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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm AT bellsouth.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture AT lists.ibiblio.org>, Appropriate Technology <approtech AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [approtech] [permaculture] Fwd: Biochar
  • Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:56:07 -0500

On 11/15/2011 12:48 AM, christopher nesbitt wrote:
Lawrence,

Thats absolutely not true. Biochar is about making heat from
pyrolysis, heating biomas to get the biomas to off gas, burning in a
non oxygen environment. The heated gasses can then be burned, and the
heat from that be used for things that we need heat for, cooking,
space heating, water heating, running a sterling engine, etc. The
"bad" gases are burned off, and what is left behind is the carbon,
which has a lot of surface area for your soil bacteria and fungi. Its
like an apartment building for mocrorganisms, and greatly aids in
fertility. The carbon applied to the soil is very stable, and will be
effectively removed from the atmosphere for a long time.

I agree.

I was simply referring to the tendency of industry to compromise quality and safety in favor of big profits from converting questionable biomass material, possibly industrial waste of some kind into biochar,
selling it for as much as possible and wussing out if it results in pollution affecting end user or the environment. Don't know what materials these might be but with a little research you might find materials that might be otherwise be landfilled or stored on site somewhere long term resulting in offsite pollution...

Can municipal waste, i.e. garbage, paper, cardboard, landscape trimmings, leaves and the like be processed into biochar then used alongside mulch and compost, also produced in municipal or county landfills, in municipal, county, state and federal landscape plantings in parks, along highways and around buildings?

I am a big advocate of making and using biochar as long as it is done
using processes that recycle most or all the flammable gases and emits little or no smoke; this for the sake of the person making the biochar as well as for everyone else downwind and the environment. Of course uncountable numbers of wood stoves are used each year, most of which pollute. Still, it would be good to set a precedent by promoting clean biochar making from the start. So, are there homebrew stoves that can 1) produce space heat when needed 2) cook food or heat water 3) make biochar. Seems water heating and biochar making could go hand in hand,
using water heating coils with storage in tanks overhead by convestion;
gravity flow for deliver when and where needed.

Biochar is a miracle material but making it is no trivial matter.

LL

We are working on developing a home stove at low cost for families
who burn wood for cooking here in southern Belize. This is an
alternative for rural people who cannot afford the natural
gas/propane/butane/fossil fuel that people in more developed
countries use. We have a design that uses a 55 gallon drum and a
welded old propane tank. Total cost? About USD75, less than the price
of two full tanks of propane, and it gives heat for cooking, has
fairly complete combustion, and leaves us with carbon to bury in the
soil. This is not an industrial byproduct, or a way to make money. It
is a way for small farmers to improve their soils while sequestering
carbon (generated in natural gas/propane/butane/fossil fuel run
stoves, for example), while getting the heat they need to do their
cooking.

Again, I suggest anyone considering the merits, or lack of, of
biochar, to read Albert Bates book, "The Biochar Solution". That is
one way to become an informed person on the subject.

Christopher



On Nov 14, 2011, at 11:01 PM, Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:

On 11/14/2011 5:31 PM, John D'hondt wrote:

They don't yet know how it works? But they are already telling
everybody how to make it? Burning the planet to cool it? If it
were not for the very name which comes under the heading of
"new-speak" in Brave New World more people might wonder if it
worked at all as do I. Bio means life and char means coal and
freedom is slavery and war is peace.

Its all about using an industrial (probably wasteful and polluting
processes) byproduct to create another product to market for high
dollar.

It does not make any sense to char biomass to make charcoal that
then must be pulverized and field spread (often using fossil fuel)
when all that needs to be done is to allow weeds to control weeds,
crimp or roll them to make a semi living mulch that controls weeds,
adds seeds and organic matter to soil to increase OM and eventually
humus while significantly building soil quality and productive
capacity.

Thumbs up for notill agriculture (and minimum till).

LL _______________________________________________ permaculture
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_____________________________ Christopher Nesbitt

Maya Mountain Research Farm San Pedro Columbia, Toledo PO 153 Punta
Gorda Town, Toledo BELIZE, Central America

www.mmrfbz.org



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  • Re: [approtech] [permaculture] Fwd: Biochar, Lawrence F. London, Jr., 11/17/2011

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