Biochar out of palm fronds?

I’m new to owning land, so I haven’t yet tried my hand out in making biochar yet, but I’d like to use it as a soil amendment in my sandy semi arid climate soil. It’s a steppe region so not much woody material around until I start getting some pioneer trees going but that’ll take a while. A few hours away is a desert oasis where deglet nour date palms are grown in huge monocultures. Every year farmers burn tons and tons of the dried fronds to get rid of them. If I manage to get a truckload and control burn them in a pit with a top down fire, could this potentially make some good biochar? Any tips with this particular material?
The other option could be to run them through a chipper for mulch but I’d like to add some of the benefits to biochar to my fast draining soil too.

These bottom fronds are cut as they dry out and are replaced with new fronds on top

Sounds like a great idea. Win-win.  Many people use different types of vegetation in places where there aren't many trees: Sugar can bagasse, bamboo, corn cobs, and I'm sure palm fronds would work.  I would just make sure to dry them out a bit to increase the chances of efficient burning.  

John S
PDX OR

I am sure you can make some awesome char!

But I suspect these materials will burn fast. The challenge will be to tamp down the coals very quickly, so you get char instead of ashes.

I use fan palm fronds as kindling to get a burn going and also as "flame recovery" when too much wood gets put on top and things get smoky. Palm fronds make excellent biochar, just keep them from burning too fast as Douglas mentions. Using a pit is a good idea, so all you need to do is keep active flame across the top to prevent the embers below from turning to ash.

Date palms are pretty spiky down toward the base, so you're going to want good gloves and safety gear. Depending on the size of your pit, you may find that cutting them in half makes them easier to handle and lay in the fire.

Getting biochar into sandy soil is a game changer for water retention. If you can show the local growers how to do this, you might make a lot of converts!

Phil Stevens wrote:I use fan palm fronds as kindling to get a burn going and also as "flame recovery" when too much wood gets put on top and things get smoky. Palm fronds make excellent biochar, just keep them from burning too fast as Douglas mentions. Using a pit is a good idea, so all you need to do is keep active flame across the top to prevent the embers below from turning to ash.

Date palms are pretty spiky down toward the base, so you're going to want good gloves and safety gear. Depending on the size of your pit, you may find that cutting them in half makes them easier to handle and lay in the fire.

Getting biochar into sandy soil is a game changer for water retention. If you can show the local growers how to do this, you might make a lot of converts!

That would be ideal! Do you recommend a deeper pit or a wider pit for more likely success? I would think deeper will give better top down burn but also limit control/visualization to what’s happening at the base of the fire. Also I’ve mostly seen videos of people putting out the fire with water. Could I pour sand onto it in order to put it out, to save water ?