permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Jul 5, 2016 at 1:12 AM, Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>
wrote:

> It’s important to generate it as a by product, and not cut down trees or
> other biomass simply to turn it into biochar.


Without cutting down trees just to make biochar, production of this
valuable soil amendment would ideally be a standard industrial process
using existing
equipment and skilled operators. Take a look at the charcoal briquet (or
natural charred wood pieces, i.e. natural, no additives) industry. In
addition to making grill fuel they could divert raw materials to make
biochar and do so without adding any special ingredients, just the wood
byproduct they use for briquets. It could be part of the briquet making
process in that waste heat could jumpstart the biochar production followed
by wood gas fueling the kiln. With well designed machinery this could be a
really eficient process making a superior produce. The biochar could be
pulverized and bagged. Biochar powder would be easier to package with bags
less prone to damage. Powdered biochar would be an order of magnitude
better than lump biochar. Gardeners could then make their own blends for a
variety of uses, seed starting, nursery potting soil (less irrigation of
stock needed in drought = less plant losses). mix with rock dust + compost
+ manure  + rock phosphate, greensand, azomite and if needed aragonite/high
calcium lime/pulverized seashells/oyster shell/dolomitic lime.
I would imagine there is plenty of wood byproduct feeding the charcoal
briquet industry. Diverting some of that would mean having a product to
sell that would generate significant profit for them. What if they made a
deal with local rock quarries for some of their rock dust to add to their
biochar for a mineral rich soil amendment. I bet it would quickly become a
big seller for garden centers, box stores, farm supply chains and local
vendors plus farmers buying it in tractor trailer sized qualtities. I would
imagine organic fertilizer manufacturers like Fertrell and Espoma and
others might want to add biochar to some of their fertilizer mixes.
What an opportunity for everyone, win-win.

LL


-- 
Lawrence F. London
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
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