Making BioChar

[Philip Small]

Enthusiastic trailer, GreenJack. Looking forward to the full production.

 

I think I recognize you from a Gresham Outlook article about a Sandy resident making bio-char. It was last March. You? We occasionally find ourselves by Sandy, disen-gorging from the interior, might try to hook up, see what's cooking.

[Greenjack]

I'm going to have to start selling peanutbutter sandwitches at my house, since I put up the video on YouTube, I have got alot of people comming to see me. Maby we should get a band and have a Biochar woodstock.

[Turtle]

I'm going to have to start selling peanutbutter sandwitches at my house, since I put up the video on YouTube, I have got alot of people comming to see me. Maby we should get a band and have a Biochar woodstock.

 

Hi Green. Your vid looks good and I'm across the Columbia from you in Vancouver. I'll bring the IPA. :confused: :) Here's your vid until you reach milepost #10.

 

YouTube - Greenjack's Garden Biochar Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRhTmKySnhA

[Greenjack]

Thanks for posting the vid,

 

I have another one called -I Like Corn- but my microphone is not working, and I wanted to narrate instead of just scrolling words. Itmight not play well to regular people, and is my target audience.

 

I have intentioaly stayed away from these fourms, because I was intrested in focusing on what the Amazonians were doing. I took what tools we know had and used that as a starting point. The reason I thought of a 55 gallon drum as the kiln, is because, it like the clay pot in that it had many purposes, as dose the drum. Something that has supprized me when I started reading what the members of this forum were doing, was concentrating on the size of the charcoal. I know that Laymen in one of his papers mentioned 5mm as being the best size for the chip. The other thing was the attention to the quality instead on the quantity.

 

Many people going to great lengths to grind up wood charcoal, into uniform chips, this is also going on in big industry with peanut shells and rice husks. All this charcoal has unifority.

 

I tried to vary my biochar in as many ways as possible, variety of materials, variety of size, and shape. The finished product has anywhere to small fines and carbonized pine needles to finger sized pices. What I believe this dose is give the biochar greater complexity, and longevity. Some of the fines may wash out, but the larger chunks stay in the soil longer. This results in a longer settling in period, due to the biger chunks. Varring the temperature also, allows for greater complexity. I really don't worry about making the best biochar. I am just trying to make large quantities of biochar the works well.

 

I have found that christmass trees, are the best material, and are available everywhere. The char has a magnetic quality, and is sticky. The ash and fines stick to it and are attracted to it. It dosen't take as long to settle in. Someone could make a fortune charring up christmas trees.

 

Thanks again for posting the vid,

 

Greenjack

[Greenjack]

I like Corn is now on YouTube

[Greenjack]

A conversation with Richard.

 

From: Richard

>Date: 2007/09/07 Fri PM 02:41:13 CDT

>To: Greenjack <[email protected]>

>Subject: Re: The solution to the ethanol problem

 

>This year is my first attempt at a tightly controlled experiment. In

>fertile sandy loam with 4% OM no above ground differences in growth.

>

>Waiting to do followup soil analysis this fall and run another

>season. Best I might expect is improved fertility management in our

>climate and soils. Peanut hull research on utube is very dubious as

>Rob admitted to me. My findings are confirmed with Australia research

>with are in process of publication.

>

>Are you getting improvement over control in a single season in your

>Oregon location. What is soil fertility like. Where was arid site

>research. did you do soil testing ?

>

>Best Rich H

 

 

Richard,

 

My approach to the subject is a bit unorthodox, because, I am using a more intuitive approach to discovery. I am trying to reproduce what the native amazonians did. Although I have read Dark Earths, Amazonian Dark Earths, and Mycorrhizal Symbiosis, and I understand the science. I am a historian by training, and my goal is to be able develop an overall system that regular people can use. This is the only way to get people to start practicing this form of agriculture. Thats why I act like an educated bumpkin. Well I guess the other reason I act that way is because I am one.

 

My goal is to translate the science into regulareeze. The test plots in Utah are near Park City the soil is a sandy loam, and my sister has been able to grow those huge tomatoes, this is her first garden, she knows absolutly nothing about it, and she says her kids, who hate vegtables, regularly graze in the garden. Have you tasted biochar tomatoes? They are unbelivably good. I have grown tomatoes in the garden, and gotten better tomatoes than the crap you get at the store, but these are hands down the best.

 

I am going to run a few tests, however, I am going to run a ph test on the biochar tomatoes vs. store bought (chemicaly grown) tomatoes to see if there is a ph difference. I know the ph of chemical soil is around 5.5 and organic is 6.5, but I wondered how this would affect the fruit. I have heard that having an acidic system may lead to an increased risk of cancer. If there is a difference between the tomatoes, one might conclude chemical agriculture may be part of the problem. Here is something I noticed about blueberries grown in biochar, because it is an acid loving plant, they (5) plants died. They lived long enough to produce some berries, which were sour and acidic. So, I belive much depends on the plant.

