Stanford researchers testing biochar to expand carbon removal potential

STANFORD, Calif. (KGO) -- For the last decade or so, researchers have been cooking up plans for a material called biochar - a kind of superheated organic charcoal that can be used to help crops grow, while sequestering carbons linked to climate change. But to move the technology forward, scientists at Stanford are trying to come up with more accurate measurements, for how much greenhouse gas is really being stored and how long the biochar lasts.

"I think if it expands and we can get it so that it's working for farmers and helping to both accrue soil carbon and improve water use and water use efficiency, as well as improve crop yields, then that's our end goal," says lead researcher Kate Maher, Ph.D. from the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.

The process starts back in the lab. That's where the team measures things like hydrogen to carbon ration, as an indicator of how stable a sample is and how it's likely to break down over time.

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"We're trying to see which types of biochar are most active, and hopefully that tells us about how long it lasts in the soil. One biochar relative to another," says fellow researcher Rian Lawrence.

And that's the point where they decided to get their hands dirty. Venturing from the lab out to a test farm, located on the Stanford campus.

"We put it into little tea bags, then we're going to put it into the soil," Maher explains.

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The goal is to learn how different samples react with root systems, and microbes in the soil. Researchers believe under the right conditions, biochar may sequester more greenhouse gas and perhaps last longer than the lab models suggest. And study co-author Lexi Ringsby believes having the data could help convince more growers to use the climate friendly material, and more companies to manufacture it.

"We'd like to prove it's a good deal. And we're working on that from many angles, from the hard science and sort of theory of reactivity side of it, as well as the market incentives and in development there," she says.

The research is being supported by Stanford's Wood's Institute and University's Sustainability Accelerator program.

As the experiment grows, they're hoping to add in specific crops, soils and biochar samples to figure out the best combinations. And just possibly trigger a commercial growth spurt for a climate friendly technology.