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Bio Char

Started by red, October 17, 2012, 07:15:12 AM

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red

anyone do this on a Large scale Indirect Method . . .not Slash and Burn
Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

sharp edge

Wonder what happen to every one? :'(

I have played around with it a little and think its the way to go.

My big plans,that I might not do, is this.    Take a quack digger...put a big wood fire on it,driving a steam turbin...piping all the air,steam and stuff from the fire into the ground. If you do this, you would have a longer growing season and won't need any fertilizer or pest and weed controlls. 8) 8) 8)

SE
The stroke of a pen is mighter than the stroke of a sword, but we like pictures.
91' escort powered A-14 belsaw, JD 350-c cat with jamer and dray, 12" powermatic planer

beenthere

link to info about BioChar

http://biochar.pbworks.com/w/page/9748043/FrontPage

As it says, "A work in progress".  ;)
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Weekend_Sawyer


So, I always mix my fireplace ashes in my compost pile and then mix it into my garden. Is this considered a basic bio char?

Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

barbender

Quote from: Weekend_Sawyer on October 18, 2012, 12:25:57 PM

So, I always mix my fireplace ashes in my compost pile and then mix it into my garden. Is this considered a basic bio char?

Jon

Jon, I don't think it is. Bio-char is powdered unburned charcoal.
Too many irons in the fire

muddstopper

The main thing you are looking for from your biochar is the carbon. Biochar is made by burning wood, or other organic material in a un-oxygenated enviroment. This forces the gaseous materials out of the wood but conserves the carbon that would otherwise be given off as carbon dioxide. Ashes from a wood are are not the same as biochar in the fact that most of the carbon is consumed in the buring process. Both ashes and biochar will raise ph levels in the soil. This is a result of the materials contain appox 25% calcium carbonate. Nutrient content in the ash or biochar can vary greatly by the type of wood being used to create the two materials.

This is the area I believe that most people seem to have the most trouble with when choosing  a wood to burn as a soil treatment. The Myans in South America would burn wood to create their biochar for the terra-preta, and most folks seem to think its as simple as cutting down a tree and setting it on fire. One only need to look at the studies concerning Ramial wood chips to quickly see its not a matter of simply burning wood, but also in tree and size selection of the wood being burnt. http://www.dirtdoctor.com/view_org_research.php?id=69 According to the Ramial wood chip studies, a tree will contain appox 75% of all the nutrients in the outer 2-3cm of its outer layers. The bark, camdium layer and the small twiggs are where the nutrients are held, not in the interior mass or wood of the tree. Wood is a very poor nutrient source as well as a poor food source for microbes. Now stop to think about the type of wood the Myans would use to create their biochar. They certainly didnt have chainsaws to cut down the massive dia timber in their forests. They cut smaller wood and gathered brush to burn in their pits. The smaller wood contains the carbon and the other much needed nutrients and will create a much better fertilizer material for soil building. 

When cutting wood for our heaters and fireplaces, we often go after the trunk of the tree. We will cut up the tops and smaller limbs down to maybe 2 or 3 inches in dia, the rest we either burn as brush or leave in the woods. We actually leave behind the most nutrient rich parts of the tree and the better source of bio char.

I often will cut down the draft in my wood stove as a way to control the heat emitted, or to simply put out the fire. When building my next fire, I will remove the ashes, as well as charcoal, that is in the bottom of the stove. This I always put on the garden. I need the calcium carbonate contain in the ashes, and the carbon in the charcoal everyone could use. Like most everybody else, I use the bigger parts of the tree as fire wood, so I am not getting the full benefits of a true bio char. This I do supplement by using generous amounts of Ramial wood chips. These chips are easily obtained from the power companies when they are clearing right of ways. The last time they came thru here I got over 100 dumptruck loads of chipped brush. I piled this into one massive pile which I used my Fel  to turn about once a month. The turning helps to compost the material breaking it down to a earthy material. This material I broadcast as a mulch on top of the soil once my garden is planted. This reduces weed growth and helps retain moisture. At the end of the garden season, I incorporate the mulch into the soil by tilling. After tilling I will plant a cover crop of ryegrass (not grain). The root exudates of the ryegrass helps to further breakdown the composted wood chips. Once the rye grass is about a foot high, I will place my chicken tractors over the garden spot and let them consume the grass, converting it to poop, which they do a pretty good job of depositing right where I need it. Once they have consumed all of the grass, its usually spring and time to start planting all over again.

r.man

A local business has commissioned a bio char machine that so far has produced about 3 tons of the stuff. Fairly volatile, known to start on fire with very little help. The biggest hurdle at the moment is getting enough dry chips for the process. They have now shut down for the winter since most of their drying is solar.   
Life is too short or my list is too long, not sure which. Dec 2014

red

any idea of the cost of machine
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r.man

I don't think that the cost is finished yet since this is a prototype that has been in almost constant tweeking mode all summer. The designer first designed a small batch machine to prove the viability but the prototype takes chips in one end and puts biochar out the other. Run time is based on operator fatigue and some cleaning factors for sludge buildup. I expect the machine will get a fairly large makeover in the winter. During the summer the designer/operator was just trying to up his production numbers without a major rebuild. End cost will be unknown at this time as will the final design that they will use. Hopefully budget will not kill the project.
Life is too short or my list is too long, not sure which. Dec 2014

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