Green Your Head

All My Biochar Blogs

I have not written much commentary on politics or sustainability for years now. Instead, I spend most of my time doing practical work and research in the field of biochar. So, if you are interested in biochar, please check out my biochar sites below:

Website for sharing open source, low tech methods for biochar production and use: BackyardBiochar.net

Website for my biochar consulting business: WilsonBiochar.com

Website for the Umpqua Biochar Education Team where I am managing a NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant to help farmers make and use biochar in livestock operations: UBETbiochar.blogspot.com

Website for the Illinois Valley Forest Collaborative where I am helping develop useful forest products out of hazardous fuels that are normally burned just to get rid of them: IVforestcollaborative.blogspot.com

Biochar School at Swallow Valley Farm a Great Success!

Many, many thanks to all who took part in the Biochar School, Nov 7-11 at Swallow Valley Farm in Sonoma County, California. With 12 instructors and more than 40 students, we had a full house! The learning and sharing was a two-way affair, as we all learned from each other and made valuable connections across disciplines and regions.

I will be posting presentations and links to some of the videos we showed at the school on my other site, BackyardBiochar.net

I have posted pictures and short video clips of the Biochar School on a web album here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/113563255252052826854/albums/6082021498845397969

And here is a web album from Art Donnelly:

https://plus.google.com/114261170173561967216/posts/25pB8aviuyV

Biochar School - Appropriate Technology for Small Farms

November 7-11, Swallow Valley Farm, Sonoma County, California

Register Now! Space Limited to 50 Students. Register before October 15 to get the low early bird rate.

Who should attend? Small farmers, home gardeners and anyone interested in soils, plants and small scale biomass energy. CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT

What you will learn from our faculty of 12 experienced biochar practitioners:
•    No-cost and low-cost ways to make plenty of biochar for your farm
•    Biochar application rates and methods for best results
•    How to make biologically active, nutrient balanced biochar fertilizer blends
•    How to analyze biochar characteristics
•    How to integrate biochar economically and ecologically into your farm production systems
•    How to design biochar devices that capture useful energy

New posts at Backyard Biochar - Kon-Tiki, Cone with Storage, etc...

Finally getting around to posting some new cone kiln designs people have been sending me. Below are a few pictures, but for details, please visit backyardbiochar.net

 

Terra Preta Pooping

This is the cutest video! Watch it and be inspired to do something different with your waste. For some ideas, see my previous post, Terra Preta Sanitation at Home.

Terra Preta Sanitation from Dominic Bünning on Vimeo.

Giant Cone Kiln in Illinois

Kamal Rashid, CEO at Zanjabil Gardens in Pembroke Township, Illinois, has made a giant cone kiln. Last month he completed his first full test burn in the kiln, which has a 59" top diameter, a 24" bottom diameter, and is 24" high. The kiln made 133 gallons of biochar (17.7 cu ft) in about 4 hours, using cordwood. Kamal reports that it took 30 gallons of water to quench the kiln.

Kamal is also an officer of the Pembroke Farming Family Association, and he helps with technical assistance to other farmers. Kamal is very happy with the cone kiln, which was fabricated by a local community college welding class. You can bet he will be helping other small farmers in his area get started with making and using biochar. Here are some of his pictures:

Moxham Kiln from Dolph Down Under

We are looking at a new class of kilns that are ultra simple and clean. Charmaster Dolph Cooke, from the lush forests of Northern New South Wales, Australia, is a leader in the open source biochar tech movement. I love his latest kiln, inspired by his amazing mentor, Geoff Moxham. Geoff died tragically in a woods accident a few years ago, so let that be a reminder to us all to keep safety first in mind, especially when dealing with big, hot kilns like the Moxham. You can still glean some of Geoff's wisdom at his website, Bodger's Hovel.

Here is a nice video that Dolph made on the Moxham Kiln:

Cone Kiln in So Cal - Thanks to Blue Sky Biochar!

My pal Michael Wittman is a real Biochar spark plug! In January he initiated the cone kiln at the Simi Community Garden. And that was just the beginning for Michael. Here is his first video:

 

Don't have a cone kiln? Make a pit and make biochar.

Josiah Hunt has been doing commericial biochar longer than just about anyone. He is perhaps the finest example we have of small scale, low tech biochar entrepreneurship. Being in Hawaii helps - he has abundant feedstock, abundant need (poor tropical soils subject to leaching rainfall) and an educated public of permacultural farmers who get it. But despite the advantages of location, it was Josiah's genius that drove him to invent an economically sound biochar production method that allowed him to actually start a business. Not only that, his method is pretty clean, unlike traditional charcoal pits that smolder wood for many days and emit methane and carbon monoxide. In the open pit method, these gases are burned off so there is very little smoke.

Josiah uses a pit. No metal cone required. His method of gradually adding new wood over glowing coals is exactly the same method as the cone kiln. One difference is, he quenches with dirt instead of with water. Here is the link to his description of the method, with pictures:

http://hawaiibiochar.com/biochar-burn-demonstration/

He has since moved on to better, even cleaner biochar production methods, but for those just getting started, you might want to consider the pit.

Josiah - thank you for sharing!

 

Cone Kiln yield - about 35 gallons

The volume of the cone kiln is about 35 gallons (or about 4.5 cu ft). The yield of biochar pretty much equals the volume. I usually have to toss out a few brands (incompletely charred pieces) but not many. One secret to maximizing the yield is to finish off the burn with small stuff like twigs or a couple of buckets of wood chips that burn quick and hold in the heat to finish charring the bigger pieces. Of course the volume of char is reduced by half at least (have not measure it yet) when I run it through the compost shredder to turn it from chunks to powder. Anyway, here is what 35 gallons of chunks looks like:

More on the Cone Kiln

Here are quick specs on the cone kiln if you want to try making your own: It was made from a 4x8 sheet of 14 16 gauge steel with 3/8" rod welded around top and bottom rims for stability. Top diameter is 43". Bottom diameter is 16" and height is 16". It is open on the bottom so you just roll it away when you are done. That's it. My welder had a heck of a time bending the steel to make the seam weld. Needs a couple of strong guys or preferentially a differential slip roller to roll the form into shape. You could also make it from lighter weight steel.

Here is a paper that looks at biochar characteristics produced by this type of kiln. And here is a marketplace where you can buy one of the Japanese kilns. They are stainless steel, I believe and they come in different sizes. The 100 cm kiln is very close to the size of my version.