[Terrapreta] SIMPLE CHARCOAL PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES

[Richard Haard]

thank you gerald - Helpful at moment as I am planning to make some  
charcoal, later this spring.

I want to make it similar to our top draft earth covered pile of last  
year where we pyrolysed about 1.5 cords in one burn ( after 3 tries).   
This season I will do the same with a stainless restaurant hood that  
will let me stack about 1 cord. This year I have a endless supply of  
pallet boards cut to length by a local recycling company. There is a  
lot of oak and tropical hardwood so will make high quality charcoal.

I think where I am going with my idea this year is similar to the New  
Hampshire kiln, ie an appliance that can be lifted off with the  
tractor. I do not think it is necessary to do the elaborate welding  
for this bottom draft system as if there was a bottom segment that the  
hood sat on such as a berm  of soil, then the drafts could be dug in  
where needed. I think there also should be some holes made  in the  
hood with 1" pipes for management of combustion air.

The Montserratian 'coal' pit is interesting because it has  
indeterminate length. I think a hybrid of this idea with a top draft  
system is where I am going . A small  tractor/bucket can easily scale  
this to any size for infield work.

My observation is that the stacking method and allowing for  
circulation of hot gasses inside the pile is important. We used  
pallets for base on a series of channels dug for circulation. We had  
considerable contamination with soil from our earth covered pile that  
came mainly with pile unloading. I think movable and easily  
transportable panels up against a layer of wet cardboard then hay  
would be the ticket.

Rich


On Mar 22, 2008, at 6:08 AM, Gerald Van Koeverden wrote:

> For those considering building their own small-scale charcoal  
> makers, here's a comprehensive VITA publication comparing 5  
> different charcoal production technologies.
>
> Gerrit
>
> "COMPARING SIMPLE CHARCOAL PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE CARIBBEAN"
>
> Appendixes
>
> I. Construction and use of carbonizing techniques
> Montserration coal pit
> 3-pipe Mini CUSAB kiln
> Montserratian kiln
> Tongan kiln
> New Hampshire (Black Rock) kiln
> Jamaican retort with tar condenser
> Jamaican retort with gas ports
>
> II. Relative efficiency testing procedures for charcoal kilns
>
> III. Charcoal kiln test data sheet
>
> IV. Species of wood commonly used in charcoal production
>
> Bibliography
>
>
>
> http://www.cd3wd.com/CD3WD_40/VITA/CHARCPRD/EN/CHARCPRD.HTM
> _______________________________________________
> Terrapreta mailing list
> Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biochar/
> http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org
> http://info.bioenergylists.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /attachments/20080322/aa83f98e/attachment.html