MAKING BIOCHAR: with Peter Hirst of New England Biochar
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- [See more on biochar & local food production: curiouslylocal.com ]
Peter Hirst (saltydog335@aol.com) brought his 70 gallon stainless steel biochar retort to Warner, NH and showed us how to burn 100 pounds of wood into 30 pounds of biochar. That's enough for a few beds in our garden after we grind it up and mix it with an equal amount of compost to innoculate the biochar with soil bacteria. But the biochar pioneers are scrambling to find economical and efficient furnaces that can produce tons of the material. Biochar was first discovered by Amazonian Indian societies a thousand years ago (terra preta), and rediscovered a decade or so ago by modern cultures desperate for ways to improve soil fertility. The new biochar retorts, such as this one that Peter demonstrates, burn biomass with high efficiency and also produce charcoal which can be added to soils, sequestering that carbon more or less permanently. The secret is wood gasification. For more curiously local perspectives, visit curiouslylocal.com
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Many thanks to Peter Hirst for a detailed and clear explanation of the process. Also thanks to the producer for freely bringing such an important subject to the masses.
Now I don`t know anything at all about the benefits for the soil, but as far as making charcoal, that is the most BRILLIANT thing I`ve ever seen! Not only perfectly clean with large results, but it`s also a lot faster! A lot cheaper! A lot tidier! How can you go wrong? So simple, and it burns up the tiny amount of fuel that you use completely, including the wood gas! I`m totally floored, and any future charcoal I make will be done using THIS method. Thank you!
I'm not sure I understand your question re. the inner drum, but it is filled with wood, the top is open (no lid) and then it is inverted in the larger drum. There is no seal. The wood gas is forced down the inner drum and out at the bottom, since the inner drum is simply resting, open, upside down, inside the larger drum. The wood gas ignites as it is drafted up the space between the outside and inside drum and contacts the burning twig-wood. George Packard
This is a spectacular video. My compliments too for demonstrating clean char production and discussing responsible application of char so as to not harm plants or soil. Yours is an example that all of us in the biochar community should follow. 5/5
This is the best biochar video I've seen so far, and I've watched dozens. Peter's system is efficient and simple in design. His explanation of how biochar works was very concise. I can't wait to get started this spring. My soil is clay, which naturally has pretty good C.E.C., but my particular soil is heavily compacted and has lost all of its structure from decades of cultivation. I think the addition of biochar will help restore tilth much more rapidly than just adding compost alone. Thanks!
Thanks for all the comments. Yes, it will work without insulation, but all factors must be perfect: particle size, moisture content etc: insulation gives more flexibility. Yes, smaller scale will work with just about any two cans that fit one inside the other with enough room for the starter. The smaller, the closer tolerances you are working to, however, and the less room for variation and error.
I've a catalogue (notice UK spelling?) of biochar videos off Yt, and this one nails it. So simple and clean. A note that I did pick up off researchers on this, is to use wood with an open vascular structure, ideally timbers in the poplar and willow species if your area is temperate. I suspect if the wet timber is comparatively light, it's a clue as to other viable genus e.g. Ailanthus, Catalpa, etc.
Inner can is 304 stainless drum, outside is a wax melting vessel, also stainless, from a candle factory. The stack is stainless Metalbestos, 8" ID. Use about a 95 gallon overpack drum for the outer can on a 55 to get the same ratio. The key to less fuel use is the insulation. We use 1" of ceramic blanket, avaialble from Ceramic Fiber Online. YOu will probably get better results from the unit you already have if you insulate it and make sure you have plenty of secondary air up high.
I adore the demonstration you've provided for developing biochar. I also like the fact that you're using a very low tech process that can be replicated around the world. In the near future, I would like to experiment with the creation of biochar, so that I can use it to create fertile nutrition soil. I also plan to re-share your video so that more people will know about your genius process. Thank you for inspiring us with your example.
THANKS,THE BEST VIDEO ON RUclips ON BIOCHAR/75 YR OLD GARDENER/BAMA
Fantastic: most informative biochar video I've seen on RUclips, this a true biochar process, not just a charcoal one. Lots of excellent information and appropriate caution.
Well, I've watched this video again after watching many on the same subject, and this is much clearer now, and so far the best and most exhaustive video. thanks.
Nat: Thanks so much for the comment. We intend to live up to the highest standards and are very grateful for support like yours in doing that.
