Getting more from your charcoal maker

[Gerrit]

Has anybody tried capturing the escaping gases from their charcoal maker to produce wood vinegar? In Thailand, the Appropriate Technology Association teaches villagerss how to build low-tech 200 litre volume charcoal makers that include an add-on to capture and condense those gases into water and wood vinegar.

 

The wood vinegar is considered an effective organic insecticide at various dilutions on most crops. They give rates for using it as such.

 

I can't post the link to the TP forum since I'm a newbie, but "ata.or.th" is the organization's web address.

 

Gerrit

[Fukudairafarm]

My neighbor makes bamboo charcoal in a kiln with a 10m chimney set at a low angle. Near the kiln he cut a small hole out of the bottom of the chimney. As the smoke travels up the chimney, the wood vinegar condenses, and runs down the slope, dripping out of the hole into a large plastic bottle. It works a bit better when it is cool outside.

[Michaelangelica]

I guess the problem is burning stuff in your back yard is neither safe or great for the environment

 

So who is inventing the household or community pyrolysis unit?

[SaraBeth]

Reading through the threads I found this and thought it might be appropriate to ask here...about filtering the gasses and then capturing the heat from making charcoal... piping it into one's home or workshop?

[mavrickjohn]

That could be done very easy by using a heat exchanger. The flue line would run into the exchanger and transfer it's heat to air or water and the heated air or water circulated into the house heating the air inside. Regulating the heat out put would be the problem, but there are many ways to do this. Because you would probably use a batch stove to make the charcoal a reservoir system of heat storage would be best that way a steady stream of heat could be generated through the day and night and firing of the stove could be done at your convenience.