Making Charcoal out of Various Biomass

[Industrial Toys]

I saw an interesting article in the JD Furrow magazine. Or was it Homesteader? But quite short.

Does anybody have experience turning wood chips into charcoal? Or as they call it char. Is that the same thing?

 

[cqaigy2]

A few years ago, i read an article about biochar and the amazon basin. Apparently they think it was a big thing back in the day, say something like 2k years ago or so. Supposedly increases the fertility of the soil. Pretty interesting.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Charcoal goes way back in history much more than 2K years, more like 20K+. Ancient man figured out that biomass (wood) burned in the shortage of O2 consumed everything but the carbon element and that the resulting carbon fuel burned much hotter. It was the first energy source for smelting, forming, and joining of metals including iron. It was the predecessor to coal and coke. Coke uses the same process on coal to produce a fuel hotter than coal. Charcoal was still a primary fuel in many areas even after 1900. It still the primary heating fuel in primitive areas today. If you are adding to soil you are adding pure carbon, one of the major building blocks of life. I am sure there is plenty of info on the web on making your own.

Ron

 

[Industrial Toys]

The article said something like a lump of charcoal has the area of a football field. I wonder if one could sell this stuff? But how to make it?

 

[Tractor Seabee]

It definitely has a market. Today for barbecue heat it is ground up and then formed into those little briquettes. Making it today for marketing; it is a computer controlled oven processing in large batches. The original process would not be cost effective except for a backyard project for your own use.

Ron

 

[forgeblast]

Building a small charcoal retort for making charcoal - YouTube

MIT D-Lab Publications | D-Lab

 

[dmccarty]

Charcoal goes way back in history much more than 2K years, more like 20K+. Ancient man figured out that biomass (wood) burned in the shortage of O2 consumed everything but the carbon element and that the resulting carbon fuel burned much hotter. ...
Ron

The people in the Amazon basin where using charcoal to add fertility to the soil. They would grind up the charcoal into little, itty, bitty, grit and work it into the soil. They are "mining" this old soil to this day because it is very fertile. One thought/theory is that the charcoal has lots of "area" which might hold water, nutrients, etc. I don't remember the article I read KNOWING why the charcoal made the soil so much more productive. It was interesting enough for me to try to figure out how to make lots of charcoal. Figured out that the best way for me to make charcoal was in my wood stove. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

We had at least one long discussion about charcoal and soil fertility on TBN years ago which might be interesting for someone to search for if they are interested.

Later,
Dan

 

[Industrial Toys]

Interesting videos. I'm getting excited about this. I have an old heating oil tank, and I would love to try and make a larger charcoal maker. It is fascinating that they use the gasification to heat the thing.

Does charcoal absorb water? In other words, does it have to be stored very dry?

 

[dsgsr]

http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=98745.0

David