# bio-char



## homemade (Aug 13, 2012)

any comments on this


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## Adios Pantalones (Aug 15, 2012)

I do throw all the bits of leftover stove charcoal in my garden and into my compost, along with my ash. Work I've seen on terra preta from S.America indicates that it greatly improves soil. I don't think that I put in enough to reach the intensive levels that they have found there, of course, and heavy amounts of compost probably accomplish similar results. My garden is very high in organic matter as it is.


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## Jags (Aug 15, 2012)

AP - is there a "limit" to how much ash/char can be applied to a compost?


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## Adios Pantalones (Aug 15, 2012)

The "char" is the charcoal part I believe. When incorporated into soil with good compost levels it acts as a reservoir for certain nutrients. I would think you could put in a LOT of that. Archaeological evidence shows that large areas of rainforest in S America were cultivated using this method- it's startling to look at the scale of the effort!

People worry about applying too much ash- we know that it will kill plants in pure form in high doses (I dump mine on areas with poison ivy- takes a lot to kill it). I have dumped 3+ gallons into a 1 yard pile without issue. Compost naturally goes through swings in pH associated with microbial activity (there is a fairly acidic phase), but ends up with a pH near 7 no matter what you put in there. (pine needles, oak leaves- it all gets neutralized biologically), and I would guess that moderate amounts of ash will likewise be neutralized.

Potassium is one of the nutrients that ash provides, but it's very soluble and may wash out. Biochar and compost (high residual humus levels) may act to retain this and other soluble nutrients via ion-exchange mechanism.

I dunno- compost helps everything. Add compost.


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## Jags (Aug 15, 2012)

My question stems from the fact that 2 years ago, all my ash went to my garden.  Haven't been able to grow a hot pepper since. Tomatoes are killer.

Sorry OP, I really don't want to hi-jack your thread.


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## Adios Pantalones (Aug 15, 2012)

Ya, that would be a problem with too much ash- the char is the charcoal- very different composition.


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## Jags (Aug 15, 2012)

Adios Pantalones said:


> Ya, that would be a problem with too much ash- the char is the charcoal- very different composition.


Yep, believe it or not, I have actually read up on the use of char in those ancient cultures.  Turned crappy ground into very stable, fertile ground.


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## Adios Pantalones (Aug 15, 2012)

Jags- you know tomatoes are weeds. I have a hard time keeping them down. Peppers want a little love- you could check your pH or (this is what I do) put down some compost and load up the beds with shredded leaves this fall. I'd bet that would rectumfy your issues.


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## Jags (Aug 15, 2012)

No leaves to speak of.  Mine all end up in the fields around (wind). Got availability to horse bedding/chit, pig slop, grass clippings, etc.  I need to be careful with the critter stuff though - that can burn a garden with too much.  I would bet that the bedding/chit combo would be a good start for a compost pile.


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## Adios Pantalones (Aug 15, 2012)

Peppers can end up with the too much nitrogen thing where you get a damn tree with no fruit on it. If you apply crap in the fall, it should mellow by the spring and not cause burn unless you put heapum poop. Too bad about leaves- they're a free garden fix.

That would be a good compost pile- normally they say you want a minimum of a yard of material to get good sustained heating. That stuff will get to 160F + if you get the right mix. If it stinks, then you need more low nitrogen materials


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## Jags (Aug 15, 2012)

Hmmm...seriously thinking of compost heap.  No problems with size.  I can turn it with my loader tractor.


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## semipro (Aug 15, 2012)

Didn't see it mentioned yet but biochar is a lot like activated charcoal.  The surface area is immense and it does a great job of absorbing stuff, including nutrients that might be needed by plants.


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## Adios Pantalones (Aug 15, 2012)

My compost pile is practically a member of the family. If it once lived- I compost it. paper towels, pest critters, food scraps- everything. With a real hot pile, even the stuff they tell you not to compost (fats, meat, cheese, bones) is OK.