 

I agree with rob the peanut thing seems odd. My theory is that the biochar is better with complexity of material, range of temperature, and different sizes of charcoal bits. I have found that christmas trees work the best because they are sappy, have small pine needles, small to large branches, and a trunk. Throw some blackberry bushes in for good measure and pow! You got something that turns out great everytime. It has a magnetic quality the ash sticks to it. The product turns out to have anywhere from small fines to large chunks, which gives it longevity, if you can imagine the smaller bits may disintegrate, but the larger finger sized chunks would not go away for sometime. I don't think Eprida product was very thought out. I know Leyman wrote that 5mm bits were the best, but I think it is short term. I know thats like Jar Jar Binks disagreeing with Yoda, but thats what I think.

 

My Oregon location is on a bluff, the soil is washed out, and its red oxysoil. My tomatoes are under a Huge Cedar tree, and the soil was burned out. I plan on excavation that site to see first hand what it looks like, I will do my tests then. I have noticed the beds I prepared in the spring are better than the ones I prepared later in the summer. I don't know if it just hasn't settled in yet, or the quality of the biochar. The best biochar is made after a few days of rain and the pile is wet. The smoke is whiter, as it takes longer to get rid of the moisture in the plant, so there is less yellow smoke.

 

>>Greenjack

[Michaelangelica]

Sumiyaki Tatsujin Natural Style Charcoal Kilns

 

Turning Unwanted Wood into a Useful Resource

We recommend gardeners and foresters to make their own charcoal from the unwanted wood that they have previously disposed of by burning. With one of our Sumiyaki Tatsujin (Charcoal Master) natural style charcoal kilns, unwanted wood such as pruned branches, thinned plantation wood or cut bamboo can be turned into a valuable resource which can then be put to effective use as an under-floor humidity controller, soil conditioner, etc.

 

Charcoal making is a process for separating wood and bamboo into its solid, almost pure carbon component and its volatile liquid component by means of a chemical reaction known as thermal decomposition. Under this process, the solid component remains in the kiln as charcoal, while the liquid component evaporates to become smoke, which when cooled and condensed becomes charcoal vinegar.

Natural Style Charcoal Kilns - TESAKI SEISAKUSYO

[Philip Small]

That's the direction to go. Distributed capacity. Gardeners, wood lot owners and small scale farmers become colliers and biochar enthusiasts all. Throw in some bones with the wood. I like the wood vinegar aspect. A mechanism to capture the heat, a pizza oven add-on would be cool......

[palmtreepathos]

Thanks Michael for the great articles and pictures.

 

While the slow airless burn is the preferable way to make biochar, it is not the only way. If I could get a nice retort I would do it that way to keep the particulate matter in the atmosphere down to a minimum but in the mean time I do controlled burns of the branches that continually fall around my home here in Georgia,US.

 

Using a small perforated oil tin or a small galvanized trash can with the bottom removed, I can do a burn in less than an hour, have a high percentage of charcoal to crush and quickly add some nutrients to it before working it into the soil or compost. Since it burns from the top down it produces very little smoke or rather burns it before it gets away. Watching the fire and pulling out charcoal chunks with tongs as soon as it is charred to the core, so there is very little ash, makes better coals. I usually douse it with water or smother it with damp sawdust to quickly put out the embers. I use a piece of landscape timber cut so that I can crush the charcoal without bending down to it.

 

I have made fermented vegetation for a few years now and add crushed charcoal until it is nutrient dense and sludgey. I try to get the guys to contibute "compost activator" *wink, wink* for further nitrogen. This is pretty labor intensive and takes unreasonable amounts of energy so I am switching to layered beds of weeds,fruits and crushed charcoal. And now the fish story...

 

Recently I bought 5 gallons of fish fertilizer(Shafer's) made from the big head carp that is a disasterous problem in the Mississipi river region and since fish seemed to be part of original 'terra preta' I added some to my compost pile, the mixed batch and the layered planting bed. My first serious layered bed is almost ready to be planted. A year in the making but 'terra preta' is NOT a fast food item either... :tongue:

 

All the planting beds have charcoal added now and I will be adding more. This is the 2nd year for char added gardening. I will post that picture later with a video clip of my very elementary restricted air method. I have explored many low tech ideas that can be used by the 'average home gardener' but I think getting them to a computer to see it all will be the hard part of spreading these ideas...

UnCut Video - Now Playing "making charcoal on a small scale - when the burn is done"

 

UnCut Video - Now Playing "charcoal fire- 10 minutes into the burn"

 

charcoal and fermented vegetation sludge

 

7 gallons of homemade charcoal

 

Small charcoal burner and charcoal

 

Layered plant bed

 

I have a 2nd year avocado tree growing in a huge pot of biochar made of coffee grounds composted with wild bermuda grass, some Georgia red clay from the grass roots, rotted wood mulch, crushed granite dust and ceramic chips added for good measure. It is thriving even in the drought! It is planted in an old wash machine tub.

Picture by patsapeachygal - AOL Pictures

[Michaelangelica]

Not sure where to put this wacky but interesting question- and answer.

