Farm-scale biochar production equipment from that land of Oz.
Farm Scale Biochar Production Technology in the US has been a bit hard to find if you want something more than a typical TLUD (top lit updraft). (Although I was happy to see this current kickstarter looking for funding to build an interesting model!) I’ve read about different technologies available in Australia so I was really happy to get a chance to see some of these up close or at least talk to some of the developers of certain units. Here is a quick glance at a few of the options from down under.
Big & Little Roo – I saw both of these in operation at the Living Community Festival. The Little Roo is a nifty little machine that can be placed over biomass such as a bale of straw. After carbonization the machine is lifted and the biomass quenched with a hose. Big Roo can char a whole lot more biomass which is put into what is basically a metal cage then inserted into a closed environment. Bamboo, coco nuts and more where carbonized in under 2 hours and then quenched with a hose when charring was complete. There looks to be lots of controls for temperature on this machine.
The Kon-Tiki Tas is a variation on the Japanese cone Kiln as well as a variation on the Kon-Tiki Kiln which has been developed by the Ithaka Institute (full disclosure and happy confession – I work with/for Ithaka!). This kiln is an open fire burning process which allows for easy charring of feedstocks which can sometimes be difficult to handle such as vineyard waste or gorse, a prickly evergreen shrub which is hugely invasive and now covers more than 100K hectares on Tasmania alone and is generally just burned in situ (more on that topic in a future post). After charring, the burn is quenched from below which makes for a very efficient dousing. The quench water, which has a high pH, can be saved and used on fields.
The other two units pictured were not at the conference due to the long distance, but I had chats with the developers about them. James Joyce is the brain behind BIGchar, made by Black Is Green, and Euan Beaumont talked to me about his mobile unit called the Puffing Billy. Both look to be efficient ways for farmers to upcycle underutilized biomass and turn it in to biochar. Not only does this help create closed loop biochar production and use scenarios, but they would definitely help make biochar more affordable and attractive to the agricultural community. More win-finity!
