Great Plains Biochar Initiative

Great Plains Biochar Initiative Logo

The Great Plains Biochar Initiative (GPBI) aims to improve biochar awareness and market development in the Great Plains.

GPBI aims to improve biochar awareness and market development in the Great Plains. This grant initiative is funded by the USDA Forest Service and is a partnership between the Nebraska Forest Service, Kansas Forest Service, Wilson Biochar Associates, Dovetail Partners and High Plains Biochar, LLC.

Initiative Goals:

  • Provide hands-on learning experiences with industry experts
  • Provide technical assistance to individuals and organizations interested in utilizing or producing biochar
  • Host biochar workshops and trainings
  • Offer biochar production and utilization grants
  • Identify new markets for biochar
  • Promote existing biochar market opportunities
Demonstration of biochar in a roof filtration system.

Questions about Biochar? Contact Kim: kslezak2@unl.edu

Biochar is a pure carbon product made from organic material. It's produced through a process called pyrolysis. Pyrolysis is the decomposition of organic matter at very high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. It changes the chemical structure of the organic matter undergoing the process.

Benefits of Biochar

  • Carbon sequestration
  • Improvements in plant growth and yield
  • Improvements in soil nutrient retention
  • Improvements in soil moisture retention
  • Improvements in soil structure
  • Provides habitat for soil microorganisms
  • Reduces burning and landfilling of agricultural and forestry wastes
  • Reduce soil pH
View Uses Inforgraphic

Uses for Biochar

  • Amending soils
  • Water filtration for bioswales, rain gardens, and large filtration systems
  • Cattle feed
  • Odor control of animal bedding, slurry ponds, and feedlots
  • Erosion control at construction sites or areas with highly erodible soils
View Benefits Infographic

Combined Heat & Biochar Webinar

In the process of making biochar from biomass, thermal energy is produced that can be used for heating and cooling. Systems that take advantage of both the biochar and the energy are called Combined Heat and Biochar or CHAB. The basics of CHAB systems, available technologies, appropriate applications, and the economics of combined heat and biochar.

Biochar Fact Sheets for Industries

Factsheets have been developed by Nebraska Forest Service, US Biochar Initiative, Dovetail Partners, USDA Agriculture Research Service, Cornell Extension and others including biochar users and industry experts to assist others in incorporating biochar into several industry applications. In many cases the use of biochar alleviates the need to use non-renewable, more costly from environmental or monetary perspective, or hard to acquire ingredients currently in use for each sector.

Additional Resources