[Terrapreta] Making charcoal well isn't easy

[Sean K. Barry]

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Hi Kurt,

Okay, I'll bite.  I do not have any pictures of the barrel I used to make charcoal.  I used it only twice, probably a year and a half ago, in the early fall of 2006, I think it was.  I was not impressed with the outcome.  I threw the charcoal onto the ground in the woods around my house.  Here are some pictures of that (taken roughly in the spring/summer of 2007).

      <http://photos.msn.com/Viewing/Album.aspx?PST=8nK2AN1B!1LmPLmC9HXTY9LVsn5oiMLNcNwcDMLfTqIuEnpbvEec8dhZA8yWE02H5PKRt6xPNeYs4UCHiladRA%24%24> 
     
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I did rake some charcoal out of the outside wood burning boiler, too.  It is mixed in with the charcoal from the barrel.  I do not as yet have a garden.  I seem busy enough without gardening.  Most of these sites where I dumped the charcoal are now covered in gravel, which was laid down under a pole barn I am building since last fall.

The 55 gallon (200 liter) barrel I used to make charcoal had a lid with a "stack" on it, some holes at the bottom around the sides and some holes at the top of the barrel, again around the sides.  I'll get some pictures of it for you when I get home.  I am, as is very usual working out of town, about 150 miles north in Baxter, MN at Silent Power, a company that makes Power Inverters/Battery Chargers.

When I used this open barrel method to make charcoal is when it came to my attention that making charcoal in an open barrel was kind of a stupid way to do it, because lots of CH4 is emitted, most all of the usable heat is lost, and the yield, probably less than 20% by weight (I didn't measure it), is poor and unpredictable.  The off gases did not burn but were combustible.  THis may have had to do with the air flow into the top or the "Stack" or the lid.  I don't know.  But it bothered me that it failed so miserably, so, as I said, I only used it a couple of times and made like two half wheel barrels full of charcoal with it.

Since then I have embarked on building what I think will be a better "pyrolysis reactor", where I can control the air flow in, the gas flow out, and perhaps improve the yield or control the qualities of the charcoal better.  I do not have lots of money.  I do have to do paid work otherwise, and so the project goes somewhat slowly.  But, there is progress.

None of this is very impressive, I know.  So kick me.  I do spend much time reading from all kinds of sources and repeating only some (badly cited, of course) of what I read on this site.  It only comes off, apparently, as from an armchair theorizing, pontificating, hysterical person, anyways, right?  I'll shut up.  No one listens to what I have to say or wants to anyway, right?  I generally get more doubts about my veracity and insults than any other discussion on any points ... or, even better ... silence.

I had previously dragged this topic "offline" because the "Subject: Question for Sean" does not seem like a valid ON LINE topic for the forum.  But you insist.  I think it is because you wish to make a mockery out of me.  This is a typical response.

Keep slayin 'em, Kurt!


Regards,

SKB

P.S. Note the complete trimming of the thread under this posting, Kurt.  I do it for you, because although contempt can run both ways and I do not care one wit about the cost of your internet link, I have some hope that respecting your wishes and statements might net the same from any of you.
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