Anyone making Biochar with THIN material?

If someone's already covered this, please redirect me... I'm not finding info here or YT.

Anyone making biochar with No logs or branches (maybe twigs).  

Instead Using:
-Dry dead Grasses
-All those dry dead standing woody field plants
-Mainly the above, but other possibilities: woody seed pods i.e. Sweetgum Spiky Seed Balls...

Benefits?:
-Less time/energy needed to convert than thick wood.
-No work required to crush (already small or crumbles easily)
-Much easier to stuff container full with flexible material (no cutting to fit needed)

I've only made a 2-gallon pot-full I cooked inside my wood-stove.   Done in a few minutes!   But interested in much larger amounts, and wondering if barrel drum is way to go, or can be done in open pit (maybe if burnt over water-pit that helped extinguish quickly).   I'd imagine an enclosed method is best for thin materials (as they'd burn to ash more quickly).

-Dug Pit (metal walls?)
-Single-Barrel (light, burn, smother with lid or water?)
-Double-Barrels (most efficient?)
-Kiln (to airy for thin stuff?)
-?

Here's another idea: Load the thin material first in the bottom, and burn some thicker sticks on top until its down (burning sticks use all oxygen, keeping thinner stuff from burning to ash?)

Like to keep it simple.
Expect to prep/dry material as much as possible in advance.
Also priority that smoke be minimal as possible.


Heh, BTW those Sweetgum Spiky Seedpods seem made to be charcoal.  Both Charcoal and Sweetgum pods already have a lot of surface area... Together!!?!  



Thankya!

Artists use charcoal made from very thin willow and grape vine. I have seen plenty of videos or tutorials online that show how that process is done (DIY artists drawing charcoal). You could use that approach and try it with the materials you have in mind since the end product is essentially the same (except that want the charcoal to have more structural integrity if you want to use it to draw so it probably requires more delicate handling to get the long pieces you want).

Here's a video, using corn stalks and husks, with the goal of making briquettes, but the charring method could be the same:

I haven't personally, but I see folks around here making coal out of rice hulls. I assume they're doing it for biochar, but I haven't asked. In a lot of ways it's an ideal material since it's already tiny, but the burns always seem pretty smokey to me.

There are lots of invasive vines on my property. They are either too thorny or easy to propagate by stem cuttings so composting is not a good choice. I like to pile them up and burn for biochar. The resulting chars are very fine in texture and require no further crushing.
Here is my old post: webpage

Kenneth, that video is great!
It's not unlike a sawdust stove in that:
-It's contained in a cylinder.
-Lit from the bottom
-They leave a "chimney" in the center.

The briquette making is pretty neat as well.

I've been thinking of making biochar from moss. We have tons and tons on our land, and it grows like mad in our humid climate. Did anyone try? Not sphagnum/peat moss, just forest floor species...

I would consider the damage removing that moss could cause to the soil ecosystem it is protecting, improving and helping hydrate. Most mosses absorb immense amounts of winter rain and what runs off is fertilized with plant available nutrients for the plants shading and protecting it. Many mosses are being destructively harvested for florists and landscapers, or just trampled or destroyed by deforestation. It would seem a waste to remove something improving soil ecology already in the name of biochar.

Kenneth Elwell wrote:Here's a video, using corn stalks and husks, with the goal of making briquettes, but the charring method could be the same...

Good video. Though I chafe a little at the gleeful attitude that this is some magical new thing that has been discovered. But I accept that it's meant to help, and a win is a win.

Minor grump: nobody is wearing gloves or using implements to handle materials, sharp metal, or hot objects. Injury hazards aplenty!

Some more ideas:

-If a machine could be made that as it drove across a field would turn all the dead weeds/grass into char.  Maybe it would lower a dome-like shape into the ground (to regulate the air) and char it without ashing it.

-How THIN material compares to wood chunks in any of the large biochar reactors.  Process giant haybales?

-Can we send all the train cars loaded with coal to the farm fields instead of the power plants?   I want to power plants in the gardens instead

Well, thanks for all your replies, guess I have some experimenting to do myself.

Ben Zumeta wrote:I would consider the damage removing that moss could cause to the soil ecosystem it is protecting, improving and helping hydrate. Most mosses absorb immense amounts of winter rain and what runs off is fertilized with plant available nutrients for the plants shading and protecting it. Many mosses are being destructively harvested for florists and landscapers, or just trampled or destroyed by deforestation. It would seem a waste to remove something improving soil ecology already in the name of biochar.

I wouldn't remove big continuous pieces, but rather a small spot here and there, like a fistful in each place with plenty of space in between, so it doesn't take too long to form a continuous layer again. I am aware of the importance of mosses to the ecology (Besides the hydrology, I've heard that the most common species around here also acts as a nitrogen fixer!) and I definitely don't want to do this large-scale. Mainly just wondered if it's possible...

Trench method works great with thin stuf. Just chop it a bit and add continously so it dont go to ash.