China

Energy Cost of Charcoal
Bryce Nordgren, (Rev) March 26, 2009

Because I really had no idea about how much energy it takes to make
charcoal, I made a table from the specs of the Chinese equipment posted by
gordon eliot. Then I calculated the "Energy Cost" of each component in
(MJ/kg). Finally I aggregated the energy costs from the "suggested
charcoal plants" to get an idea of the energy cost of the entire system.
Note that all of their plants use the new high efficiency coal bar
machine. This should represent a best case scenario: maximum rated
charcoal production at rated power. If you make less charcoal and consume
the same power, the energy cost goes up.

Consider this a first step in understanding the energy efficiency of the
entire process. To complete the analysis, we would have to know the energy
content (MJ/kg) of the produced charcoal. The big question is: can you
power a 30kW generator with the syngas in order to take the small charcoal
plant off the grid?

I hope this comes thru. I'm pasting the tables as html into the mail
message. I'm also attaching the spreadsheet from whence these tables came
in OpenDocument format. I exported the OpenDocument spreadsheet into excel
(attached). This retains the equations so people can plug in their own numbers?
The "source" of the numbers is the Gongyi Sanjin Charcoal Machines Factory:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biochar/message/5534.

Charcoal Plant Proposals
# Description Components (MJ/kg) Total
Crusher Drier Coal-bar
1 25-30MT per month 0.00 0.05 0.17 0.22
2 80-100MT per month 0.09 0.03 0.17 0.29
3 180-200MT per month 0.14 0.02 0.17 0.32

Note that the bigger crushers have a higher energy cost than the small
crushers. I would have expected the reverse. Also, the high-efficiency
energy saving coal bar machine is less efficient than the multi-function
coal bar machine. The net result is that larger charcoal plants appear to
be less efficient (have a higher energy cost) than smaller plants. As the
table shows, inefficiencies in the crusher overpower the efficiency gains
by the drier. The most efficient small scale plant would include the 11kW
coal bar machine instead of the "high efficiency" 15kW one.

This message is intended to give ballpark figures for the energy cost of
producing biochar using a sample of COTS equipment specifications. It
does not represent an endorsement or criticism of the vendor by any
agency, department, or program of the United States Government.

Bryce Nordgren
bnordgren@fs.fed.us

The Charming Bamboo Charcoal in Taiwan
Taipei Municipal Daan Vocational Industrial High School, Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwan, Cyberfair 2008, February 2008

Bamboo Charcoal Fertilized Vegetables

The Care for the Environment

The Project

Description of Our Community

In this community there are consumers like us who are interested in environment-friendly products, local business people who are trying to make use of natural resources, and research institutes who are helping make the economy and the environment better. Our project hopes to connect these three kinds of people so that we can know each other better and care more about our environment.

Summary of Our Project

Our project is about bamboo charcoal, its characteristics and functions in terms of environmental protection and applications to daily life. With its high utility, it is seen as a valuable natural resource for our future life.

How to Make Charcoal
Robert Flanagan, SAFFE, January 30, 2008

I've just been playing around with my natural draft stove to see how easy it would be to use it for cooking and making charcoal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5OAkmum7gU&feature=channel_page .
I fed some extra fuel in the side so show the pyrolysis reaction taking place.

Robert Flanagan's Biochar Stove: Carbon Negative Cooking
David Yarrow, TERRA: The Earth Restoration & Renewal Alliance, October 30, 2007

The Charcoalab Project: Charcoalab Pot Trials

Robert Flanagan, SAFFE, China, Christelle Braun, Naomi, September 4, 2007

Select image to access album of photos.

The new "Black Gold" is already on sale in Indonesia!

Robert Flanagan, SAFFE, China, August 31, 2007

Black Gold

Update on Biochar Trials in Hangzhou, China

Robert flanagan, SAFFE, Hangzhou, China, August 28, 2007

Ready to Eat in 59 Days

Bamboo Biochar Trial 2006 China
Robert Flanagan, SAFFE, China, July 2007

This is a trial we started last year using bamboo charcoal as a soil amendment. Last year we sent Cornell University soil samples last year and hope to continue this research with them in the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7-cq_w1VVY

Charcoal and Wood Vinegar Reactors
Robert Flanagan, SAFFE, Huangzhou, China, July 31, 2007
Full of Bamboo

Biochar and Charcoal Videos by SAFFE, Huangzhou, China
Robert Flanagan, SAFFE, Huangzhou, China, July 2007

Video: Renewable carbon negative energy

Video: Plot trial to show the effects of charcoal in soil