 Welcome to the channel Gehaktis from hell. We're streaming from the beer shoyner at Alte Hölle in Brandenburg The coming talk looks at the method of carbon sinking a way to limit climate change Hans-Peter Schmidt will tell us how to do this with the help of biochar We're really happy to have him as a speaker because Hans-Peter is a pioneer in the field of biochar science And he has worked on the development of its technologies and the application Following the talk we have a short Q&A session from your devices at home You can send your questions via Twitter to the hashtag RC3 hell or via the IRC chat or the rocket chat at hashtag RC3 minus Gehaktis from hell Later, you can also meet Hans-Peter in a jitzy room called Discussion dot alt minus Hölle dot de and now over to Hans-Peter for 15 years now that I work on methods to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and to sequester in the extracted carbon in a stable form I then soil on sediments and And We found and many others who were going to say in subject found several methods that can extract significant amounts of carbon dioxide and Also methods that can transform the extracted carbon dioxide into stable carbon forms that do not Decreate biologically or chemically and The Itaka Institute for which I work also developed the first carbon sink certificate that can certify and assess the amounts of carbon that are stored in carbon sinks and Now at the end of 21 We we are at a stage that several of these technologies could be scaled and Have to be scaled to reach the objectives of the climate policy But this scale up of these technologies is so massive that it will have an influence on the geophysics of our planet and that we have to consider and Those risks we have to think them now without further waiting to scale climate technologies but We need to take care that this scale up is done sustainably and And in our talk I want to to make some of these points that We will not Hopefully save the climate to get extinguished by other means and the end so did The the situation is rather clear and And most in the world most governments And people understood it by now that we need to reduce the emissions to close to zero by 2050 and and in all scenarios, we should have reached already The point of highest emissions by now But in fact emissions still rise but Everybody counts on On emission reductions to happen rather soon So we to be honest, we cannot see these reductions happening In the close future but Let's let's assume Emissions will be reduced then according to the plan until 2050 Even then we will need massive carbon sinks because of the effect of the CO2 that was already Emitted to the atmosphere and that is not degraded but has a global warming effect that continues for several Hundreds and thousands and ten thousands of years so To clean up Legacy emissions we need To extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and need to establish carbon sinks and We know that if everything goes according to the plans of the Paris treaty and and and other Decision makers Then we need To extract eight hundred billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by the year 2100 So this is not to balance further emissions, this is only to balance the effect of the emissions already Ocured But the technologies that are available To extract carbon dioxide they are called the negative emission technologies It's negative because it's positive is when you emit to somewhere negative would be just a subtraction Not a nice name, but that's what it is. So net technologies are nature-based like manifestation The growth of biomass which in fact is the way to extract naturally carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and As long as this biomass is growing and does not decompose The carbon is stored However, when you transform the Biomass carbon by pyrolysis Into a stable form like biochar and paralytic oils these Transformed carbon can be stored for longer times and that's what is here in the middle the biochar or Pyroganic carbon caption storage method Which is partly nature-based and partly Persistent and measurable because you have long-term carbon thing that cannot just go away by accident like in the forest fire There are other means like enhanced weathering May take volcanic stone powders that can react to carbonates and Then there is direct air capture is when when you extract by adsorption The CO2 so you filter air and you extract the CO2 and transform it then into Something that you can store. So our specialty is picks the biochar method and Just shortly to show you how this works So You have biomass You heat the biomass in the absence of air up to 400 to 800 degrees and then It's like cooking without air these biomass And then you have a solid residue, which is the biochar a liquid residue that you can Condense from the gas phase, which is the paralytic oil and you still have a permanent gas which usually is Combusted to drive the whole process, which is Energy neutral so you do not need external energy to run this process and And then this biochar can be used for example in agriculture To increase yields And to improve soil quality And then this makes that you have it can grow more biomass that then again can go back to to the production of Biomass and then transforming by pyrolysis by truck and also be used in industrial products and in building materials and plastics and and Composite materials Where the carbon does not decompose neither? so So this is in very short what is picks organic carbon capture and storage This is a pyrolysis unit of a smaller size that can produce Up to something like 1,500 tons of biochar per year So shortly again how it looks inside the pyrolysis so biomass that is shredded to smaller particles goes into the screwdriver and So it's avoided that any air can enter this process and then it goes into this screw reactor and The biomass is Transported here in this reactor where it is heated from environment temperature of 20 degrees up to 600 degrees and Then the biochar is The solid residue of this cooking that flows out of the process while the other 50% of the carbon is in the gas phase Which is separated here and then in this case all the gases are Burned to produce Thermic energy that drives the process and is then be used For heating purposes However, if you do not burn the gases, you can also condense the gases and use the liquid Of of the process the biochar is looks like this It's a very porous material that conserves The biological structure here you have a piece of wood that is carbonized. It looks like charcoal And if you look on the microscope, you see this enormous porous structure which explains