Charcoal and biochar are interchangeable words down here at biochar project Kunghur NSW Australia. Yeah we know the difference but do we care ?
Charcoal or soon to be Biochar
Biochar is charcoal made specifically to put in the soil.
Charcoal could be used for many things some one once said to me it was use for over 8000 things. I wonder if anyone has catalogued them all.
Charcoal
Biochar or Char probably have many more diverse things it can do however we at biocharproject.org really like to pursue it’s unique climate properties and its unique agricultural benefits and flow on effects.
The way charcoal absorbs and adsorbs in a rather greedily like fashion makes it perfect for cleaning up toxins in the environment.
The way charcoal holds onto anything it has devoured is very useful in high rainfall areas. Or even to stop chemical leaching down to the water table.
Charcoal has so many uses its unbelievable.
Anyway back to the story we have been working with an Adam retort biochar kiln actually the first one ever built in Australia. I have been documenting it and we have been learning how to use it.
Here is another short clip of last Thursdays trial and tribulations.
Here is my recap
Some comments regarding what we were doing wrong were left on our website under last weeks update. We tried them and they worked.
It took us all day to dry the wood
We were able to shut the charcoal retort off for the very first time.
Our wood is fairly dry and awaiting this Thursday for the community to get together and finish the job we are looking forward to a big batch of charcoal this week.
I am happy to be getting this far along now however I am sad that it took me to verbalising my frustrations before the help came.
Adam Retort community kiln firing 29th of Feb 2012 report.
Captured partly on video and temperatures were recorded so folks can see what was going on. I will try and be as neutral as possible in my critique of the days event. : )
An Introduction to the Adam retort.
The Adam retort community biochar kiln project idea was created from the wishes of the late Geoff Moxham (Australia’s Grand Daddy of Biochar). He once won a Grant to create such a project and you can view his grant here.
This is the second time this Adam retort biochar retort has been fired properly. See the first report here.
The Adam retort Biochar kiln is a technology better suited for the third world as it takes a lot of man hours to fill / Unload / maintain the fire / Build.
However it is a great tool to learn about retorts on.
Our goal at biochar project is to create biochar as friendly to the environment as we can get it. This includes using waste biomass instead of living trees and making sure it is atmosphere friendly in relation to emissions, and of course that we make sure the charcoal produced is destined for the earth and soils rather that as fuel.
Apparently the Adam retort biochar kiln we have is not created exactly to the plans that Adam released it has been modified somewhat by Paul Taylor a man who has edited a book on biochar who lives local to us. I have never seen the plans that Paul worked off in their entirety however I was shown glimpses of it during the construction period.
The kiln works by separating the wood to be charred from the wood that is burnt as fuel. The charbox sat on top of a maze like chamber who’s job is to distribute the heat evenly. Sort of like having a pot of water sitting on top of a fire. However once the box of char starts releasing gas you can easily direct the gas into the fire to create a perpetual fire until the gas is all removed.
This is supposed to reduce emissions and lessen the amount of wood used as fuel.
Lets see how we went.
The day started at 9 am we erected a deflection device above the chimney.
The fire was lit and the paper work was readied.
We checked the temperatures at intervals to get an idea of what is going on.
We did not weigh the amount of wood inside the box nor did we weigh the amount of wood we burnt as fuel. Much to Uncle bucks Horror
Here are the Times and Temps from the Community Adam retort firing.
Fire Box
Firebox Time /Temp
9.42 am 488 10.00 am 648 10.20 am 597 11.00 am 704 11.20 am 714 11.40 am 717 12.00 pm 709 12.20 pm 783 12.40 pm 748 1.00 pm 644 1.20 pm 773
9.42 am 28 10.00 am 30 10.20 am 29 11.00 am 31 11.20 am 33 11.40 am 36 12.00 pm 36 12.20 pm 30 12.40 pm 36 1.00 pm 36 1.20 pm 35 1.40 pm 37 2.00 pm 40 2.20 pm 42.7 3.00 pm 42 3.50 pm 35 4.49 pm 49.8 5.40 pm 52 9.00 pm 39.2 10.30 pm 53.3 2.00 am 49.7
Sorry for the crazy formatting you get that
Summary:
It took over 19 hours to reach the hottest temp 253c which is far to cold for good biochar and far to long to be manning a kiln for any country.
