[Terrapreta] FW: Simple charcoal kiln

[folke Günther]

There is a wide demand for charcoal kilns to be used by anybody having an
allotment or garden sized  plot. The idea of making char of surplus biomass
instead of firing it is widely spread in Latin America (and Japan?). Burning
the pyrolysis gasses instead of emitting them makes the method comparatively
safe, although not efficient regarding their potential utilisation of
gasses.
I agree that his is a very  small scale method, bu imagine 2 billion people
having it, making 1 kg char a week for their lots. That would imply about
0.1 Gt annually, or 5% of what would be necessary to sequester for making a
change. 
Naturally, this is not the method to save the world from entering a tipping
point, but it could well be of some help.
Besides, making 50 kg of char annually, would certainly make a change for
the production form a normal sized allotment, certainly so if you go on for
several years.

I don't agree that using barrels for making char automatically would imply
methane emissions. That must certainly be a consideration depending of the
charring method, not the material used.

http://picasaweb.google.se/folkeg/TheSimplestOfTheSimple

YS
FG

2008/4/27 Sean K. Barry <sean.barry at juno.com>:

Dear Erin,

 

Thank you for this posting.  Making charcoal simply is an objective of this
group.  Making charcoal in a "retort" that is made from a couple of
interleaved barrels is simple, yes.  But, it is somewhat inefficient, can
only make small amounts of charcoal at a time, and it quite easily can vent
more destructive green house gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere, than could ever
be sequestered, even it all of the charcoal were buried.  This has been
discussed here before.  The archives have plenty of references to "charcoal
in a barrel" kilns.

 

Although making some charcoal in this way, in order to study
"charcoal-in-soil" applications, for instance, is not a problem per se, this
is not the way we would want to make large amounts of charcoal for use in
developing Terra Preta soils on a widespread basis.  Many in this group
would believe, though, that to solve the problems of world food production
and combat Global Climate Change, using the development of Terra Preta soils
will require vast amounts of charcoal.  It would not be good to make vast
amounts of charcoal in simple, polluting, inefficient charcoal in a barrel"
retorts.

 

Still, making charcoal can be much cleaner, more efficient and still simple.
It's just that this is not done in "open" or "semi-open"  barrels.

 

Regards,

 

SKB

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Erin Rasmussen <mailto:erin at trmiles.com>  

To: 'terrapreta' <mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org>  

Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2008 12:04 PM

Subject: [Terrapreta] FW: Simple charcoal kiln

 

rescued from the spam filter. :) 


  _____  


From: folke Günther [mailto:folkeg at gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 2:46 PM
To: terrapreta
Subject: Simple charcoal kiln

A wonderfully simple method for making charcoal at home or on the allotment.

http://picasaweb.google.se/folkeg/TheSimplestOfTheSimple

-- 
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Folke Günther
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224 73 Lund
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Phone: +46 (0)46 141429
Cell: +46 (0)709 710306
URL: http://www.holon.se/folke

BLOG: http://folkegunther.blogspot.com/
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Folke Günther
Kollegievägen 19
224 73 Lund
Sweden
Phone: +46 (0)46 141429
Cell: +46 (0)709 710306
URL: http://www.holon.se/folke
BLOG: http://folkegunther.blogspot.com/ 

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