[GSBN] SBC stealing nutrients fro soil (was Re: The EU wants 5% strawbuildings ...)

[RT]

Ho! Ho! Ho! y'all;

Earlier in the "EU wants 5% SB" thread it was suggested that taking straw  
to build walls may be a Bad Thing because in doing so, straw is not  
returned to the soil thereby depriving the soil of nutrients and degrading  
the soil structure and its tilth.

As most gardeners and farmers will know, when fresh straw (or any other  
cellulosic material (ie sawdust, wood chips etc) is returned to the soil,   
it requires nitrogen for the decomposition process. Since nitrogen is  
typically present in straw at values of 1% or less, the nitrogen will be  
taken from the surrounding soil to facilitate decomposition of the straw  
making that nitrogen unavailable to the crops being grown in that soil.

Nitrogen availability is essential for healthy plant growth. It's the  
first number in the N-P-K (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) numbers on  
commercial fertilisers.

It may take up to two years before the straw will be sufficiently  
decomposed before it begins to become it becomes a "giver" instead of a  
taker of nutrients.

That's one of the reasons why the use of straw as animal bedding in "old  
time farming" made so much sense. The high nitrogen manure and urine for  
which the straw was used to mop up not only made for easier handling of  
the animal waste, the two complemented each other in helping to build soil  
health.

Straw on its own, contributes very little in the way of nutrients for soil.

OTOH, there are billions of the hominid species on this planet, largely  
concentrated in urban areas, creating mega-tonnes of potentially very  
nutritious fertiliser every day. Straw would be very useful in the mammoth  
septic lagoons of municipal waste treatment facilities, in the same manner  
that sawdust is useful for controlling off-gas emissions with composting  
toilets (and livestock paddocks).

In an ideal world, those municipal bio-solids and straw would then be  
returned to the fields. However in the real world, there are still  
knuckleheads who treat their drains as a chemical dump so municipal  
bio-solids tend to contain undesirable contaminants which most people  
wouldn't want to see in the food chain.

                === * ===

It was also mentioned in this thread that there may be some competition  
for the straw resource from those who are looking to use it as a fuel for  
heating.

While I don't see that happening here in Canada or California due to  
concerns about combustion emissions, there is an Ottaw bio-tech firm (  
www.Iogen.ca ) that has been developing enzymes and processes to convert  
agricultural waste residues (including straw) into cellulosic alcohol for  
use as fuel for cars and trucks.

This was mentioned on the old CREST SB list back in the 1990's of the  
previous millennium and it was suggested back then that the days of  
honking-big, fat walls filled with yellow gold may be numbered.

That day drew a little closer in 2013. After some failed partnerships with  
some energy mega-corps  (Amoco, PetroCan, Shell) and misc others (ie  
Volkswagen) in the early 2000's, Iogen in partnership with Brazilian  
energy giant Raízen Energia Participacoes S/A are in the process of  
building a commercial scale cellulosic ethanol production facility in  
Brazil with anticipated start-up being in 2014 with plans to build eight  
more after that.

Given that the Shrub's ethanol-from-corn initiative in the US is now being  
seen for the nonsense that it always was, can straw-eating cellulosic  
ethanol plants in the US be far behind ?
--
=== * ===
Rob Tom					AOD257
Kanata, Ontario, Canada

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