BIOChar Initiative - 2023 Update

Previously BYKA Group supported BIOChar cooking stoves to provide a more robust and beneficial program someday. That day has come in that we are launching programs that:

  • reduce emissions
  • move workers from polluting jobs to enhanced soil-building jobs
  • find ways to get communities to stop wood burning or carbon-polluting cooking practices.

BIOChar stoves are still viable and presented below as a way to reduce the amount of wood burned along with agriculture benefits. However, the offsets are still severe and as the world’s population increases such methods are not sustainable.

 

Below is our previous content. We wish each of the parties success as we move in a different but complimentary direction.

Global BIOChar Initiative

African BioChar Partner - African Christians Organization Network: Biochar Cookstoves

Salim Mayeki Shaban – Pictured above.  
President and Founder

African Christians Organization Network

We are proud to be working with Mr. Shaban to bring his biochar stove to Africa, Nepal, Ghana, Zambia, and Democratic Republic Congo.

Rob Lavoie , P. Eng., MCPM

“We (AirTerra) continue to be impressed by the many accomplishments of ACON over the past four

years.   12,000 farmers trained on the use of biochar and each setting up biochar demonstration plots, 8,000 pyrolytic stoves sold over the past four years and a current capacity to produce about 900 stoves per month (completely on a grass roots level having been trained by Dr. Paul Anderson), ramping up production capacity for fuel briquettes made from Water Hyacinth off of Lake Victoria (targeting about 10 tonnes of production per month), production of 2.5 tonnes of rich biochar enhanced organic fertilizer from chicken litter, water hyacinth extract, and human urine additives.  

We have reviewed the economics of each of these activities and find each of them to be quite sustainable and profitable for ACON.  ACON is now assessing the use of microfinance to scale its activities up to reach more of the community.  In addition, ACON supports orphanages and widows in the community.“

Team Members

Lloyd Helferty, Engineering Technologist
Principal, Biochar Consulting (Canada)
Steering Committee coordinator Canadian Biochar Initiative (CBI)
President, Co-founder & CBI Liaison, Biochar-Ontario
National Office, Canadian Carbon Farming Initiative (CCFI)

Lloyd is an advocate for the smart and sustainable use of technology, energy conservation,

renewable energy, sustainable land use, soil and nature conservation, good community design, and the renaturalization of our towns and cities.

He has been involved in supporting biochar projects in places like Mexico, Haiti, Africa, China,
Taiwan, Japan, and Nepal, and the creation of a Biochar educational centre in Toronto. All are examples of his many efforts and attempts at achieving some measure of sustainability both within his community and around the world.

 

Mr. Alok Dhungana, E.I.T
Alok is a mechanical engineer with an extensive research and academic background on renewable energy, mostly bioenergy.
He is a technology developer and an entrepreneur too. He played a key role in developing a torrefaction technology for Greenfield Research Inc., Halifax, NS as a co-inventor, where he worked on the patent application, and research and development starting from design to performance test of bench to pilot scale units.
He also worked to design multiple 100+ MW coal fired fluidized bed power plants. Before coming to Canada, he established a successful company in Nepal called Energy for Development-Nepal in 2009 as a founding president and since then he is constantly working towards developing bioenergy sector with cooperation from various industries in Nepal.
He has also worked in rural energy policy and is motivated towards developing solutions for ailing economy of Nepal.
In his current Job as Coordinator for Alberta Biochar Initiative in Lakeland College, AB; he takes pride in being a part of the concerted effort by regional and international organizations to commercialize biochar for the global benefit.

Project in Nepal and Africa