I made about 15 gallons of bio char in a retort made of a 31 and a 20 gallon trash can and a 24 " stove pipe. There was only 2 1/2" - 3" space between the trash cans. On first attempt, I put pieces of wood in for fuel. It burned well, but for only about 1 hour. I checked the wood in the inner barrel and it had not charred at all, as I expected. So, I used BBQ charcoal for fuel. It burned two days. Some pieces of wood were too large and they did not fully become charcoal. Next time I will use thinner wood and I expect it to work well. Eventually, I would like to have a retort like the Peter Hirst has.
Thank you, the best video on biochar have seen so far.
I am also glad to see more use of the leaf pellet mix because it is a more sustainable fuel source that trees make every year
Thanks Peter.
Bravo! Well done. This is something that I can relate to. Practical and doable.
I'm charging my biochar using kind of a compost tea. I am getting HUGE yields off of my pear trees with zero fertilizer. I have made my compost bin designed so that the compost drippings drop down on the biochar and can be easily gotten to and replaced. I highly recommend you give it a try.
We've got to blacken the earth!
We grind to a range of particle size from fines (coarser than dust, more like fine sand) up to about 1/4 inch. Grinding to dust does not necessarily increase surface area, which is inherent in the microstructure. In fact, it probably reduces surface are by destroying the miscrostructure.
love the biochar theatre sign ... nice video
This is fantastic! Thank you very much for your contribution to gardening :)
Great video. I have wanted to do this for some time and now I feel I understand much better. Off to the scrap yard!
Brilliant video. I just wish your camera person would have let us see the size and frequency of the air holes at the bottom of the outside container.
Excellent video. I have referenced back to the contents of this presentation on my own biochar blog. I have a similar system (not sure georgpackard will agree!) that is able to produce 264 lb of charcoal per batch.
Peter and Bob have been developing a wide range of designs and sizes of biochar retorts, and yes, they build them themselves.
George
@opcn18 Thermal siphon or stack siphon is a descriptive term not meant to indicate that it is the same principle as with a liquid.
Thanks for the comment, and thanks to George Packard for his fine work. No website yet, but its coming soon.
@halfthemandan DOn't know the term "Vol-Can", but this vessel is a surplus wax vat from a candle factory. This was a one-off, and I wish I knew where to get more.
@Trapezoidal Not sure what you mean by "cleanliness of burning". DO you mean burning in the production of the char or in burning the char as fuel? In any event, we are not making char for fuel here. This is biochar, which is not to be burned, but added to the soil. For this we want as little as possible of combustibles other than elemental carbon left in the char. This maximizes its effectiveness in the soil.
If you want charcoal with that degree of absorbtion then you're looking for "activated charcoal"; which is typically treated with a strong acid or base (sometimes other chemicals) prior to being turned into charcoal.
They are complementary, not mutually exclusive. Hugelkultur is a form of composting, in which the carbon nutrients are consumed. Biochar is recalcitrant carbon, not consumed , but conserves nutrients produced by the organic material. Very different functions, although they go together.
Thanks for posting this. I'll be in touch
Tim Wilson
Sure, charcoal can be produced in lots of ways, simply by restricting the amount of oxygen that gets to the wood as it's burning. In this short movie I didn't have the space to include Peter's explanation about the fact that this method makes a much cleaner, less polluting burn by combusting the methane and other wood gases that are produced from the wood as it heats in the inner chamber. --george
Yes: we have used it successfully to filter pasture runoff and return nutrients to the veggie patch
yes seachar has a 5 gallon size stove that they make, I'm just starting to make the 3rd version of the stove. it can be seen here
SeaChar / Estufa Finca biochar stove demonstration.mpg
Nope: I'm talking about the char feedstock. Pellets are fine in a continuous feed or TLUD setup, but in this, a static batch retort, the gasses need to circulate, and they don't with the smaller particle size. Pellets dont get you to final char particle size in any case: it still needs to be granulated/pulverized.
There is negliglbe nitrogen in wood: it is overwhelmingly lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose -- carbohydrates. The mineral fraction, primarily in the bark, is preserved as ash. Optimal carbon application is about 8-10 percent dry mass basis
85 -90% C as amorphous graphene, 5% ash, 5% mobile hydrocarbons
redirecting the woodgas to augment the process on *itself is fantastic :)
your talking about the outer burn I'm talking about what can be made into bio char but that's ok. as long ago as i made this post I am seeing more and more people now making and using wood, wood/ leaf pellet mix and leaf pellets into the main unit to be made into char thats the right size to be mixed into their soils. and yes leaf pellets will also out gas.
