Carbonization

Chris Adam Kiln Chars Coconut Shells in Kenya
November 5, 2009

Coconut Husk in Kenya

A Chris Adam Kiln retort which was built a year ago at the Kenyan Coast.

They are using it 3x a week to carbonize coconut shells and it seems to work well.

--Chris

MAKING BIOCHAR: with Peter Hirst of New England Biochar

Many thanks to George Packard of Parrot Creek Productions, Warner, New Hampshire for some really fine work. This is the short version of greater works in progress. Very well done by George and much appreciated.

Peter Hirst

Al Latham, September, 2009

I have a pdf (download the attached file) showing a simple biochar retort that I put together, that
might be of interest to your viewers.

If you'd like to add it to the Making BioChar.

Peter Hirst, Pony Farm in Temple, New Hampshire, on May 9, 2009.

Follow the link for some great video from the recent Biochar Roundtable at the Lodge at Pony Farm in Temple, New Hampshire, on May 9, 2009.

Pony Farm Biochar Workshop

http://thinkingglobalactinglocal.com/biochar-workshop-may-9-2009.html

PyroGen Power Generation
R&A Energy Solutions, LLC, May 31, 2009
Pyrogen Process
PyroGen appears to be a company in North Ridgeville, OH that combines a prototype skid mounted pyrolytic sludge reduction process with a genset, both from Indiana.
Skid Mounted Pyrolyzer

"R&A Energy Solutions provides integrated, modular pyrolysis and combined heat and power generation equipment for the dairy, cattle feedlot, recycling, waste hauling, municipal utility and auto shredding industries.
Systems are available in 250 pound, 500 pound, 1,000 pound, 2,000 pound and 4,000 pound per hour sizes, producing from 20 Kilowatts to 2 Megawatts and more of power capacity, plus Pyro-Oil and Pyro-Char or Bio-Char."

" PyroGen™ System Throughput Capacity and Power Output:

A standard full scale PyroGen installation is designed to process waste feedstocks in volumes up to 4,000 pounds (two tons) per hour and will normally support three (3) to six (6) I Power Energy Systems 365kw engines/generator sets producing up to 2.2 Mw."

The system is shown schematically along with a list of potential projects in a slide presentation at:
http://randaenergysolutions.com/Waste_to_Energy_Presentation_-_March_23_...

Links:
I Power Energy Systems:
http://www.ipoweres.com/
http://www.ipoweres.com/products.html
http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?id=27127#middle

US Thermal Technologies:
http://www.uscentrifuge.com/pyrolytic-sludge.htm
US Thermal Technologies is an affiliate of US Centrifuge
http://www.uscentrifuge.com/

The contact is at R&A Energy Solutions Inc.
http://randaenergysolutions.com/
Email: joel.keller@randaenergysolutions.com

The link to their biochar document:
http://randaenergysolutions.com/R40186_20090203.pdf

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

A charcoal production plant that also generates heat and electricity from the by-product gas
Biofuel Energy Sustems, Sustainable Energy Ltd., UK, 2004

In 2004 Biofuel Energy Systems Ltd. developed a plant for charcoal production, which uses the gases given off during production to drive a gas turbine, generating heat and electricity. The electricity generated can be used on site (especially useful in remote areas with no electrical grid connection) or sold back to the grid for additional profit.

Conventional charcoal production is very inefficient and wastes half of the energy within the wood. Biofuel Energy Systems' unique plant, however, uses 90% of the wood's energy and uses a totally clean, emission-free process. See the diagram on the Biofuel Energy Systems website that shows the steps involved in simplified terms. This represents a huge advancement in the efficiency and cleanliness of charcoal production.

The gasifier can supply the sensible heat for initiating pyrolysis. This is done by gasifying waste vegetable oil (low ash to interfere down stream) and using the high pressure exhaust from this to recirculate hot gas through wood. The gasifier products and pyrolysis offgas are then fed to the combustion chamber of a small (40kW) gas turbine.

Click on the picture for a larger image.

The plant is suitable for both large and small-scale charcoal production as the design can be scaled up or down according to requirements. The amount of charcoal production could range from 200 to 4,000 tonnes per annum and the electrical output of the plant could range from 50kW to 1MW, depending on the size of the plant.

To find out more see the Biofuel Energy Systems website. http://www.biofuelenergysystems.co.uk/index.htm

Carbonized Rice Hull
Courtesy www.Biochars.com, September 28,2008

Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice)Rice Technology Bulletin, No. 47, 2005

PhilRice Open Type

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Production and use of a soil amendment made by the combined production of hydrogen, sequestered carbon and utilizing off gases containing carbon dioxide
United States Patent 20040111968
Day, Danny Marshal (Atlanta, GA, US)
Lee, James Weifu (Knoxville, TN, US)
06/17/2004

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] This invention relates to the production and use of a nitrogen enriched carbon based fertilizer and soil amendment made during the pyrolytic conversion of carbonaceous materials which produce charcoal and the reaction of said charcoal with ammonia, carbon dioxide, water and other components generally found in flue gas emissions. The invention also relates to the optimization of that charcoal with mineral and plant nutrients to produce and use the combined materials as a soil amendment and fertilizer. The invention also relates to the use of the material as a way to economically store carbon and captured greenhouse gases in the soil.

Biochar Trial Photos

Empty Planting Trays on Rack	Fine Wet Processed Charcoal Settling in Flask	Bamboo Feedstock	Softwood Chip Feedstock
Charcoal Production in Woodgas Stoves	Charcoal Grades	Char Measurement
Amended Pots Prior to Mixing	Pots Mixed and Seeds Sown	Growth After 9 Days	Wheat and Peas Seperated to Avoid Shading

Some design features below:
Exploring interaction effects of feedstock type, soil, char application
rate, crop species, char size, fertilization, and mycorrhizal fungi.
No repetition (n=1), this loses the ability to assign a statistical
significance level to results, but allows more interactions (96 unique
combinations, 96 pots) to be tried given limited resources.

Charcoal produced in WoodGas stoves.
Char yield 12-18% (char mass/air dry biomass mass) (ie not adjusted to conventional dry weight yield unit, yet).
Fine Char - Blended and sieved to 230 mesh (<63 micron).
Coarse Char - Blended and sieved to between ~24 mesh - 8 mesh.
Fertilizer - 4-4-4 NPK Organic (bone meal, feather meal...)
Potting Soil - Potting Mix
Sandy Soil - Mixture of Horticultural Sand and Sandy Loam from Central Valley

Pots arranged in random spatial order (to randomize light/watering variation). Trays rotated to limit effects of light/watering variation.
Automatic drip emitter watering. Pots grown in enclosed cage outdoors.

Blocks - ( 8 pots/block)
    Fertilizer {Yes,No}
    Plant {Wheat, Pea}
    Soil {Sandy, Potting}

Blocks - (12 blocks * 8 pots/block = 96 pots)
    B1 -    Char (0 g)
    B2 -    Char (1 g, Pine, Fine)
    B3 -    Char (1 g, Pine, Coarse)
    B4 -    Char (1 g, Bamboo, Fine)
    B5 -    Char (1 g, Bamboo, Coarse)
    B6 -    Char (5 g, Pine, Fine)
    B7 -    Char (5 g, Pine, Coarse)
    B8 -    Char (5 g, Bamboo, Fine)
    B9 -    Char (5 g, Bamboo, Coarse)
    B10 -   Char (0 g) + Mycorrhizae
    B11 -   Char (5 g, Pine, Coarse) + Mycorrhizae
    B12 -   Char (10 g, Pine, Coarse)