[Terrapreta] Vinegar

[bakaryjatta]

Dear Kevin, Mark, Gerrit,

Dr A D Karve mentioned vinegar as a good feed stock for a biogas digester. 
It feeds the soil organisms  that are contained in the digester some of 
which produce the methane gas. The effluent proves to be great in a 
symbiotic relationship with plant roots resulting in increased  crop 
production.

My hunch is that the India work, reported by Gerrit does something similar 
in more direct way than using the digester for multiplication of soil 
organisms.

Vinager as a by-product of making char and all the other ingredients added 
in the process probably give an explosive growth of beneficial soil 
organisms. The extraction of methane gas is the step skipped. The digester 
operates in an anaerobic environment. During the char producing phase there 
would be a low oxygen phase I suppose. As soon as the bed is disturbed 
aerobic conditon would be restored.

Even if I am not correct in my hunch, it appears we have found out about 
another way to attain the goal of sequestering CO2 and increasing food 
production as well.

That's greatly encouraging.

Warm regards,

Bakary Jatta

Responding to:.

> Message: 8
> Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:48:36 -0300
> From: Kevin Chisholm <kchisholm at ca.inter.net>
> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Vinegar
> To: mark at ludlow.com
> Cc: 'Terrapreta' <terrapreta at bioenergylists.org>
> Message-ID: <47ECF734.6070608 at ca.inter.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Dear Mark
>
> Mark Ludlow wrote:
>> List:
>>
>> I realize that acetic acid is a distillate of pyrolysis but the Japanese 
>> Web
>> Pages concerning the skid-mounted charcoal systems imply that condensing 
>> the
>> pyrolysis gases yields some very useful or beneficial distillates. Isn't
>> there also a condensation of long-chain hydrocarbons as well as, 
>> possibly,
>> some aromatics, that really aren't that beneficial to Living Things?
>>
>
> Very good points!! However, "long chain hydrocarbons" per se are not a
> problem... lignin is an extremely long chained hydrocarbon. The problem
> is "killer compounds", whatever they are, and what they kill.
>
> I don't know what kills what, but it is conceivable that "low
> temperature tars and pyrolysis products" could  kill organisms that were
> harmful to plant life and that "high temperature tars and pyrolysis
> products" would kill off beneficial organisms.
>
> Japanese work, work in Indonesia(?) as reported by Roger Samson, and the
> India Work reported by Gerrit suggests that such "low temperature
> pyrolysis products" can indeed be beneficial to growth. On the other
> hand, creosote (high temperature pyrolysis products) have been used to
> extend rot resistance of fence posts, suggesting that they contain
> compounds that interfere with breakdown of vegetative matter. It may be
> that there is an "important reaction temperature", below which the
> results are beneficial, and above which, they start to become detrimental
>
> I find the India Work, as reported by Gerrit
> (http://www.annadana.com/actu/new_news.cgi?id_news=159) to be extremely
> interesting and important! They have developed an "Agricultural
> Practise" that is "culturally appropriate". More specifically, they
> worked with the resources available (basic knowledge and local material
> resources) and the existing culture (eg, making use of pots that would
> be disposed of anyway), to solve a local problem that needed solving.
> They got a real and palpable result to reward their efforts, ensuring
> that they will continue the practise after teh Developers are gone.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Kevin
>> Mark
>