Biochar Facts for Kids

A piece of biochar

Biochar is a special kind of charcoal that you can add to soil. It works like a super fertilizer, helping plants grow strong and healthy. Biochar is made by heating natural materials, like wood or plants, in a very hot oven without much air. This process removes water and other stuff, leaving mostly carbon. What's left is a dark, fragile, and very useful material.

What is Biochar Used For?
Biochar in Business
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What is Biochar Used For?

Helping the Planet

Biochar is made from biomass, which means plants or other organic stuff. Plants take in carbon dioxide from the air as they grow. When biochar is made, this carbon gets locked into a solid form. Biochar can stay in the soil for a very long time.

Some people think making lots of biochar could help clean up our atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. It traps heat and causes climate change. If we turn more plants into biochar, less carbon dioxide would be in the air. This would mean less heat trapped. This idea is called a carbon sink. It means carbon is "sunk" or stored away instead of floating in the air.

Making Soil Better

When biochar is made, it becomes very light and full of tiny holes. These holes are great at holding water and nutrients. Nutrients are like food for plants. You can even "charge" biochar by soaking it in nutrients. This makes it an amazing soil additive or fertilizer. The holes in biochar can also trap bad stuff, making water safer.

Long ago, people in the Amazon used biochar. They added it to their poor soil to grow more food. The soil became very dark and rich. You can still see this dark soil today!

A Smarter Way to Clear Land

In some rainforest areas, forests are cut down for farming. Often, the trees are cut and then burned. This is called "slash-and-burn." It doesn't leave many nutrients in the soil. If the cut trees were turned into biochar instead of being burned, the soil would get more nutrients. This method is called "slash-and-char." It would make the soil much better for growing crops.

Food for Animals

Biochar can even be mixed into animal food, like with molasses. It helps animals digest their food better. For cows, it can also reduce the amount of methane gas they produce. Plus, the poop from animals that eat biochar makes really good fertilizer for plants!

Biochar in Business

Today, biochar is mostly sold by companies that make fertilizers. They sell it to people who grow plants. But this might change in the future.

There's a lot of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, causing climate change. Many countries agree this is a big problem. In the future, it might cost money to release carbon dioxide into the air. If businesses get paid to remove carbon dioxide, then making biochar could become a big business. Growing plants and turning them into biochar removes a lot of carbon dioxide. This could be a very profitable way to help the environment.