"Why doesn't wood melt?"

The Straight Dope: Why doesn't wood melt? Does it still cost less than one cent to mint a penny?

[Michaelangelica]

Mozambique: Charcoal Production Must Be Controlled

allAfrica.com: Mozambique: Charcoal Production Must Be Controlled (Page 1 of 1)

[Michaelangelica]

Japanese Companies PDF Print

Some Japanese companies offer small carbonization units for biochar production

 

sumi10ji.gif Natural Style Charcoal Kilns - TESAKI SEISAKUSYO

 

Chacoal product system

 

Cspec

 

New arrival 3

[Michaelangelica]

Good "how to" charcoal making 4 part video.

 

part 1 "Fire the Pit" Charcoal making in Pennsylvania Part 1 of 4 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5122206324434669401&ei=&hl=en

 

part 2 "Fire the Pit" Charcoal making in Pennsylvania Part 2 of 4 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4228528283369918059&ei=&hl=en

 

part 3 "Fire the Pit" Charcoal making in Pennsylvania Part 3 of 4 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-882323473764674138&ei=&hl=en

 

part 4 "Fire the Pit" Charcoal making in Pennsylvania Part 4 of 4 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1880524045220008547&ei=&hl=en

 

I found it very educational.

 

TxBeeFarmer (Mark)

[Michaelangelica]

charcoal

 

When wood burns, what’s really going on?

 

As I understand it, it’s a 2.5 step process.

 

1) Heating the wood causes it to vaporize into its component molecules.

 

1.5) depending on the temperature, the longer, more complex molecules decompose into simpler molecules. Larger molecules don’t burn as well. Axle grease doesn’t really burn. Gasoline does. If you heat up axle grease enough, it will break down to something that will burn.

 

2) The simpler molecules burn and the larger ones got up in smoke.

 

The point of my rocket stove is that the fire happens in a hot space and I get more complete combustion due to that concentration. That’s been working pretty well.

 

Over the last year or two, I’ve read a couple times about Terra Preta and how it can be used to help revitalize farming soil and also serve as carbon sequestration. After I hear about it again on Science Friday. In the story, the guest described the charcoal making process as simply heating wood to about 400 or 450 degress F in an oxygen poor environment. This was also something that I’d read and thought about before due to this site

 

So I figured, why not try it myself? My results have been good so far, but the process makes too much smoke.

miles blog Blog Archive charcoal

[Michaelangelica]

charcoal

 

When wood burns, what’s really going on?

 

As I understand it, it’s a 2.5 step process.

 

1) Heating the wood causes it to vaporize into its component molecules.

 

1.5) depending on the temperature, the longer, more complex molecules decompose into simpler molecules. Larger molecules don’t burn as well. Axle grease doesn’t really burn. Gasoline does. If you heat up axle grease enough, it will break down to something that will burn.

 

2) The simpler molecules burn and the larger ones got up in smoke.

 

The point of my rocket stove is that the fire happens in a hot space and I get more complete combustion due to that concentration. That’s been working pretty well.

 

Over the last year or two, I’ve read a couple times about Terra Preta and how it can be used to help revitalize farming soil and also serve as carbon sequestration. After I hear about it again on Science Friday. In the story, the guest described the charcoal making process as simply heating wood to about 400 or 450 degress F in an oxygen poor environment. This was also something that I’d read and thought about before due to this site

 

So I figured, why not try it myself? My results have been good so far, but the process makes too much smoke.

miles blog Blog Archive charcoal

[mmccoo]

here's an update to post:

hypography.com/forums/terra-preta/10685-making-biochar-4.html#post231970

 

blog.mmccoo.com/?p=196

 

some of the text:

charcoal take 2

 

actually this is take four.

 

1.

exit hole on top. Mistake. lots of uncombusted smoke

2.

exit hole on bottom. Better, but still lots of smoke

3.

pipe extention to inject smoke into the heart of fire. That worked, but the ducting I was using still leaked smoke.

4.

today’s experiment

 

Somehow, the thought of using an old paint can came to mind. I looked at my collection of paint and I found two that were bad. I took the old primer can with thick yogurt consistency. Plus there was only 1.5″ left.

 

I cleaned it out and drilled a 1/2″ hole in the bottom for the pipe. Notice the elbow to reduce the chance of stuff getting in there. Also the small hardware cloth cage to ensure a clear path to the pipe. The outside of the can is a 3/4″ wash with threads cut into it using the pipe thread cutter I got from Harbor Freight.

 

Here, you can kinda see the pipe extending down into the fire.

 

 

more in the post

[Michaelangelica]

Here is agood one just posted on the biochar climate change (yahoo) forum

Cook while you make char!!

Carbon

Cabon dioxide negative food can be really delicious!

It appeals both to the palate and the conscience!

Also some other interesting files

 

 

Back to:

Simple charring technique -- pictures

 

Simple charring technique -- principles

Here are the files:

 

Carbon sequstration for everybody

 

Powerpoint presentation

 

Song by Anders Linder