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## Jags (Aug 15, 2012)

Won't be able to toss protein food stuff in it.  That would be the dinner bell for a bunch of unwanted critters around me.


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## Adios Pantalones (Aug 15, 2012)

I am surrounded by woods and composted the remains of a deer carcass. Got to bury it in a hot pile, but it works. Then wait for more critters to show up to add into the pile, and so on.


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## Jags (Aug 15, 2012)

I am more concerned with the yotes it would bring in.  My dogs and cats would not be happy.


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## lukem (Aug 15, 2012)

We used to compost hogs at a farm I worked on by burying them in sawdust.  Didn't take long to get rid of a 500 lb sow in a hot pile.  Never had any 'yote trouble.


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## Jags (Aug 15, 2012)

lukem said:


> We used to compost hogs at a farm I worked on by burying them in sawdust. Didn't take long to get rid of a 500 lb sow in a hot pile. Never had any 'yote trouble.


 
A few years back, my closest neighbor had a cow go down.  Drug it to an open field withing my line of sight.  Didn't take long to get gone.  Any given night I could take my bajillion watt light and hit several pairs of eyes.  My dogs went nuts listening to them whoop it up.


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## homemade (Aug 15, 2012)

this is what comes out of the pellet water heater i am making


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## peakbagger (Aug 15, 2012)

Bio Char is not just charcoal. Its charcoal that is mixed with compost. Fresh charcoal can be detriment to a garden as it actually absorbs available nutirents and fixes them in the charcoal. The tera preta excavations show that the ancient farmers mixed a lot of orgainics in with it. I ran into a bio char proponent last summer and I asked him how he added nurtients to his bio- char, his recomendation was to pee in it. As long as it didnt smell it was absorbing the urine. Once it started smelling he knew it was ready for the garden. I always thought that it might be a good idea to mix bio char with chicken litter or hog manure as both are too strong for most plants but the biochar would grab a lot of the nitrogen and amonia and fix it into the char so that it released slowly.

If the US ever gets into CO2 sequestration, there are some interesting potential scams where some one would partially gasifie wood and generate power with the volatiles, then buries the bio char to get credit for the carbon sequestration.


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## Adios Pantalones (Aug 15, 2012)

peakbagger said:


> Bio Char is not just charcoal. Its charcoal that is mixed with compost. Fresh charcoal can be detriment to a garden as it actually absorbs available nutirents and fixes them in the charcoal. The tera preta excavations show that the ancient farmers mixed a lot od orgainics in with it. I ran into a bio char proponent last summer and I asked him how he added nurtients to his bio- char, his recomendation was to pee in it. As long as it didnt smell it was absorbing the urine. Once it started smelling he knew it was ready for the garden. I always thought that it might be a good idea to mix bio char with chicken litter or hog manure as both are too strong for most plants but the biochar would grab a lot of the nitrogen and amonia and fix it into the char so that it released slowly.
> 
> If the US ever gets into CO2 sequestration, there are some interesting potential scams where some one wouls partially gasifie wood and generate power with the volatiles, then buries the bio char to get credit for the carbon sequestration.


Right- that's why I said "with good compost levels". urine only adds N, so compost would be a better option I think than urine


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## peakbagger (Aug 16, 2012)

I agree Adios, I just thought the urnine approach was a interesting method.


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## homemade (Aug 16, 2012)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochar


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## Adios Pantalones (Aug 16, 2012)

Humus does much the same thing as far as nutrient storing capacity, and is the natural long-lasting product of compost degradation. If you have a good sized garden,rather than tracts of rainforest and a ton of time and charcoal, there are cheapo ways to come up with lots of compost.

I am a big proponent of heavy mulching with 1/2 finished compost or just a variety of compostables that will break down in place enriching the soil, seriously reduce weeds, reduce watering needs, providing the perfect environment for rhizobia bacteria, prevent many diseases (proven for compost), and provide all the nutrients that your garden needs. Whew.


