It has long been known that ashes from fires make good fertilizer.
Biochar is an innovation of that where not ashes but only partly-burned fuel (charcoal) is added to soil to improve it.
A comment on Google Q and A says:
"Although charcoal briquettes from a barbecue may seem like a good source of biochar, the charcoal usually includes solvents and paraffin that may be harmful in the garden."
It should be noted that charcoal briquettes in modern society are not charcoal at all but formed coal dust. The difference was seen when I travelled to South America and the charcoal briquettes there are charcoal with identifiable pieces of burnt wood in the finished product.
The lesson is don't believe what you read on labels --
Laurent Garneau, one of Edmonton's earliest farmers and pioneer entrepreneurs outside the Fort, made money by manufacturing charcoal for the blacksmiths in Fort Edmonton. This seems odd when coal is so readily available in the Edmonton area but I read somewhere that charcoal was the source of heat of choice to blacksmiths in Britain where the Fort blacksmiths got their training - for one thing, it burns hotter than coal.
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