Making BioChar

[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

[newbiocharland]

You want to know all the secrets about biochar ?

This book will help !

 

http://www.biochar-books.com

 

Here practice and theory merge under a single cover of "The Biochar Revolution" and reveals hidden secrets of science called Biochar

[webbee]

I'm new to this forum and have some questions.

 

I have been making biochar from Cowboy charcoal by smashing the blocks down to 1/2" or less, soaking the resulting mash with urea for over 3 days, then adding the mash to a leaf compost pile in the back yard. The pile is contained in a 3' X 3' wire barrel which has mostly pin oak and maple leaves with 1/3 grass clippings as the green element. It won't be done for another month or so. It might be accelerating the break down of the leaves but that could also be due to the urea. Leaf break down usually takes about a year so this process is faster. So far I have added about 2 bags of charcoal and will continue until I have finished compost.

 

I smash the charcoal in a cooking pot using a worn out mattock handle. This results in a lot of fine powder and some chunks up too about 1/2". I would like to know if you all have found an optimal crush size? I have only seen pictures of Terra Preta so I have no idea how small the charcoal bits were that the Indians made.

 

I notice no one seems to be using the green ware chunks of red clay in the mix or mentioning it for that matter. There has been speculation that the clay bits have magnetic properties as well as being there for soil loosening. How important is this as an additive and what is the bit size? An old time gardener friend thinks mica chips would possibly be better than red clay from his experience with mica chips. Any thoughts/experience with the clay or mica as an additive?

 

This project will take years to complete because of the time needed to bring the soil/charcoal mix to the 30% charcoal ratio. I suppose you should see some benefit with possibly as low as 10% soil/char mix but I have no real world experience. Does anyone have any idea what the minimum ratio for increased yield actually is?

 

I'll have some actual experience next year in the fall and will post about my experiment with biochar then.

 

Thanks for any input you may have.

[erich]

The JRO, or Jolly Roger Oven,...

 

Bar none, this modified version of the Jolly Roger TLUD, by the addition of a 30 gallon retort on top, is the most productive and clean burning of any simple home made biochar appliance. This brilliant and simple design, brought to you by Doug Clayton & Dr. Hugh McLaughlin, will produce 30 gallons (about 50 Lbs) of Biochar per run, So theoretically, if you set up 4 JROs, and ran them each 5 times, a full days production could be 1/2 Ton of Biochar.

 

The “Jolly Roger Ovens” family of Biochar-making devices (with documents);

http://biochar.bioenergylists.org/content/JRo-video

 

Here's the YouTube;

youtube.com