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Post by oxbowfarm on Sept 8, 2012 14:32:55 GMT -5
That's backwards. The traditional method of obtaining quicklime from lime is to burn the lime in a kiln CaCO3 + HEAT --> CaO + CO2. Then they slaked the quicklime in water CaO + H2O = Ca(OH)2. Then you use the slaked lime Ca(OH)2 for all the various purposes it had historically and currently, paint, plaster, mortar ect. It converts back to lime in contact with air Ca(OH)2 + CO2 = CaCO3 + H2O. Not that any of this chemistry matters for your pile, I assume you are just doing it for the calcium?
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Post by petitvilaincanard on Sept 9, 2012 8:08:09 GMT -5
I dunno,
wikipedia sais that carbonate becomes CaO at 825°C 1517°F
My heap is supposed to heat below 300°C maybe a bit more but the goal is to stay as close to 200°C as possible.
I want the tar oils and such to be absorbed by the clay and the lime to form some kind of complex.
There I see some advantage of quicklime,it becomes a very smooth emulsion and maybe will participate better in making the "clay calcium carbon complex"
Anyhow,to know exactly what's happening in the heap would require extensive scientific research.
My approach is more kind of intuitif,
Finally,what matters is what will do it to my soil and my plants.
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Post by erich on Sept 10, 2012 2:24:18 GMT -5
I landed the opening speakers slot at the third US Biochar conference, 2012 Sonoma Biochar Conference 2012 US Biochar Conference | Building Soil - Redirecting Carbon www.2012.biochar.us.com/My talk and slides are actually listed as the closing session, with no projector at the outdoor opening ceremony. One of the main focuses are the new applications for Biochar as a feed ration for livestock and aquaculture. Hold onto your hats as you view the slides of shrimp twice their normal size, make sure you're sitting down reading about the Europeans closing the nutrient loop on the farm while curing chronic botulism in cattle and eliminating all odor from manure. "Carbon Conservation for Home, Health, Energy & Climate"2012.biochar.us.com/299/2012-us-biochar-conference-presentationsstay seated for the cutting edge Big dog, Elephant in the room, at the Sonoma Biochar conference; CoolPlanet Energy Systems. In a nutshell, they have such control over carbon bonding in their thermal conversion process, they can squeeze out 75 gallons of bio- gasoline and 1/3 ton of Biochar from one ton of biomass.Their tag line; "The more you Drive… The Cleaner the Atmosphere". They state their production cost at $1.25/gallon, they turn a dial and can produce $2/gallon jet fuel. I can hear you saying this is too good to be true, however Google, GE, BP and Conoco believe it is true. CoolPlanet Biofuel's CEO Explains his energy cycle:www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkYVlZ9v_0oThis all leaves me very optimistic, for the CEO and Google share the same ethos, farm scale skid mounted reactors will be the first to production next year. This farmer friendly, scalable reactor, they plan to deploy at the village scale in the Third World and at the farmer scale here. Their reactor demo reactor is producing 50 K gallons of bio gasoline per year, the pilot scale reactor under construction will produce 2,000,000 gallons/year, the farm scale unit assembly-line will open doors next year with a planned run of 100 K units. I believe this technology will allow the American public to have their carbon free energy lunch without paying a premium for it. If it's good enough for Google.... It's Good Enough for me. Cheers, Erich Erich J. Knight Shenandoah Gardens 1047 Dave Berry Rd. McGaheysville, VA. 22840 540-289-9750 |
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Post by mountaindweller on Sept 12, 2012 21:59:58 GMT -5
I read only through parts of the thread, it's so long..
I use Sepp Holzers method to build huegelbeds, that means woody material on the bottom.
I get this material delivered for free, but it is an endless work to cut it up by hand.
Somehow I could maybe combine these two methods, not the woody stuff up and piling grass and dirt on the top of it and burning the whole lot. Would this green stuff burn at all? Why is woodash used, and in large quantities isn't it too alkaline? Isn't it a fire hazard?
I could either have an extra pile to create the wood ash or pile up directly the bed and burn this.
I get different materials, but mostly twigs with leaves on them.
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Post by 12540dumont on Sept 13, 2012 21:50:45 GMT -5
This summer we stopped buying charcoal and started using hardwood (from old fruit trees) to make our own.
Simply, I put the shells of dry beans or the husks and cobs of corn in the Webber. I stack hardwood on top and left over bones and fire it up. I cook dinner and then shut down the holes.
The next day I dump the remaining charcoal in a 5 gallon bucket and set it out strategically at the farm. The boys and men on the farm urinate in it. After 3 days, I dump it out on a 25' row. (Urine & Charcoal & bones). I finish the row days later. (Depends on when we BBQ). I'm progressing down the field. Leo will till it under in the early fall and I'll plant favas in it. We'll see what the soil's like next year in these spots.
At the very least, I've dwindled the wood pile, stopped purchasing charcoal, found a way to get rid of bones and put the urine to good use and none of it cost any money...except the meat!
This is where I plan to start the orchard next Spring.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2013 22:31:14 GMT -5
I thought these documentaries were pretty picturesque, but would compare my results to homemade perlite. I felt that it aerates the soil, which would be useful, where it would tend to be stagnant or swampy. I'm thinking of those jungle-type places, rainforests. But, this was not helpful, where it is more arid and windy.
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Post by petitvilaincanard on Jan 5, 2013 14:32:35 GMT -5
I thought these documentaries were pretty picturesque, but would compare my results to homemade perlite. I felt that it aerates the soil, which would be useful, where it would tend to be stagnant or swampy. I'm thinking of those jungle-type places, rainforests. But, this was not helpful, where it is more arid and windy. can you tell more about your homemade perlite ? |
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Post by synergy on Oct 7, 2019 9:43:59 GMT -5
I moved to a new location in a forested valley in coastal BC and trying to establish a garden here it dawned on me that since I have vast amounts of deadfall I need to burn and a penchant for weiner roasts , that I would make small controllable campfires in my garden area to try to burn both weeds, brambles and stumps of trees and it occurred to me that maybe terra preta was the result of a similar need to both cook or smoke foods and try to tame wet rainforest just as I am , by making these small fires so I can work some gardening space ? Being in heavily forested lands, we are very careful not to burn in the dry season, so perhaps the rainy season climate has something to do with the nature of terra preta, that fires are made to cook but extinguished thereafter with rainfall ? Or are deliberately smoldering to smoke foods for preservation ?
Today I have a chared spot in my garden and I wait for a drier day to now double dig the remaining charred wood in and burn another area that has blackberry bramble and needs to be weeded, fire will give me a bit more of a fighting chance with less aches and pains in my middle age and being the fairer sex ( ha ha ha ) I am looking for the easy way to tame this garden spot .
I have been away from this forum for four years as I moved to a new location with much work to make it livable and apparently in the duration I have been elevated to being a " Master Gardener" which is laughable at best , I definitely struggle with it and have to learn anew as I am in a less ideal, low light , heavy rain, northern location .
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