Smal-scale biochar production methods
Company
At Arkitektens Vingård in Södra Mellby on Österlen, Jesper Friberg produces natural wines with the ambition of steering the Swedish wine industry in a sustainable direction. Jesper has traveled around the world, gathering valuable experiences from vineyards in New Zealand and renowned wine producers in Europe. He has also collaborated closely with pioneers in Swedish wine production.
Two years ago, Jesper teamed up with Sven-Erik Borglund, who founded the vinyard at Arkitektens Vingård in 2009. Sven-Erik shares Jesper's passion for both the grapes and the district. Since then, Jesper has been producing wine at the facility under the brand J. Friberg, using grapes from both the estate and other vineyards in the region.
The natural wines from J. Friberg are characterized by their purity, with only small amounts of sulfur added to prevent oxidation and the growth of unwanted microorganisms. The goal is to let the grapes speak for themselves and convey the essence of the place where they grow.
Task
At Arkitektens Vingård, Jesper and Sven-Erik collaborate to optimize the resources available on the farm. With a passionate interest and curiosity, they test various methods to create favorable growing conditions and continuously improve soil quality. Each year, they collect weeds and brush from the farm and add a mycelium culture that decomposes the material into natural fertilizer, which is spread over the grapevines. They have also experimented with producing their own biochar, an area they are eager to develop further.
The use of charcoal in agriculture has a history that stretches back thousands of years, and interest in this technique has recently resurfaced. Biochar is produced by heating organic material, such as wood or garden waste, to several hundred degrees with limited oxygen availability. This restriction enables pyrolysis, where the carbon that would otherwise be converted into carbon dioxide is preserved as biochar. In recent years, large-scale production of biochar has been established, and there is a growing interest in reviving the tradition and producing biochar locally on a smaller scale.
This project aims to explore practical methods for the production and use of biochar. What natural methods and modern techniques are available for small-scale biochar production? What conditions are required during production? How much and what type of organic material is needed to produce high-quality biochar? Does the production method affect the biochar's need for nutrient loading? How much nutrients should the biochar be enriched with to avoid drawing nutrients from the soil, and what should the composition of these nutrients look like?
Related sustainability goals