a lot of Functions and effects that we see in biochar for example, you can impregnate it with organic fertilizers and Then all these pores are filled with organic fertilizers is Preserved so it cannot be leached out the soil and plants and microbes can feed from these conserved organic fertilizers So we have an effect of this biochar on Economic systems, but what I want to talk about today is only the effect that if you put this biochar to soil this carbon which was CO2 in the atmosphere which was assimilated by the biomass which was transformed in the pyrolysis To aromatic carbon, which is this black stuff this Aromatic carbon cannot be degraded Over centuries by microorganisms. So if you put it to soil, it is a long-term carbon sink so To have a global effect We need a lot of biomass in the European context we could say yeah, we use residual biomass leftovers from food processing or harvest residues or manure Or serious latch, but these are all biomass that could be Transformed by pyrolysis. However, the amount of this residue carbon is not As much as it could have a Climate effect. We need a lot more biomass and it means we have to grow biomass especially for The extraction of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and the transformation by pyrolysis So we have to combine Carbon forming systems with pigs with pyrogenic carbon capture and storage and there are different methods that are not Just monocultures highly intensive Production, but these are what we call carbon forming systems Like you can see here. These are silver arable. So you combine wood And traps with arable with crops or You have this kind of acroforestry systems that are highly productive in regard to biomass Instead of having just pastures. You can have silver pastures. So animals range below trees that produce Additional biomass We would also need algae farms that are highly productive and could be combined to shellfish and argies would Also clean coastal water from exceeding nutrients and so we can see that if we investigate as different farming systems That in addition to food production because we do not want to replace food production by biomass production But in addition to the food production, which is the green bar in a tropical Acroforestry system or we can produce the same amount of food as now, but in addition We can produce biomass for carbon sequestration Also in systems like tropical forest garden, you can have both and you can intensify the systems However, the Suggested eucalyptus monoculture as you can see here is would only be for carbon capture and would not produce Food and as you can see is not very efficient. Anyway It just doesn't make much work And Also marine seaweed is quite efficient in this regard now If you come back if we want now this part this green part This is the carbon sink part that we need to balance global temperatures and we know we need 270 billion tons of carbon in this carbon sink. So this is 800 gigaton CO2 equivalent and What does it mean if we would with this method paragonic carbon capture and storage deliver 30% of the necessary carbon sink What does it mean for global resources? So for this to happen for this 30% of the minimum necessary carbon sink We would need about 100 billion tons of biochar 100 gigatons of biochar until 2100 and Just to get an imagination on how much this is This is the amount of 1500 of this Matterhorn Mountains so the volume of One Matterhorn that you find in the Swiss Alps multiplied by 1500 with dense Biochar or just the imagination of how much we need to extract and sink and that's only 30% and this amount corresponds to a thin layer of 2 centimeter of biochar The 2 centimeter of biochar on each hectare of global agricultural land So we would have to cover All agricultural land by 2 centimeters of biochar which then will be dict Plowed into the soil as a carbon sink. So this is massive massive massive And it only makes 30% of the biochar so we would need to produce this amount of biochar we would need 190 gigatons of biomass and So this 100 190 gigaton of biomass We need to compare to the global standing biomass And that's about 0.8% of the global standing biomass and 0.8% of the global standing biomass would have to be paralyzed every year from the year 2050 to 2100 to produce the amount of carbon sink That's necessary to preserve 30% of the climate and that would need about 380,000 industrial pyrolysis plants so We calculated and looked and What does it mean to produce 400,000? Pyrolysis industrial pyrolysis plants and we imagine that it could be or has to be produced in chain production like cars But to reach the Negative emission potential that's necessary by 2050 we need an exponential growth of the production of these pyrolysis units, which would be possible and you see you see here This is the blue line so we have this exponential growth and And as you can see we have then a slowdown of of the Growth of absolute numbers So the the orange line here you see the production numbers per year So you you have to go until 2043 to produce 50,000 units per year But then you have to to slow down The production because we can only use 400,000 pyrolysis units on earth after that we do not have More biomass to treat So we need an exponential growth because of the severity of the problem of the problem And then we need an exponential degrowth of the 2043 to a steady state of the production of few plants That are needed to renew the standing plants So this is a very interesting from an economic point of view and we will see this in several areas because of the global economy and the global problems and the global limits of resources that we need Exponential growth and degrowth for several technologies and how that will be done. That's that's very interesting That's subject of today So so you saw it's massive what would be needed 400,000 plants And one plants cost about 1.3 million euro. So that's about 500 billion euro and That is not so much in the end. It's less than 50% of the annual military spending So from an economic point of view it would certainly be possible to make it happen So more problematic is how can we Make it happen on an economic point of view Financially, this is very attractive as we can see first the production of the industrial units And then you have a global carbon sink market If you calculate 100 euro per ton of CO2 equivalent and we know how much CO2 we need to extract So this is a 400 billion euro market per year only for carbon sink credits so Massive and very interested market and that's why you see a lot of financial institutes going already now into these markets Well, what do we have with the risks and side effects? So The 