arable soil for future generations - bionic µsoil, an organic fertilizer and soil enhancer that...

Arable Soil for Future Generations

bionic µsoil is a powerful organic soil enhancement and fertilizer system to

combat land degradation and desertification,which at the same time helps to

suppress epidemic diseases deriving from biological waste streams

recycle scarce plant nutrients in a sustainable way

reduce GHG through carbon sequestration and reduced emissions

conserve water resources and quality

µsoil

04/10/2023 © 2014 Bionic Fuel Knowledge Partners Inc., Oswego, NY 2

The widely neglected importance of healthy soil

Topsoil facts• it takes nature approximately 500 years

to create one inch

• 6-10 inches are desirable, that’s where all annual crops grow

• Losses from erosion alone due to inappropriate agricultural practices: up to 150 tons/acre/year (NRCS-USDA)

• At current loss rates only 60 yrs of topsoil are left

Topsoil functions• Water storage and management

• Nutrient and Carbon balancing

• Source of micronutrients and microorganisms

• Carbon sink

• Environmental pollution control

• Plays a fundamental role in climate change and water preservation

“Soil health is the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals and humans.” (NRCS-USDA)

Topsoil is the upper layer of soil usually extending between 5 and 25 cm. It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and hosts most of the Earth’s biological soil activity.


A key interface for mankind’s ecosystemSoil is the primary interface between vital resource domains defining the Earth’s carrying capacity for mankind. To perform that function it has to be kept healthy.

AtmosphereFood

Soil

Water


Arable land is another global resource in short supply• Limited public awareness for a most critical problem

• Carrying capacity of planet earth requires continuous expansion of food production• Resources like air, water, soil formerly considered indefinite are now limited• Inorganic nutrient sources

• The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)• Signed 1994, 193 parties• Is a 10-year strategy framework until 2018 adequate to the problems?

• Scarcity of arable land is on the rise since the mid-1990ties with farm productivity levelling

Land availability balance:

Soil reclamation is inevitable to counter pressure on food and non-food farm production.

Increasing Losses Diminishing Gains

Infrastructure, urbanization Clearing of virgin forests

Extractive industries Grasslands and Savannahs

Desertification


What the UN says (also see original text next slide)

• Land is a finite resource. Only 1/32 of planet Earth represents arable land.• 52% of agriculture land is at least moderately affected by soil degradation.• 12 million ha are lost per year due to drought and desertification.• Arable land losses estimated at 30-35 times of historical rates.• Land degradation undermines water availability and quality.• Losses in food production due to land degradation may combine with those from

depressed yields from effects of climate change reaching up to 50% by 2050 in some countries.

• Agriculture is currently responsible for 13% of GHG emissions.


A negative balance: losses increasingly exceed gains

Historic drivers of farmland losses

• Unsustainable agronomic practices• Highly intensive commercial farming• Indigenous small migrating farmers primarily

in Africa

• Extractive industries

• Urbanization and infrastructure

• Effects of Climate change• Drought & flooding• Erosion

Historic drivers of farmland gains

• Clearing of pristine rainforests• Damaging to the environment• Destroying biodiversity• Harming further the CO2 balance

• Farming of grasslands and Savannahs• Low fertility soils• Deplete rapidly• Desertification after being abandoned


Bold measures are urgently required to reverse losses• Protection of still functional soils

• Conservation of good farm land• Recovery of already depleted farm land

• End top soil losses to erosion (25 billion tons worldwide every year!)• Maintain natural soil fertility by establishing sustainable nutrient cycles

• Reclamation of lost farmland• Former mining and extractive industry use• Former urban, infrastructure and industrial uses• Former farmland lost to desertification

• Erosion• Salination

• Agro-ecosystems demand active human interference for stability• We have to recognize and accept our duty


Why we need abundant, healthy topsoil• Food production

• Balanced Sustainability• Continuous yield under adverse climate conditions

• Carbon sink (CO2) and sequestration (C)• Avoidance and Mitigation of GHG emissions

• Water availability and quality• Storage and release of irrigation water• Supply of drinking water

• Cleanup of toxic pollution by soil microbes• chemical: leached fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides• biological: hormones, microbes, germs


Bionic µsoil makes a huge difference• µsoil can play a major role reversing the current trend• µsoil is a one-step soil enhancer and 100% organic NPK fertilizer

• puts carbon (organic matter) back into the soil• rebuilds a sustainable nutrient and humidity storage capacity• makes nutrients available long term for plant-root uptake as needed• No damaging leaching of surplus mineral fertilizers

• µsoil builds on Bionic’s unique µchar product• µchar activated with a selected mixture of beneficial micro organisms• further processed with the patented Bio-Elite organic NPK fertilizer production method*• adding animal manure and 100% organic biomass waste• mixing the combination with additional micro organisms and fungi• fermenting the product for 30-40 days until fully sanitized

• µsoil is a modern, high-tech successor of the ancient Terra Pretafound in the Amazonian forest by archeologists *licensed by Bionic from Mr. Wolfgang Wondrak


The µsoil Production Process


The µsoil Production Plant

04/10/2023 © 2014 Bionic Fuel Knowledge Partners Inc., Oswego, NY

The Bionic µfuel conversion process*

The µfuel process is contained in a high-tech reactor system

with a capacity of up to 80 TPD of bonedry feedstock.

13

Lignin

Cellulose

Bionic µcrude

Bionic µchar

modulated pulsed microwave

zeolite catalyst

Biomass

Lignocellulosic Biomass is converted at low temperature via the application of advanced

microwave radiation combined with catalysts into bio-crude and bio-char in a specific reactor phase.

