What does a biochar expert do? First, let’s define biochar. Biochar is the carbonaceous material produced by the combustion of biomass. Biochar is a stable solid, rich in carbon, and can endure in soil for thousands of years. It can be considered a method of sequestering carbon and has been shown to improve crop yields. It can also be substituted for coal to aid in meeting renewable fuel mandates.
Biochar is often promoted as ‘closing the loop’ on the use of a sustainable and renewable raw material. While activated carbon is traditionally made from coal and often must be landfilled when spent, used biochar may have enough fuel value to be burned. Biochar manufacturers are often interested in promoting their products into traditional activated carbon applications. To be successful, one must generate interest in evaluating biochar in areas such as oil and gas applications, wastewater, potable water, and aquarium water.
An expert in biochar has a wide range of expertise in the technologies and businesses concerning the production of biochar included the various technologies used to generate the char and methods for getting value from the co-produced bio-oil and aqueous acid bio-product (wood vinegar). The biochar expert may assist investors in selecting the right biochar technology and in preparing due diligence/feasibility studies and loan/grant applications. They follow the biochar market and have experience with the current state of supply, demand, and pricing. They know many of the key players in the industry. During design, the biochar expert may perform a peer review of the design, prepare cost opinions, and assist with permit applications. During construction, the biochar expert can assist with construction oversight of the biogas facility and provide commissioning reports. They may also provide operator training, start-up assistance, and recipe management to assist biochar plant owners in making the plant run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. In matters involving biochar litigation, the consultant may serve as an expert witness and assist the attorneys with understanding the biogas processes and related technical issues and may testify in court about aspects of biochar technology and related matters.
Large renewable energy and biochemical consulting firms certainly have experts in biomaterials and biochemicals as well as the more common areas like bio and renewable fuels, biomass and biomass power, feedstocks, and biotechnologies. These larger groups will also have expertise in other things like animal health products, aquaculture, biochar, bio-fertilizers, bio-fibers, biomass to sugars, bioplastics/polymers, enzymes, food ingredients, industrial chemicals, latex, lubricants, nanocarbon/cellulose, nutraceuticals, organometallics, rubber, and solvents.
Lee Enterprises Consulting is the world’s premier bioeconomy consulting group, with over 150 bioeconomy experts. As the world’s largest renewable energy and biochemical consulting firm, we offer a wide range of services in business and financial areas like due diligence, market studies, grants, and loans; in technical areas like feasibility and techno-economic studies, environmental evaluations, technology evaluations, and selection, and risk analysis. We have experts to fit virtually any expert witness engagement in the bioeconomy and have strategic partnerships in place to assist with insurance, legal, accounting, plant fabrication, feedstock procurement. will certainly have experts in more common areas like biofuels, biomaterials, biomass & biomass power, bio-based chemicals, biotechnologies, and renewable fuels and chemicals in general. Energy consultants in this type of firm should be willing to discuss a client’s initial questions about things like renewable energy sources, the types of biofuels, biofuel companies, synthetic biology, the fermentation process, biomass renewable energy, biofuel energy, conversion technologies for things like tires and railroad ties, and about the circular economy in general. As part of a larger, multidisciplinary group of green energy consultants, our experts have the ability to collaborate internally with a wide variety of expertise in more specialized areas like biomass production, financial due diligence, organic synthesis, fuel additives, ethanol gas, biodiesel fuel including algae biofuels, solid-state and industrial fermentation, green energy grants, ag-biotech, agricultural waste, alcohol fuels, alternative proteins and animal-free products, sustainable foods, beverage fermentation, biocatalysis, biodiesel conversion, biogas production, biomass power, carbon intensity, co2 utilization, combined heat & power, Fischer-Tropsch technology, food waste, hydrothermal carbonization, industrial enzymes, landfill management, microbial fermentation, organic synthesis, plastic pyrolysis, plastic recycling, plastic waste, pyrolysis oil, reactor design, renewable identification number, the Renewable Fuel Standard (rfs2), solid recovered fuels, torrefaction and torrefied biomass, waste to energy, and waste-to-hydrogen. We are a bioeconomy consulting “one-stop-shop” for any client need and can handle all types and sizes of projects.
Take a look at our experts and the services we provide and you will see that we have just the right expert for any ethanol or clean energy project. Most of our experts are also available to advise and serve as expert witnesses in bioeconomy litigation matters. For the larger projects, we specialize in putting together full-service, interdisciplinary teams with one point of contact. Call us at 1+ (501) 833-8511 or email us for more information. See also Biochar Science & Market by one of our LEC experts.