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W. Bogale, Published in the Ethiopian Journal of Education and Sciences, Vol 5, No 1 (2010)

Mr. Bogale has been working in Ethiopia, and has developed a carbonizer that would allow a small land-holder to make charcoal out of agricultural residues and then dry and package that charcoal either for their own use, or for sale.

His paper has a very good table that helps make the case for the carbonizer, extruder system and it is available online through African Journals Online:
http://www.ajol.info/index.php/ejesc/article/view/56314

the abstract:
Abstract

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From DrReddystoves
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This is a very simple Biochar TLUD kiln recently designed for Sarada Mutt (Holy Mother) named as HOLY MOTHER BIOCHAR KILN http://biocharkiln.blogspot.com/, at Almora, Uttarakhand, India. Bricks and clay is used in the construction. This is a TLUD kiln. The biomass is to be added continuously as the fire continuous. The person adding the biomass to the kiln should be cautious and also use a long stick to keep away from the fire while adding the biomass. The primay air source at the bottom should be open as long as biomass is being added. As the biomass pyrolysis happens it occupies less space and more biomass can be added. It is convenient to operate during calm days i.e., less windy days. As the biomass reaches the level just below the secondary air, the process of adding the biomass should be stopped. The primary air inlet should be closed completely. After waiting for some time water should be sprinkled to extinguish the embers (quench). The biochar can be collected immediately or after some time. This is the simplest of the process of using the wasted / waste biomass to convert into biochar. Here pine needles are used for converting into biochar. Pine needles management is a big task in these parts of Himalayas, as often they lead to forest fires destroying many trees.

Holy Mother Biochar Kiln - Design by Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy, declared as Open Knowledge / OHANDA
http://okgeo.org | http://ohanda.org

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Hugh McLaughlin, PhD, PE, Alterna Biocarbon Inc.

As the world of biochar expands, the need for definitive research to answer core questions grows. One such question is “What is the role of adsorption and when does it make a pivotal difference in growing situations?” Answering those questions has been hampered by the historical absence of adsorption as a monitored property in soils and soil components (as compared to CEC) and the lack of a reliable method to create low and high adsorption biochars. While there is little that can be done about the former situation, the later may have a fairly facile solution, which will be presented here.

Biochar can be chunky like torrified wood, but it can also be light and fluffy, and difficult to work into the soil without blowing all over the place. Simply adding water to it doesn't help, as it tends to float at the to of the water and that can make it even more difficult to work with.

The soils I work with tend to have a fair amount of clay in them, and I've found that mixing the dry, fluffy biochar with a relatively small amount of muddy clay helps binds the char into a more manageable muddy mix that you can then evenly mix with compost and your other soil components when either side dressing or building planting mix with char integrated in it.Sports Shoes | Nike Dunk Low Disrupt Pale Ivory - Grailify

Biochar Production and Uses is the presentation to discover the uses of Biochar as soil amendment and other uses.

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See the all new 2012 instructions attached:
http://www.biochar.bioenergylists.org/files/ican_weber_conversion.pdf

Jock Gill, It's Summer!

See the attached pdf file for printable Char-B-Que Instructions in Gorgeous Full Color Detail!

Hugh McLaughlin, July 2010

This is a nice series on growing your food "close to home" which also features Hugh Mclaughlin giving a nice presentation about making biochar and incorporating it into your garden.

Grow More Closer to Home, produced by Barry Hollister

For the complete list of shows, go to the Berkshire Harmonly YouTube page:
http://www.youtube.com/user/BerkshireHarmony

See the Making Biochar video here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/BerkshireHarmony#p/u/1/COPqvVH7jiw

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Rob Lerner, May, 2010

From Rob's Biochar Blog: http://biocharlog.blogspot.com/
Also take a look at his Captioned Slideshow: http://picasaweb.google.com/bajarob/RockinRocketRetort#.


From Magh Biochar Retort 2

Magh Bichar retort - 1 is a simple low-cost biochar making retort. In this design a two hundred liter steel drum is used. The top and bottom portions of the drum were cut open. One of the lids is used for covering the open side. The biomass is dumped into the drum and lit at the top and more biomass is added while it is still lit to fill it up to the brim. In TLUD condition the flame continuous. After some time the intensity of the flames lessen. Now the lid is placed over the flames and using soil the lid is sealed, so that no smoke is seen leaking out. Now the smoke appears at the pipe, which is attached through a connecting pit at the bottom of the drum. Leave it for more than 12 hours. The biochar continues to form and also the retort cools down. This second situation is the downdraft condition.

Note: Precaution should be taken to keep oneself as far as possible from the flames. The efficient production of the biochar also depends on the producers experience. For more details see http://maghbiocharretort.blogspot.com/

Magh Biochar Retort is demonstrated to the community under the GSBC Project. GEO is implementing the project with support of GoodPlanet, France.

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Tom Miles, Kelpie Wilson

The kids are so enthusiastic about doing these projects. They love the hands on aspects and the team work in problem solving. Their teacher, Darlyn Wendlandt does a wonderful job of involving them. Darlyn and I will be writing this up for Green Teacher magazine. I will also be presenting this work at the upcoming USBI conference and hopefully at the IBI conference in Brazil in September.

The report will also cover a biochar education project I am doing at an elementary school. One part of this project is making a tin can TLUD that I designed to be made using only simple hand tools. Inspired by designs from Hugh McLaughlin and Christa Roth. You can find a 6 page illustrated guide to making the stove at my website www.greenyourhead.com. This is where I post all my biochar project reports. Here's the link to the stove instructions:

http://www.greenyourhead.com/2010/04/the-dome-school-stove.html

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