[Terrapreta] the scope of the problem

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi Geoff,

I heat my house with wood during the winter.  We burn ~10-12 full cords of oak logs each year.  That is about 20-25 tons green.  I estimate the moisture content at 40% when I get it, and 15% once I cut, split, and stack it for burning.  I always have 10-20 cords out in the yard, air drying for a year or so.  It takes my son Kevin and I about 6 weekends to cut and stack it.  I used to split it all by hand.  I was getting "splitter's elbow", so I broke down and bought a hydraulic splitter.  I have gone through one STIHL chainsaw in 6 years of burning wood to heat the house (and clearing trees on the property before we built our house), but I have cut and split well over 150 tons of wood tearing that saw up (shot main bearings).

Although I use wood (recycled "carbon-neutral" energy) to heat the house for 3.5-4 months a year, rather than natural gas (the rest of the year), it is reduced entirely to ash.  There is very little charcoal produced.  My family of 4 (like yours, 2 kids, me, and my wife) would need 16 tons of biomass (about 8 cords of oak @ $75/cord = $600) and then the pyrolysis unit to make the charcoal.  I might get some energy out of that charring process too, less than half what I get if I burned the wood completely.  I intend to try and capture and use that heat and exhaust fuel gases to supply heat and or some electric power.

I think you are right about using any or all available sources of waste carbonaceous materials: yard wastes, paper and cardboard, agricultural residues, etc.  I think the logical place to get enough biomass continuously, is to use non-food annual plant growth that would otherwise decay and emit as CO2 anyway.  This way, there will be no reduction in the amount of living plant biomass on the Earth, while we take 25 -50 billion tons of residues out of the recycled carbon stream (natural processes recycle 120 billion tons of biomass each year out of and back into the atmosphere every year).

I have built a pyrolysis reactor.  I intend to start making charcoal with wood chips first, then maybe get chipped wood from municipal green waste yards (free for the hauling).  Eventually, I will build a portable reactor that can make charcoal "in situ", where waste biomass grows, where it can be dried, and where charcoal applications can be made.

This year I will make at minimum 4 tons of charcoal for use in soil.

Regards,

SKB

Sean K. Barry
Principal Engineer/Owner
Troposphere Energy, LLC
11170 142nd St. N.
Stillwater, MN 55082-4797
(651)-285-0904 (Work/Cell)
(651)-351-0711 (Home/Fax)
sean.barry at juno.com<mailto:sean.barry at juno.com>
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: geoff moxham<mailto:teraniageoff at gmail.com> 
  To: Sean K. Barry<mailto:sean.barry at juno.com> 
  Cc: Terra Preta<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> 
  Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2008 10:07 PM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] the scope of the problem


  Hi Sean,
  ever since I heard your 1 ton initiative I liked it. In fact I just
  wrote about it (you were acknowledged) in my latest article in the
  local organic farmers rag, ... "Charcoal at the bottom of your garden,
  anyone?".

  I still try to figure out how I could possibly do it for my 2 kids as
  well. 12 tonne of dry wood is quite pile ... but only 3 x our normal
  yearly consumption, being off-greed-electrickery. It's definitely
  do-able, especially with stationary setups like Rob Windt's. I'd need
  a new chainsaw...

  What I've been looking at is all the other green waste and paper and
  card waste that is lost to CO2 in some way. I think there's a big
  opening there.
  And of course pulpmills. Just set up for it- BEST is starting there.
  . Swords into plough shares in the battle to help Gaia?
  Geoff TDH


   Everyone (all 6 billion of us) needs to sequester 1 ton of charcoal
  away every year for the rest of our lives.  The 1 ton initiative!

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