Tuesday, 7 October 2008: 3:30 PM

George R. Brown Convention Center, 360C

James E. Amonette, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, PO Box 999 K8-96, Richland, WA 99354

Converting harvestable biomass to a recalcitrant form of C that can be incorporated into soil for long-term storage offers a new approach to terrestrial C sequestration with side-benefits of energy production and enhanced soil fertility. In the absence of economic constraints, the potential contribution of biomass carbonization to C sequestration is large. Four variables need to be considered: sustainable biomass production level, carbonization efficiency, land storage capacity, and characteristic storage time (i.e., the rate of C oxidation by soil processes). In scenarios we have run that assume a 30-year start-up period for the adoption of maximum sustainable biomass carbonization (13% of global net primary production), even a characteristic storage time of 80 years yields a net sequestration of 240 Pg C in the next century. Fossil-C offsets from the energy produced could increase the net impact to as much as 600 Pg C, enough to stabilize atmospheric C levels at the 550 ppmv level. Net sequestration and impact increase to 320 and 680 Pg C, respectively, when a characteristic storage time of 500 years is assumed.

See more of: Symposium --Black Carbon in Soils and Sediments: IV. Stability and Carbon Sequestration Potential
See more of: S02 Soil Chemistry

2008 Joint Annual Meeting (5-9 Oct. 2008): Assessing the Global Technical Potential for C Sequestration by Biomass Carbonization.

666-6 Assessing the Global Technical Potential for C Sequestration by Biomass Carbonization.