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## woodgeek (Aug 16, 2012)

wasn't there a Hitchcock movie about some guy composting his wife in a hot pile?

seriously guys, this thread is blowing my mind.


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## Adios Pantalones (Aug 16, 2012)

The department of agriculture actually has guidelines on composting livestock after contagious disease outbreaks- the method is extremely effective at destroying disease through heat and microbial activity.


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## semipro (Aug 16, 2012)

In biochemical terms, Biochar is the mineral (no organics) residual that is produced along with gas and bio-oil by oxygen-deficient pyrolysis.


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## midwestcoast (Aug 16, 2012)

Here's what I always wonder about bio-char: I am using an EPA stove, 1 year minimum dry wood and the best burning practices I can manage all to increase efficiency and reduce the pollution caused by heating with wood. How do I then turn around and burn a big smokey, smoldering pit to make some bio-char? Is there a "clean" way?


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## homemade (Aug 18, 2012)

bio char is not  a smoldering fire


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## Adios Pantalones (Aug 18, 2012)

homemade said:


> bio char is not a smoldering fire


To make it in quantity you'll need to burn a fair amount of wood in an inefficient way- as is done for charcoal production (if it was burned efficiently, it would end as ash).


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## Dune (Aug 18, 2012)

Short informative video with links to vastly more info.


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## Cowboy Billy (Aug 24, 2012)

midwestcoast said:


> Here's what I always wonder about bio-char: I am using an EPA stove, 1 year minimum dry wood and the best burning practices I can manage all to increase efficiency and reduce the pollution caused by heating with wood. How do I then turn around and burn a big smokey, smoldering pit to make some bio-char? Is there a "clean" way?


 
The most common small scale way to make charcoal. Is to use a 55 gal drum.

http://www.puffergas.com/historic/rules/rules.html

Billy


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## Jags (Aug 24, 2012)

Thanks Billy, that is the best article to date that I have read about making charcoal.  Something that is on my list to do.


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## Dune (Aug 24, 2012)

Cowboy Billy said:


> The most common small scale way to make charcoal. Is to use a 55 gal drum.
> 
> http://www.puffergas.com/historic/rules/rules.html
> 
> Billy


 
Good article, thoughtful and accurate, but it is also quite simple to make charcoal using the indirect method and only one barrel as well.
Some (not much) smoke initialy, but clean burning for most of the process.

This is the method most commonly used by small scale blacksmiths.

Fill a drum with small sections of whatever wood desired. Hardwood will give the most yield. No piece should exceed 3" in THICKNESS.
Insert a 2" pipe with two elbows into the drum top, aranged so that it turns and vents alongside the barrel.

Start a fire on the ground.
Lay the barrel on the fire, once it is blazing well. Position the barrel so as to direct the two inch pipe into the base of the fire.

The pipe will emit smoke for a while, then will clear up to a clear gas.
As the gas becomes clear, it will ignite and sustain combustion as your orignial ground fire dies out. Your ground fire fuel does not need replenishment.

When the barrel stops outgassing, the process is finnished. Cooling with water at this point will preserve the most charcoal.


Or, you could use my method; crude, ineficient, yet simple.

Make a large brush fire. Continue feeding till all brush is somewhat consumed. Hose down fire completely before all charcoal is consumed.
The last brush fire I made this way yielded 12 bushel of excellent apple charcoal, wich I added to my garden. I reserved some for forging.

Edit; my method yields much less, but the labor is also dramaticaly less.


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## midwestcoast (Aug 24, 2012)

Thanks for the links Dune & Billy. I'd ASSumed smokey smoldering fires were a given.
I do have some brush to get rid of...


