Bone char characteristics

The animal bone char is made of food grade pig and poultry bone meal, which is processed at 133 degree Celsius for 20 minutes under 3 bar processing conditions. The food grade animal bone processing outputs are bone meal for pet food, gelatin for human food and china bone material for high quality porcelain industry applications.
The output bone meal from the rendering industry is the input to the 3R pyrolysis process, where the material is heated further up to 850 degree Celsius carbonization temperature. During the advanced pyrolysis (reductive thermal processing) all volatile and protein based substances are removed from the mineral frame, and a highly macro-porous hydroxyapatite (70-76%), CaCO3 (7-13%) and carbon (9-11%) content apatite type mineral material produced. Total surface area is approx. 100 m2/g  while the macro pore sizes are between 7.5 – 60k nm.

The specific animal bone char carrier based 3R-AGROCARBON contains high amount of P2O5 (13%) and Ca (27%) available for plants, which allows efficient, environmentally safe and naturally renewable phosphorus supply. Beside the highly available phosphorus content the animal bone charcoal also contains important trace elements, and other nutrients, such as K and Mg.
The heavy metal content of the 3R-AGROCARBON product approaches the range of non detectable levels.

The 3R-AGROCARBON product is a microbiologically formulated substance, which means that the beneficial natural soil microorganisms are entrapped on the internal and external surface of the carrier. These microorganisms are able to solubilise the nutrients of the 3R-AGROCARBON carrier and make them available for the plant. These microorganisms can also utilize the chemically bound soil nutrients which are not available for plants. The positive effects of the application of the 3R ABC products are the plant grown promotion activity, natural fertilization and the biopesticide effects. Different types of specific 3R biochar and mineral carrier composites are available depending on the input material and carbonisation process.

Bone char application advantages

The high adsorption capacity for large organic molecules and the unique macro-porous mineral structure provides wide range of bone char applications in the agriculture, food production and environmental sectors, such as:

• Sugar refinery and de-colorization,
• Drinking water treatment,
• High efficient treatment of sewage water, contaminated subsurface water and industrial process water,
• Organic P/Ca fertilizer,
• Soil microbiological carrier for combined soil improvement, plant growth promotion, organic fertilization and biocontrol.

The 3R Agrocarbon bone char is an Authority tested and permitted product developed under European Union FP Programmes.