Hydrogen

Bionic‘s proprietary µfuel system has been under development since 2001 and is the benchmark for

catalytic microwave depolymerization of carbonaceous feedstock worldwide. (patents pending)

µfuel

* for details a special MWDP presentation is available


Food production in field tests


How µsoil carbon sequestration reduces CO2…

Source: Lehmann, “A handful of carbon”, 2007 Nature, 447

…and how sequestered carbon improves soil fertility

Lettuce seedlings as one example out of many: left side biochar media, right side control with peat media


Biomass Production

FoodFeed

Lumber

Microorganisms

µchar• Bio-char

Organic Waste• Animal manure• Food waste• Agric waste

char activation

Farms Plantations Forests

AtmosphericCarbon (CO2), Nutrients (NOx)

Energy

µsoil Fertilizer and Soil Enhancer

Waterrainfall & irrigation

The Bionic µsoil Nutrient & Carbon Cycle

A carbon negative biofuel

Long term carbon

sequestration

Reduced CO2 emissions

from waste

Biomass Production

Formation of healthytopsoil

fermentation

Microorganisms

Mixing and treatment of activated char with

organic waste

Catalytic MicrowaveDepolymerization in a µfuel mf60 plant

CellulosicBiomass

Feedstock

catalystsµfuel

• High quality bio-crude• Diesel blendstock• Generator fuel


Reclamation of fully depleted land with µsoil:

5 times faster growth of biomassup to 4 crop seasons under irrigation

Erodedsoil

Stabilization of the soil with µsoil and changed agronomic practices

Steps of s

oil reco

very

No additional syntheticfertilizer required

Even the most eroded soils can be transferred back to arable land and then continuously improved to high value farmland thus reactivating land resources, preserving the environment reduce carbon footprint and create value and sustainable farm revenues.

Use of µsoil for 3 years


Soil remediation at Welzow, Germany, an open pit coal mine

Starting from no vegetation at all the reclamation process started by deep plowing the organic fertilizer product into the ground

Only 18 months later very strong vegetation has developed. Soil testing reveals the development of a new topsoil layer of at least 25 cm. A new field is ready for a first crop season.

Welzow, 2007

Welzow, 2009

~ 2 years


Recovery of degrading soil with bionic µsoil:

• 5 times faster growth of biomass• up to 4 crop seasons under irrigation

Erodedsoil

step-by-step recovery

Continuous improvement of land from partially eroded soil back to valuable farmland saves resources, preserves the environment, supports a small carbon footprint and increases value and long term returns.

End continuous degradation from conventional farming methods

Stabilization of soil conditionswith µsoil and agronomic practices

desertification


Bionic µsoil tests show amazing results – but why?

Organic fertilizer plus microorganisms(Bio-Elite)

• Normalized organic NPK replacement• Sufficient micro-nutrient supply• No leaching of mineral nutrients• Increase of organic matter• Healthy soil biology through added

microbes• Storage capacity for nutrients and water• Natural aeration and loosening of soil

Activated biochar(bionic µchar)

• Increased carbon supply• Increased levels of soil microbes• Electrically charged carbon boosts soil

activity• Even more storage capacity• Carbon is a nutrient for soil microbes• Counters compaction from heavy

equipment• Humic acid release


Sustaining nutrient balance (comparison)

The Terra Preta effect

• Balanced self-augmentation of soil nutrients and microorganisms

• Sustainable higher yields at low input cost• Top soil increase instead of losses• Soil quality grows beyond that found

even in the best virgin land

Commercial farming with synthetic NPK

• Increasing amounts of synthetic fertilizer required to maintain productivity

• Diminishing top soil and soil organic matter (carbon)

• Leaching of mineral fertilizers in surface and ground water destroys drinking water

• No protection against erosion remains• Loss of soil storage capabilities• Fast dropping yields at rising input cost


Bionic µsoil is closing the soil-resource cycles• The carbon cycle

• More carbon in the soil = less carbon in the atmosphere

• Nutrient uptake regulated again by the plants themselves• Organic nutrient supply = the plant decides how much and when• All plant pathways remain activated

• Easy availability of nutrients from synthetic fertilizers leave important pathways inactive• Little training for stress conditions like drought or water logging

• Micronutrient• Controlled availability

• Soil microbes• Higher activity and availability than in most virgin soils

• Water management• Storage capacity increase by 30-50% without any water logging effects• Gradual release when needed by plants


Bionic converts “waste” with exploding treatment cost into a profitable resource

Animal manure disposal• Recycling is a must to recover

nutrients

• Avoid health risks borne from manure and rotting biomass

• Strict sanitation requirements in most developed countries (current and coming) add cost pressure to animal husbandry

Biomass waste disposal• Health risks from food and agriculture

waste, biogas plants, sewer systems

• GHG emissions from uncontrolled organic waste decomposition

bionic µsoil answers waste management issues


Make bionic µsoil your win-win choice• Because consumers want organic products• Because farmers stabilize cost while increasing land value and income• Because yields are not dropping with µsoil while revenues rise• Because we need to maintain a healthy environment

…for a sustainable future


Partner with Bionic to participate in µsoil success

• Bionic has started to build a network for the global roll-out of µsoil highly flexible in finding the best fit cooperation terms Joint Ventures Sales Partnerships Franchising Systems Licensing Models Technology Partnerships


We look forward to hear from you

Bionic Group of CompaniesBionic Laboratories BLG GmbH

Helwigstr. 4164521 Groß-Gerau, Germany

www.bionic-world.net +49 1525 33 40 [email protected]

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