothermal dilatometric measurements show that the activation energy &Delta;E of the shrinkage of the coated powders is lower than that of the powders prepared by milling. This is caused by the homogeneous distribution of the additive. The activation energy for the different additives changes in the following sequence: &Delta;E(2BaO/TiO2/2SiO2) < &Delta;E(TiO2) < &Delta;E(CaO/TiO2/SiO2) < &Delta;E(TiO2/SiO2). This sequence correlates with the amount of Ba ions necessary to diffuse out of the BaTiO3 matrix to form the secondary phases Ba2TiSi2O8 or Ba6Ti17O40, respectively

Study of arcing processes in circuit breakers by means of spatially resolved magnetic field recordings

Magnetic field measurements performed on a circuit breaker in order to study the switching arc processes are presented. Characteristic for these measurements is the spatial two-dimensional recording of the magnetic field with simultaneous high temporal resolution. A sensor head was developed for this purpose, which records the magnetic flux density in an area of 42 mm x 60 mm with a spatial resolution of 12 x 24 measuring points. A highly integrated sensor chip based on the Hall effect was used for the design. The configurability of this sensor chip makes it possible to adapt the time resolution to the measurement task, always in compromise with the amplitude resolution and the number of field components to be measured. Measurements with a sampling rate of 80 kHz were conducted. Also, with the sampling rate reduced to 25 kHz, three axis measurements could be performed. By combining two sensor heads into one measuring system, it was possible to perform simultaneous measurements at the two contacts of a low-voltage circuit breaker with double breaker. As a result, both slow and fast changes in the magnetic field caused by the arcing process were recorded and visualized. The changes in the field distribution measured with the two sensor heads correlated well with the respective arc voltage. With the help of such magnetic field measurements, study of the arcing processes in low-voltage switchgear should be made possible without interference of the arc itself

Head mistresses have strong influence - and this is a good thing too!

Auf dem Hintergrund eigener Erfahrungen hat ein ehemaliger Schulleiter seine Sicht der Dinge revidiert: Erst als "starker" Schulleiter hat er das Kollegium seiner Schule "stark" machen können. Wichtig ist dabei, dass die Leistungsfunktion transparent gehandhabt wird und an gemeinsamen Zielsetzungen orientiert ist. (DIPF/Orig.)Relying on his own experiences a former headmaster has revised his view of the things: only as a "strong" headmaster he had been able to make the staff of his school "strong". Thereby it is important that the management acts transparently and is oriented on common objectives. (DIPF/Orig.

Biogeochemical potential of biomass pyrolysis systems for limiting global warming to 1.5 °C

Negative emission (NE) technologies are recognized to play an increasingly relevant role in strategies limiting mean global warming to 1.5 °C as specified in the Paris Agreement. The potentially significant contribution of pyrogenic carbon capture and storage (PyCCS) is, however, highly underrepresented in the discussion. In this study, we conduct the first quantitative assessment of the global potential of PyCCS as a NE technology based on biomass plantations. Using a process-based biosphere model, we calculate the land use change required to reach specific climate mitigation goals while observing biodiversity protection guardrails. We consider NE targets of 100–300 GtC following socioeconomic pathways consistent with a mean global warming of 1.5 °C as well as the option of additional carbon balancing required in case of failure or delay of decarbonization measures. The technological opportunities of PyCCS are represented by three tracks accounting for the sequestration of different pyrolysis products: biochar (as soil amendment), bio-oil (pumped into geological storages) and permanent-pyrogas (capture and storage of CO2 from gas combustion). In addition, we analyse how the gain in land induced by biochar-mediated yield increases on tropical cropland may reduce the pressure on land. Our results show that meeting the 1.5 °C goal through mitigation strategies including large-scale NE with plantation-based PyCCS may require conversion of natural vegetation to biomass plantations in the order of 133–3280 Mha globally, depending on the applied technology and the NE demand. Advancing towards additional bio-oil sequestration reduces land demand considerably by potentially up to 60%, while the benefits from yield increases account for another 3%–38% reduction (equalling 82–362 Mha). However, when mitigation commitments are increased by high balancing claims, even the most advanced PyCCS technologies and biochar-mediated co-benefits cannot compensate for delayed action towards phasing-out fossil fuels.Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung 10.13039/501100002347Peer Reviewe

Zur Flora des Meßtischblattes Sangerhausen (4533)