The kiln did not enter exothermic condition and consumed a lot of heating wood. The kiln did not cool down overnight as suggested and took 4 days until we finally put it out with water.
In my honest opinion I feel that this kiln in its current state is not suited to making biochar.
On the upside it was a great learning exercise and it brings the community together for like minded fun. Feel free to ask questions.
Charmaster Dolph Cooke
P.s A few good comment recieved have shown us some problem area with our version of the kiln Mainly sealing the retort from sucking air we will try again on Thursday (Community Kiln Day) keeping this advice in mind. Thankyou Charfolks : )
Last week I went to the Labrador men’s shed to help work out the finishing tweaks for a project I started last year. I have decided to call her “Stumpy” the tlud.
Biochar Tlud Stumpy
What’s so special about Biochar Tlud stumpy you ask ?
She is special on several levels. Firstly she is build from unusable LP Gas containers. In our country (Australia) these containers have a life span of 10 years then they have to be retested. However it costs more to retest it than it does to buy a new one so guess what? Cha ching you guessed it throw away society / Landfill.
Begining of Biochar Tlud stumpy
Secondly they are built by the men of the men shed who are retired and probably all have to be retested as well And have a guess what?
Yep you got it its cheaper to get children to do the work we have left in Australia than it is to retrain these men. No where on earth though will you find artisan-ship like this we are talking old school pride – Australian Made.
Thirdly Biochar Tlud Stumpy is destined to help out in unlucky countries where the folks there still have to cook on wood or charcoal. She has several levels of benefits to offer. Small children will not get burned / Smokeless operation saves the cook from lung cancer or worse / By-products at the end of the burn are useful to help the environment / efficient design ensures less wood waste.
Fourthly Biochar Tlud Stumpy is open source so you can make her yourself or help out with our goals to bring enough of them to unlucky countries.
Fifthly Biochar Tlud Stumpy is modular. Yeah Yeah now you get it.
She is a real Man Tool. Although I have no photos of the addons I will run them off here to re ignite your imaginations.
ADDONS.
1. A batch retort for bigger wood exactly like the Jolly Roger Ovens 2. A BBQ plate (Yeah man have a look at the photos of us cooking dinner on her boiled our soup in less than 5 mins)
Note the Stubbie in the air inlet to help control the flame
3. A smoker box to make the fresh eels taste oh so delicate. 4. A Bash Box (Biochar & Site heat) To heat your water / chill your beers etc. 5. Condenser to make Oils, Tars, fuels and Smoke water.
6. Come on you biocharians get your brains ticking what else can we add on to this man tool from the old school.
Anyway got a bit off track just then but we also did tests and had 2 representatives of the Gold Coast City Council who had more information thirst than a freshly biochared bamboo forest. Yeah they were asking all the curly ones lucky I was there HEY : )
Exacting biochar Science hahahaha
Awesome day lots learnt took away with me 4 models and that weekend sold 2 of them at the local farmers market and took orders for more.
So now if we can make something as good as the stupmy on a budget of Nothing. Imagine what we can make together on a budget of $20 Grand.
YEP you heard me right I want to make a open source farm sized biochar reactor (I like that word) Test the ring out of it then give it away to the community. Anyone Interested in helping out ?
Biocharproject.org is a living evolving resource with the sole purpose of enlightening people to the exciting future of Biochar and its beneficial environmental potential. It is one family’s journey to discover themselves and the beautiful land they were born in with the sole intention of sharing this wonderful discovery that is Biological charcoal.
Their passion for this ancient technology will see them gain many new friends who all have the common good of the planet as a special bond with each other as we teach learn and do many new things.
This journey is about living and as a reader of the website you will learn so many things about Biochar, man, nature. You will feel excited and will want to be part of the action. I implore you to look us up now and become part of our journey, send us your questions and answers and help us help the world with Biochar.
And have a guess what?