The Adam-Retort, which I mention in the video, is the closest thing I know to a clean-burning closed retort using natural materials. A clean burn can also be achieved, however, in an open burn, using what we call a "Reed Pile" A limbwood rick burned top down produces char and burns surprisingly cleanly. Terra Preta may have been produced from such a burn, but we don't use it. Energy capture is a huge element of carbon negative potential of biochar.
Peter Hirst
New England Biochar
This is cool, what's the difference in this and japanese binchotan charcoal? I want to make my own binchotan charcoal. I know the stuff I want is oak, and it's usually small diameter stacked vertically or horizontally in a type of kiln. When the burn is over, the binchotan charcoal still looks like it's natural form, but sounds like glass chimes if you tap them together. It's burns very hot, very long, and no smoke. It's amazing stuff, yet rediculous in price. I want to learn to make my own.
Just wondering where that gigantic outer steel container was sourced!? This is a productive setup 👍
Thank You for the Video. I will put my new knowledge to very good use. Again Thank You. Regards, Barry.
Wow, mostly pure carbon, huh?
That's pretty sweet. I've learned a lot about this process since I first found out about it. Have you ever done anything other than wood? It seems to me you could pyrolise all kinds of organic garbage and even sewage and some plastics if you wanted.
If you keep piling on the biochar, will you eventually fry your plants? Is there a way to separate out the ash to avoid making the soil too alkaline?
Thanks for your response. This is fascinating stuff...
If the guy put some pink fiberglass insulation around it it would make a big mess, because it melts at about 900, and the outer barrel gets to abut 1200. The guy actually uses 1" of 2300 degree alumina silicate insulation.
-- The Guy
@icicicles Palm=>Face .
The force that runs the stack effect is gravity too, different temperatures cause differential gas expansion and differential density.
The water in the bucket vs. the air around it responds differently to gravity because they have different densities. The siphon effect is drawing dense water against the gravity gradient with a greater pull in the direction of gravity.
DeadlyDad: There are lots and lots of ways of making charcoal in a carbon friendly way...ie using the woodgas as secondary heat to reduce the organic matter to nearly pure carbon. But the issue with biochar is QUANTITY. Figure 10% by volume crushed charcoal to soil plus compost plus other added organic matter. . If you have a 1000 square foot garden, and you want to mix biochar into the top 1 foot of your beds.....hmmm. Peter is building units for big production. --George (film producer)
DeadlyDad: There are lots and lots of ways of making charcoal in a carbon friendly way...ie using the woodgas as secondary heat to reduce the organic matter to nearly pure carbon. But the issue with biochar is QUANTITY. Figure 10% by volume crushed charcoal to soil plus compost plus other added organic matter. . If you have a 1000 square foot garden, and you want to mix biochar into the top 1 foot of your beds.....hmmm. --George (film producer)
is it better to have it chunky,,,, or more powdey when adding to soil??? i'll be adding as topdressing,,,,, so i'm wondering if manually chrushing it into a more powdery finer substance would help get it into,under the soil?? or are chunks better???
I had another "silly idea"why not if you have one is used leaves and grass clippings in a pelleting machine and turn that into bio char?it would be a lot more dense in the burn barrel and the right size for the soil instead of having to break it up like the larger stuff here.seems like it would work and it is a renewable idea.
Other sources seem to claim that the natural antrhosols were made using cold charcoal as you want some of the gunk to remain in the wood - What advantage, other than its cleanliness of burning, is there to the higher temperature charcoal that this method produces?
Soil contains organic matter and nutrients, but doesn't necessarily conserve them: they leach out, mineralize, metabolize and oxidize. Biochar conserves nutrients in soil, and in the organic matter in soil by reduction of leaching, increased cation exchange capacity, and a bunch of other stuff that is under investigation. When terra preta was rediscovered in the Amazon basin a generation ago, it hadn't been supplemented in 400 years or so, but there it was, two to six feet deep and fertile .
I would like to know, what kind of material he is using for changing the classical dark smoke to clear gass. Very good video.
Its also made at a higher temperature, purer and more effective, not used for fuel
@MiguelAngelSF2010 The "material" is the secondary air added at the top of the burn. We do this with any material.
Good luck finding or making it! Let me know if you get it done.
George
@opcn18
A stack is a siphon because of a heat cold displacement. The same thing happens outside your window, it's called thermo drafting or weather.
As for the hole in the bottom of a bucket. Sitting on the ground, up right and no other variables. I'd say the force of energy is gravity.
Did he buy it somewhere or did he make it? I can weld, so I may try to put one of these together. Good point that it has to be treated before applying it to the soil.