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## Adios Pantalones (Aug 24, 2012)

Good stuff on limiting smoke. It should be noted- this is still throwing heat away for many purposes. It would be good to power something/heat something during the making process (hillbilly hot tub, BBQ smoker, etc)


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## Erich J. Knight (Dec 1, 2012)

For anyone interested in, or confused by, Biochar Soil Technologies, Please view my presentation and slides of this opening talk for the USBI Biochar conference in Sonoma California. This is the third US Biochar conference, after ISU 2010 and Colorado 2009.
http://www.2012.biochar.us.com/
*Carbon Conservation for Home, Health, Energy & Climate*
http://2012.biochar.us.com/299/2012-us-biochar-conference-presentations

Modern Thermal conversion of biomass burns only the hydrocarbons in that biomass, conserving the carbon for the soil. At the large farm or village scale modern pyrolysis reactors can relieve energy poverty, food insecurity and decreased dependency on chemical fertilizers.
Please take a look at this YouTube video by the CEO of CoolPlanet Biofuels, guided by Google's Ethos and funding, along with GE, BP and Conoco, they are now building the reactors that convert 1 ton of biomass to 75 gallons of bio – gasoline and 1/3 ton Biochar for soil carbon sequestration.


My heroes are the engineers without Borders who have promoted clean cook stoves, Pyrolytic and Gasifing TLUD (Top Lite Up Draft) stoves that burn any biomass cleanly and 41% more efficiently. No black-lung no emphysema, no deforestation, all the while building soil carbon for continually sustainable yields. Please look at the work of the Biomass Energy Foundation. At scale, replacement of three rocks in a pot, across Africa would have the health impact equivalent of curing malaria and AIDS combined.
*Biomass Energy Foundation (BEF)* website  http://biomassenergyfndn.org/bef/

*Gerry Whitfield,* the inventor of the pellet stove, has now designed, and has for sale, a pyrolytic pellet furnace for industrial and residential application.
Whitfield Biochar LLC, ( 20K Btu - 2M Btu units)  http://www.whitfieldbiochar.com/

*WorldStove*
now has, soon to be manufactured, two residential pyrolytic pellet stoves for the developed world. They cost just $2000, incorporate Thermocouple generators for power production, they have full CE and UL approvals, with total, triple redundant fire safety systems making them secure from the abuses of "Harry home owners". He has 10 of them install in homes and social service institutions in Massachusetts, which are eligible for the fuel assistance programs, which have suffered budget cuts. Some 200,000 homes face this shortfall in fuel assistance. Next year he plans to start small batch production of these units. (Note to self; figure out catchy name for these residential units). He has units designed for 1200 ft. and 3000 ft. homes. First world, second or third, one has to love Nathaniel Mulcahy's focus of always serving the needy. His recent travels to Afghanistan demonstrate to me, more than any other of his accomplishments, his extremely deep commitment. 

It is rare that new technology flows from development in the third world to cutting edge applications in the developed economies, WorldStove has done exactly that. Given New England the best energy now for home heating, a charcoal producing, Thermo-electric, residential heating unit.

A for profit company, one of the few Biochar companies in the black and builds these profitable Enterprises across the globe. Programs have been conducted in Uganda, Kenya, Haiti, Malawi, Indonesia, Zaire and the Philippines. Currently, additional pilot programs are operating in Burkina Faso, Congo, Niger and Uganda. The World Bank assessed his business and franchisees in the high six figures. over the 11 years of WorldStove operations' they have incurred no debts. WorldStove has produced a total 250,000 Lucia, Biucci and Biener stoves, 70% Lucia stoves. If all these stoves were fully utilize, without building a single new stove, over the next 10 years, would be responsible for sequestering 1 billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere. I would not want to get into a no-stake's Carbon Poker game with Nat, maybe in a year or two the executives at CoolPlanet will be able to take him on.
Look up the definition of philanthropy, Nat is the very definition, in order to give, one must be successful.
WorldStove, MA. (Africa, middle east, South America, Residential pyrolytic pellet stoves)  http://worldstove.org/

A very nice mobile system from Australia now commercially available;

*AgriPower's Modular and Transportable System*
http://www.agripower.com/


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## macmaine (Dec 3, 2012)

Erich
That is one interesting video!
Thanks for posting.

Sounds like this could scale up pretty quickly.
Tom


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