0.8% of the global plant mess that has to be paralyzed every year. That's about 0.75 ton biomass per hectare of agricultural land. So if we extract from every hectare of the world's crop land A Bit less than one ton of biomass. We could solve the problem. So that does not seem too much However, this biomass is everywhere and there are there are millions of farmers that all would have to be convinced to do it And then we have to bring the industry Close to them so that they can extract the biomass So let's say if 10% of agricultural land was used for biomass production by carbon farming so we set aside 10% of the global agricultural land and Then we only need 7.5 tons of biomass per hectare And that would be feasible because thanks to biochar based fertilization crop productivity Can increase About more than 20% So to have 10% aside would be possible. So let's say um It would In theory be possible to produce the biomass necessary for the carbon sinks on the available agricultural land without Decreasing food production But in the last five minutes of my talk, I want to give you another outlook Because socially environmentally It's still very much on the edge to do this huge scaling carbon pyroganic carbon Storage project Because we have several other problems on earth and not only the climate problem. We have the biodiversity crisis other ecosystem crisis and therefore The half earth project was Lensed About five years ago to say that It is needed that 50% of the earth's surface is preserved for Nature recovery And there are in fact Quite a lot of governments that Agreed to this program astonishingly and it has a lot of Support This initiative from Audrey Wilson You find more information on half earth project On the website that you see here below because that's that's the point if we do all this climate action We do not have enough land to preserve it for natural revival However, we have technology that's possible and In the latest Saudi Arabian solar energy project The kilowatt hour was produced at 0.88 cents And that means energy becomes so cheap that we have new possibilities for technology to produce in fact Carbon sinks Without plants so the Oppressed company They created this project a fuel, which is a methanol factory that runs entirely on renewable Powered energy, so you have this large solar panels, then you have here the The chemistry that's behind so In short you have direct air capture here where you filter out the CO2 from the atmosphere The energy is used for electrolysis That is done with desalinated water, so they produce hydrogen from desalinated water with the solar energy And with the CO2 from direct air capture. There is methanol synthesized methanol Is a liquid form of carbon? It's a bit like alcohol, but just methanol and Which is not toxic which can be pumped which can be transported which can be used as a fuel And which could also be used as a carbon sink So you you can find here and when you have more time you can go into details Though we calculated The the total balance so for 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide Equivalent in the carbon sink, so that means we extract 500,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere We need 11.5 Square kilometers of solar panels that produce 6,000 gigawatts hour of energy Part of this energy is used for the direct air capture part of this energy is used for desalination and electrolysis Which produces oxygen and then the hydrogen and the CO2 are synthesized to methanol Where you produce some energy that goes back to the process Where you produce also water that also goes back to the process and then you have the carbon sink and this methanol in fact Can be pumped back into old fossil storages like in the Saudi Arabia desert and So we scale this up and We would need only 21% of the surface of Saudi Arabia Used for this methanol carbon sink technology to sequester the necessary 800 gigaton of CO2 equivalent and Pump it back into abandoned fossil oil fields until 2100 And the interesting thing is that only This is only 10% of the surface that would be needed if we do the same thing with plants and Biomass and where everything works perfectly optimized Without chemical fertilizer without irrigation And not counting the risk of fire and other disasters happening to the biomass production With this technological solution I think we could prepare the biggest the biggest hack ever to turn The Arabian fossil fuel producers into carbon sink producers and pump back The liquefied carbon extracted from the atmosphere to the fossil oil fields Thank you very much So how can we avoid the risk of the permanent of CO2 sinks becoming a cheap excuse for not pursuing the necessary reduction of CO2 emissions on the other hand? Yeah, this is this is the main Main problem. I think now when we enter this carbon sink markets Because all the carbon sinks that are bought now are used for emission compensation and But but we have no choice. We have to curb the emissions. So Normally policy Makers should Defend the compensation of emissions with carbon sinks because the carbon sinks we need For the compensation of legacy emissions of all this year to that was already emitted before now Yes so How do you estimate the potential of pigs against the background of increasing interest in biomass for food energy and chemical industry Yeah, we we need all of it and we will not have enough of it and that's why I presented the possibility to Extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for the chemical industry for fuel for materials for plastics and also for carbon sinks. I Think we will not achieve The protection of our ecosystems and of the climate With the biomass that we have on the planet only All right, actually just the fourth question came in I think we have time for one more little question. How can we be sure that? Operates would be more successful than in example These attack What was the first one? How can we be sure that operas would be more successful than this attack? Yeah, I The economics are much better now because Solar energy is so much cheaper than 20 years ago when desert tech started and The the system is more complex because of the coupling with chemical industry with carbon sink and the necessity is also higher, so I think We we can achieve this and desert tech is not that yet and and could continue also towards More complex systems Thank you Petya, thank you very much I'm saying goodbye to you in the stream now, but everyone is invited to join further discussion in the jitzy room now Which you can reach under? Discussion dot alter minus Hölge dot de Goodbye from beer shoyna and see you in the jitzy room. Thank you You