@PsychoScientist007 clean/non chemically treated, non-citrus, hardwood ash, being alkaline & containing potassium, is perfect for mixing with bokashi (which is acidic, around 3-4pH) in order to raise it to a pH of 6.5 to 7 & then the bokashi can be fed directly to a worm farm as ready food!! otherwise, as george said, generally, it's a good alkalizer if you've got an acidic soil situation.
Can you provide more info on inoculation of biochar? Best practices, how long it should be inoculated before using in garden, etc.
Great video, thanks!
Mix Biochar 50/50 with organic compost and moisten and let it sit for two weeks. Keep it moist and turn it occasionally.
+Bill Karoly Thanks, I let it sit for two weeks.
Great vid !! But what do you do with the burnt wood stacked outside the inner barrel ? Do you mix it with the biochar? I would think that the chemical composition between the directly burnt wood and the biochar is different.
@saltydog335 well like i said it was an idea,but also the idea from what your doing is to pack or as i have seen in many other videos is to pack that center chamber as full as you can because it will lose mass when it out gases and turns to char.While true pelleting machines can be expensive initially i really dont see why pellets would be a bad idea because once heated up they would out gas like any other wood and still seem like they would be the right size for the ground
@whackitov You are overlooking one thing: The "natural cycle" does not include returning billion of tons of ancient carbon to the atmoshphere. As for carbon trading: my char is worth about 5 bucks a ton in carbon credits, Over 2000 in increased crop production.
@saltydog335 A thermosiphon is a siphon run on the stack effect, since this is just a stack and not a siphon that doesn't apply.
What about nitrogen and other non-carbon elements in the wood? Are these off-gassed as well, or do they stay in the chamber?
Is there a limit to how much graphite you can put on the plants, or any danger of harming them by doing so? Is it possible to separate the nitrogen from the pure carbon?... or is it even hot enough to make graphite?
I'd be curious to see a breakdown of the chemicals left in the barrel after processing.
@saltydog335 I mean the cleanliness of the gases coming off from making the biochar at a higher temperature as opposed to a lower one. The lower temperature char off gases dirtier, though correspondingly it maintains a lot more of its tarry, etc. compounds which are supposed to be a beneficial property of the char. How does creating the char at a higher temperature affect this? Is there a median between the two types which will be acceptably clean, though still hold onto a lot of the biogoop?
It can be used to cure disease in all biological systems, as well protect against future disease. THIS STUFF IS SO UNDERESTIMATED!
Great video thank you for the post, i was wondering where could i get more info on the large scale retort you mention at the end?
Actually Peter and Bob use a hi-tech hi-temp insulating material. Sorry, I don't know what it's called. You can email Peter to find out.
Hello, I built a smaller one and am building one of the same size of the vid now. What I havn`t found is what size the botton holes should be, please tell me what size you used.
Informative. Thanks for posting.
I'd like to make my own bbq charcoal without all the smoke and like the efficiency here.
Good stuff, thanks for the video!
Tappa: why don't you read my reply again? I said that pellets are fine in certain units, and I am well aware of all kinds that use pellets very successfully, at least technically, including a couple that I build: TLUDS, Imberts, continuous feed retorts, multiple hearths etc. All I said was not in a static retort. Another problem is cost. In bulk, pellets run around $150 - $200 per ton. That's a lot to pay for feedstock, especially when I get paid about $45 a ton to take feedstock.
ok a question maybe someone can answer, i am researching into designs people use , have idea in my head for that now. but question is when burning at higher temps used for proper bio char compared to charcoal, - can i still get wood vinegar from the high temp burns? or do i need to do low temp burns for vinegar production?
Thanks for making this *extremely* informative video. I was wondering if you could comment on how easy it would be to use the Aprovecho Institutional Rocket Stove (they have a video here; look for 'Institutional Stove (Factory in a Box)') design to generate biochar.
Great trick with the Chimney! Well done !
Is your carbon electrical conductive ?
Many thanks.
Regards, Stefan.
You would argue wrong. This is biochar alright. What you are talking about is activated carbon. Despite what you would think, activated carbon just doesn't work as biochar. Standard of the industry for biochar is carbonization at about 450 to 650 C. Activated carbon is much higher, and while the graphene structure is finer, it just doesn't work in the soil, never mind that it takes ten times the energy to make it and it is not carbon negative.
Could this char be used in a water filter system?
Thanks!
@Firefly804 SPecial tank adapted, but you can get overpack drums op to 110 gallons
this looks like some trailer park boys episode , love it great info.
