Comments on: Biochar: Make It or Buy It?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 01:05:13 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Tom. I haven’t done any more research on biochar since I posted in 2009, so it is always helpful when visitors add to the store of knowledge. I checked out the site you recommended and thought it was well put together and offered a lot of useful information. In particular, I thought the videos that demonstrate how to make biochar out of scrap wood were quite useful.

By: Tom Wilkinson

Tom Wilkinson — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:23:20 +0000

For a thorough and ongoing in-depth discussion of this subject I recommend the website http://michiganbiochar.com by an actual producer of biochar in substantial quantities, and the owner, Mark Sisson has plans for ramping up production in 2012.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 01:26:06 +0000

Hi Becky,

Semantics aside, I think what you are making is traditional charcoal, which is the same as Biochar, as long as it is used for a soil amendment and not to cook food with. I’m no expert in making charcoal – you’re better than I! I’m glad you found my post, with its links, of some use. If you find information that you think may be useful to others, feel free to comment again.

By: Becky Burnham

Becky Burnham — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 23:47:27 +0000

Hi Jeff!

I’d actually have to disagree with you on your definition of Biochar. According to the International Biochar Initiative, you may be correct, but the Biochar I’ve worked with is actually different than charcoal in a way. “My” Biochar is made with very little oxygen in a closed oven during the burning process. This produces a slow-burning charcoal different from typical charcoal. Whether or not it affects soil differently than normal charcoal I do not know, but it releases less CO2 into the atmosphere when burned and is therefore more sustainable to make than regular charcoal.

It may be prudent to call my version of Biochar something other than “Biochar” if there is already an official definition of the word, but I’ll leave aside the semantic discussion for now.

Thanks for the information!

By: jonah levine

jonah levine — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:23:12 +0000

You can get biochar from Biochar Engineering Corp., based in Golden, Colorado. You can find us online at:www.biocharengineering.com

Thanks,

Jonah

By: Ginger

Ginger — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:54:53 +0000

Hi Jeff! Occasionally last winter I needed to give the kids an opportunity to do something dangerous and productive. After reading about biochar in Mother Earth, I let them gather prunings and blown down branches and then burn them in some of our garden beds. Seemed like a win-win. We’ll see what the longterm results yield. I think I understood the method to involve letting the burnt mass smoulder, not burn out. We are just trying to figure it out as we go along.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:36:53 +0000

Hi Mark,

Those are some really interesting links! I’ll have to look at them in more detail when I have some time. Yes, you had told me about the Open Source tractor before, but I wasn’t aware of these links – there is just so much information out there and only 24 hours in the day! That’s why it is so nice to have multiple minds and eyes out there sorting through all of the information for information worth pursuing! Thanks for the contribution!

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:32:53 +0000

Biochar is really just a new word for charcoal. I surmise that because charcoal has coal in it (I wasn’t aware of that until I did the research for the post) that the new word was invented to reflect that biochar is what is also called “lump charcoal” and that it is used not for smelting iron or heating or cooking but as a soil amendment. Thus “bio” + “char”. When biomass is burned in the open air, most of it is reduced to ash, which obviously is not the same as char. While ash is a good fertilizer, it is not the same as biochar. When I have the time, I’ll create another post that goes into what to do with the biochar once it is in hand.

By: Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:31:54 +0000

Hi Jeff,

Have I told you about the Factor E Farm project before? These folks are developing an open-source farm–all of the tools necessary to build a resilient community free online to be used and modified. They already have plans for a tractor and compressed earth block maker and are working on sawmills, solar generators, and biofuel systems. I follow their blog regularly at http://openfarmtech.org/weblog

Here is their wiki entry on biochar: http://openfarmtech.org/index.php?title=Biochar. I’m going to add a link to this page to it to get your info and the VA Tech and other links from the comments.

By: chris

chris — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:04:34 +0000

Gardeners and farmers sometimes burn over areas for planting. Is this creating bio-char? I burned a big brush pile on my garden last winter. I’d cut down some little wild cherry trees that were threatening to shade the veg. It felt wasteful to send all that energy into the air. The potatoes growing over that area are the biggest. Most of the biomass around here goes to compost or the wood stove. Interesting topic, thanks.