Der Botanische Arbeitskreis Nordharz e.V. 1) führte vom 10.-11.8.1996 eine Kartierungsexkursion in das Gebiet um Sangerhausen durch2). Zum Zeitpunkt der Exkursionsvorbereitung war kein Kartierer im Rahmen der laufenden Sachsen-Anhalt-Kartierung in diesem Meßtischblatt tätig. Ziel war daher die Erfassung des Grundbestandes in den vier Quadranten. Die erste Augusthälfte wurde gewählt, um mit den Sommer- und Spätsommeraspekten ein möglichst breites Artenspektrum erschließen zu können. Allein der Frühjahrsaspekt blieb damit unberücksichtigt. Im nachfolgenden wird über bemerkenswerte Pflanzenfunde berichtet, sowohl Neufunde gegenüber dem Kenntnisstand, der die Grundlage für den Florenatlas der neuen Bundesländer bildete3), als auch Bestätigungen seltener und überregional bedeutsamer Artenvorkommen. Alle Funde beziehen sich, wenn nicht anders angegeben, auf das Meßtischblatt 4533, so daß den Fundorten nur die Quadrantennummer vorangestellt wird

Poröse Sinterkeramikformstoffe mit katalytischer Wirkung durch thermische Behandlung von mit Zeolithen hochgefüllten Schaumstoffen auf der Basis von Recyclaten

Poröse Sinterkeramikwerkstoffe mit unterschiedlichen Porenstrukturen werden heute in vielen Bereichen der Wirtschaft eingesetzt, z. B. als Trennmembranen, als Katalysatorträger, als Trägermaterialien in der Biotechnologie. Dabei sind zwei Arten von Sinterkeramiken zu unterscheiden: zum einen wabenförmige Sinterkeramiken und zum anderen schaumförmige Sinterkeramiken. Die wabenförmigen, oft als Strang hergestellten Sinterkeramiken, werden in immer größerem Maße als Trennmedien, z. B. in der Wasser- und Abluftreinigung, verwendet. Sie sollen hier jedoch nicht weiter betrachtet werden. Die schaumförmigen Sinterkeramiken mit unterschiedlich großer Zellgröße bzw. Zellgrößenverteilung werden als Träger oder als Hochtemperaturisolation eingesetzt. Sie werden nach zwei verschiedenen Technologien hergestellt: zum einen durch die Füllung der keramischen Massen mit organischem Material, das beim Brennprozess verdampft wird, und zum anderen durch Beschichten von Schaumstoffen mit Keramikschlämmen und deren Brennen, wobei während des Brennens das organische Schaummaterial verdampft wird

Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis from Milk Products and Other Habitats

As components of many cheese starter cultures, strains of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis (LDL) must be tested for their antimicrobial susceptibility to avoid the potential horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance (ABR) determinants in the human body or in the environment. To this end, a phenotypic test, as well as a screening for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in genome sequences, is commonly performed. Historically, microbiological cutoffs (MCs), which are used to classify strains as either ‘sensitive’ or ‘resistant’ based on the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of a range of clinically-relevant antibiotics, have been defined for the whole group of the obligate homofermentative lactobacilli, which includes LDL among many other species. This often leads to inaccuracies in the appreciation of the ABR status of tested LDL strains and to false positive results. To define more accurate MCs for LDL, we analyzed the MIC profiles of strains originating from various habitats by using the broth microdilution method. These strains’ genomes were sequenced and used to complement our analysis involving a search for ARGs, as well as to assess the phylogenetic proximity between strains. Of LDL strains, 52.1% displayed MICs that were higher than the defined MCs for kanamycin, 9.9% for chloramphenicol, and 5.6% for tetracycline, but no ARG was conclusively detected. On the other hand, all strains displayed MICs below the defined MCs for ampicillin, gentamycin, erythromycin, and clindamycin. Considering our results, we propose the adaptation of the MCs for six of the tested clinically-relevant antibiotics to improve the accuracy of phenotypic antibiotic testing

Cross-validation of stagewise mixed-model analysis of Swedish variety trials with winter wheat and spring barley

In cultivar testing, linear mixed models have been used routinely to analyze multienvironment trials. A single‐stage analysis is considered as the gold standard, whereas two‐stage analysis produces similar results when a fully efficient weighting method is used, namely when the full variance–covariance matrix of the estimated means from Stage 1 is forwarded to Stage 2. However, in practice, this may be hard to do and a diagonal approximation is often used. We conducted a cross‐validation with data from Swedish cultivar trials on winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) to assess the performance of single‐stage and two‐stage analyses. The fully efficient method and two diagonal approximation methods were used for weighting in the two‐stage analyses. In Sweden, cultivar recommendation is delineated by zones (regions), not individual locations. We demonstrate the use of best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) for cultivar effects per zone, which exploits correlations between zones and thus allows information to be borrowed across zones. Complex variance–covariance structures were applied to allow for heterogeneity of cultivar × zone variance. The single‐stage analysis and the three weighted two‐stage analyses all performed similarly. Loss of information caused by a diagonal approximation of the variance–covariance matrix of adjusted means from Stage 1 was negligible. As expected, BLUP outperformed best linear unbiased estimation. Complex variance–covariance structures were dispensable. To our knowledge, this study is the first to use cross‐validation for comparing single‐stage analyses with stagewise analyses