Lump Charcoal Fines:
Do they have a place?
Mike Urban Biochar Merchants
US Biochar Conference2012
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Chars resulting from primitive means of charcoal production
Lump Charcoal Fines
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Charcoal fines produced from kiln production
Lump Charcoal Fines
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Small fines (by-product) resulting from mass production of grilling, lump charcoal.
Lump Charcoal Fines
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What would happen if………….
I’m just
sayin………
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Death Valley, CA
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Missouri kiln
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What’s right with them?
They’re completely legal
Lump Charcoal Fines
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What’s right with them?
They’re abundant
Lump Charcoal Fines
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What’s right with them?
They can be screened for finite sized fines
Lump Charcoal Fines
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What’s right with them?
They’re inexpensive (except for the freight)
Lump Charcoal Fines
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What’s right with them?
Successful in use by green roof architects
Lump Charcoal Fines
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What’s right with them?
Successful in Orchid mixes
Lump Charcoal Fines
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What’s right with them?
Successful in raised beds
Lump Charcoal Fines
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What’s right with them?
Lightens soils by improving tilth
Lump Charcoal Fines
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Tilth Creates pathways for moisture, roots, worms, microorganisms
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Where I live the soil is either clay or sand. Its all clay if the property was developed in the past 30 years – leaving most people with clay.
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This year the clay has been as hard as cement since early June. An hour of sprinkling wets it to a depth of 1” – except where char is present.
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Mesquite ProductionSonora Desert, Mexico
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Mesquite Production
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Mesquite Production
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Mesquite is a renewable resource of the Sonora Desert.
Charcoal from Mesquite
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It’s a shrub.
When harvested, suckers replace the branches that are cut.
Suckers develop into branches and are cut again.
Charcoal from Mesquite
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It’s a rare, desert cash crop.
Charcoal from Mesquite
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Some say……………
Charcoal from Mesquite
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It is planted by the government of Mexico.
Its exportation is taxed.
Charcoal from Mesquite
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This material is a by-product of grilling charcoal production.
Charcoal Fines
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It would exist whether or not someone used it in their garden
Charcoal Fines
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We re-cycle carbon when we use it
Charcoal Fines
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There is a significant concern with air pollution by charcoal producers.
Lump Charcoal Fines
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Top lit updraft (TLUD) biochar stove
Popular methods of char production don’t make any effort at capture and re-use of off-gases.
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Pollution
Described romantically as one of the stages in the
magic of making biochar
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Some designs either don’t capture
off-gases or offer options for capturing them.
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Another concern with lump char…………….
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Mobile Matter
Or Volatile Matter (VM)
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defined mobile matter in his article:
The Basics of Biochar; A Natural Soil Amendment
Joshia Hunt U of Hawaii
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Mobile Matter
• …..“tars, resins and other short-lived substances”….
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Mobile Matter
“…..short-lived”….
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Mobile Matter
Results from low temperature production
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Low Temperature
Desirable in grilling charcoal
Helps it burn
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Mobile Matter
Can effect soils by capturing nitrogen and depriving the plants the char is intended to benefit.
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“Mobile matter can block porosity and initial adsorption
but (it) is highly susceptible to biological decay,
which can mitigate those effects”
Joshia Hunt
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“ ……….highly susceptible”….to decay,”
Joshia Hunt says mobile matter is…
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Can block porosity and initial adsorption
IF MOBILE MATTER
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Mobile matter is removed by biological decay?
? WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
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Director of Biocarbon Research at Alterna Biocarbon
Taken from Hugh’s work “All Biochars are not created equal and how to tell them apart”
Hugh McLaughlin
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“ elevated amounts of mobile matter (found in lump charcoal fines) are likely to disappear in the first growing season.”
Taken from Hugh’s work “All Biochars are not created equal and how to tell them apart”
Hugh says
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Pre-treatment of chars by different means including in the compost bin, will mitigate impact of mobile matter impact
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Chairman; Markets and Business Committee2010 US BiocharConference, at Iowa State University
Eco Technologies Group Technical AdvisorWell known biochar raconteur and The Black
Swan of Biochar, he has used it with success in his landscaping business
Erich Knight
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“ I’ve seen studies where high mobile matter holds back benefits in the first year…………...”
Erich Knight
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but he didn’t say
“its been my experience”
Erich Knight
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“biochar additions to soils seem most forgiving”
Erich Knight
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“Cowboy charcoal outperformed the (designer biochar) in the 2009 Rodale trials”*
(*conducted by Erich) in 2009”
Erich Knight
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Mobile Matter, once eliminated by decayLeaves the biochar we so seek
CONCLUSIONS
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But the Rodale trials demonstrated that mobile matter
was not a factor.
CONCLUSIONS
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If the char is pre-treated or inoculated these detrimental effects (if there are any) may be
eliminated before they reach the soil
CONCLUSIONS
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All biochars are not created equal……
CONCLUSIONS
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Or if the material is introduced to the soil in the fall and can rest in situ until planting
season
CONCLUSIONS
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Or if the material has been in the compost bin/heap
CONCLUSIONS
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What remains when the mobile matter has decayed???????
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Just this……………..
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Albert Bates
Taken from his article “Home-Scale Biochar” that appeared in the March/April issue of BackHome Magazine
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Albert Bates
“…….charcoal, (is) something that has been used on tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetable crops with good effect since at least the 18th century………..”
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Albert Bates
While he distinguishes charcoal from biochar as
material produced as biochar as its primary purpose.
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Albert Bates
but still observes that the old time chars had
a ‘good effect’.
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These fellows probably took some to put on their home gardens.
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horticultural charcoal
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What name should we give the small fines remaining when lump char is produced?
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BIOCHAR
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“A rose by any other name…………..”
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Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater
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The Rodney Dangerfield of the biochar ‘space’….......
Lump Charcoal Fines
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”I don’t get no respect”
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We can pretend they aren’t there.
Lump Charcoal Fines
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We could protest their existence – like whaling.
Lump Charcoal Fines
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In frank discussions with Hugh and Jonah – the message I get is this:
Its good to know what you have – just don’t present it as something its not……..
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they could be boycotted.
Lump Charcoal Fines
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Instead…………………….And in answer to the question do they have a
place?
Lump Charcoal Fines
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Yes: and that place is in the garden!
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Thank you
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Questions?
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Where did this material come from?
Partially burned biomass may have been created by accident because the feedstock was wet (rainforest) and the fire was quenched (rain) before it turned to ash.
Terra Preta
The resulting char ended up in the soil and the soil was strengthened and the process was repeated year after year.
Terra Preta