@Helioforge DOn't know how your comment got flagged: its a good question. YOur video would benefit from showing the whole burn process, especially the beginning: toplighting is the key. ALso, when dousing an open burn, if you want to get the water effect, sprinkle, don't drown. Max temp and residence time in steam is what you are going for
I have a really "wild" idea,I don't know if it has ever been tried but couldn't a Fresnel lens be trained on the drum instead of burning to make the heat to make the char?like I said it's one of those silly ideas.
Is there a way to make biochar so that it doesn't produce any CO2, if the goal is primarily to sequester carbon?How much carbon is emitted with the system in the video and how much is converted to biochar?
Making biochar is carbon negative. One pound of charcoal contains 2 pounds of CO2. Since all the carbon in wood comes out of the air, releasing some of it back into the atmosphere is really not a problem. The net subtraction of CO2 is substantial.
Doesn't TLUD release much less CO2 into the atmosphere, than this kiln process, which requires straight burning (to ash?) of the wood fuel to provide heat, instead of relying on burning only pyrolysis gases to provide the heat?
Yes, but not that much less. Only the initial fuel needed to start the gasification process is burnt to ash.
There are a few videos that show how to heat a retort with a TLUD to get the best of both devices.
I prefer a TLUD or something like the Kon Tiki kiln, though I'm still trying to figure out the benefit of the sloped sides of the Kon Tiki versus simple vertical sides.
If the goal was to primarily sequester carbon, then keep the tree alive. It's pretty sequestered there. Bio-char is a fad for dirty hippies and delusional eco-terrorists to virtue signal to each other. Getting the tons of this shit out of the top-soil will be the next generations problem, just like getting carbon out of the air is ours; thanks to previous generations of easily duped, bleeding heart dimwits who went 'all in' on natural gas because you wouldn't have to cut down trees.
Research Grand solar minimum and forget about CO2 sequestering.
Also grow trees.
Oh ok. Thankyou much.
Psychoscientist007-- there is very little ash left after the primary kindling burns down...the conventional use for ash in gardens is to help lower the pH of acid soils. --George
@icicicles If a stack is a siphon then so is a hole in the bottom of a bucket full of water.
The bits of wood and twigs in the outer barrel all burn down to ash...that's what starts the heating process.
When you were describing the "Benefits" of the Old School "Mound" Method, you forgot to include, "Plus, that smoke is just LOADED with ALL the Yummy Carcinogens!"
Great
Would a rectangle shaped TLUD would be efficient? I am curious...
@opcn18
Yes it is, it's called thermo drafting.
@tappakeggaday1
Far from silly, Fresnel lens would work but there is the cycle of the Earth you have to keep up with, so experment with that and let us know what you come up with.
@ Timrowe7
I would like to see what your continuous flow system looks like and how it works.
This is to amend my previous comment after collecting more information. Biochar is charcoal, but it's more specialler so it was given a gooder name, cuz scientificlike buzzwords are cool and stuff. What is described here is a faster and more efficient method of producing charcoal. That's a good thing.
3 hours is to complete cool down. Char is done in about an hour
5 stars (very clean and well explained)
the inner can is put upside down.
Is it just sealed with his original top or you added other component for a better sealed (but not perfect to let the dangerous gas to go out ) ?
There is no top.
All the Side-by-Side tests that I have seen or done myself with biochar OR charcoal show reduced plant growth due to the charcoal sucking nutrients/chemicals out of the soil, just like it does in a fish tank or an overdose victim when they pump the charcoal into their stomach to remove them. I have seen MUCH better results from spreading RAW wood sawdust/mulch/leaves on the ground and letting them decompose naturally. Have you tried a comparison with this or did you just start throwing biochar everywhere in your growing area?
Before using the biochar, either add it to a compost pile, soak it in compost tea, or 'charge' it with nutrients first. What you observed was the initial 'charging' process. The largest difference between leaf litter and surface compost is that this carbon and nutrition will cycle through the soil over a few years. Carbon sequestered in biochar remains for 1000 or more years.
RechargeableLithium I will give it a try and see how it works. I wonder how soaking it in used fish water with high ammonia or nitrates might work.
+descargaelbano Im a newby with using bio char. I made about 15 gal of bio char, soaked it in water, added azomite (rock dust), and fish fertilizer, letting it sit for 4 days, then adding compost and worm castings at a ratio of 10:1, also letting sit for 4 days. John Kohler says if not inoculated, as I am doing, and bio char is put into your garden soil, it will suck up all the nutrients. So yes, it can be detrimental if not used correctly. Oh, I also added worm pee to the bio char, about 1 part to 10 parts water. Good luck.
+Thomas Gard Where do you get worm pee? ;))
descargaelbano 00
Peter, will it still work without the insulated sleeve?