[Terrapreta] Economics of biochar

[AJH]

On Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:11:57 +0000, AJH wrote:

>On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 23:22:59 +0000, AJH wrote:
>
>>not really because you are dealing with mixtures, there's been a
>>recent posting on [stoves] suggesting C3H8O3 is a better model for the
>>global equation.
>
>Sorry I mistyped that it should be C5H8O3

I'll have to correct that again, the formula was derived from the
ratio C H1.4 O0.59 N0.017 which Ray Desrosiers had derived from
analysing and averaging a number of types of Biomass, Tom Reed then
rounded this down to C H1.4 O0.6 and to make it easier to view
converted this to integer values for the molecules and 5 is the
multiplier to give this. So the a nearer idealised "monomer" for
biomass would be:

C5H7O3

In practice this means little to char making.

I've been extracting cordwood to kiln side today for a local charcoal
burner. He tells me he does have a sale for his fines and it goes to
the horticultural market, the 20mm and down is used for "aerial"
orchid growing, which I take is some sort of flower basket, the
smaller 12mm and down is used for a general orchid growth medium and
the dust is incorporated into general compost. As long as the plants
and containers were never burned why shouldn't this attract a carbon
credit?

AJH