/r/BioChar
For articles & discussions relating to biochar and its many benefits.
The Biochar Reddit
Biochar - charcoal used as a soil amendment. Biochar is a stable solid, rich in carbon, and can endure in soil for thousands of years. Like most charcoal, biochar is made from biomass via pyrolysis. Biochar is under investigation as an approach to carbon sequestration. Biochar thus has the potential to help mitigate climate change via carbon sequestration. Independently, biochar can increase soil fertility of acidic soils (low pH soils), increase agricultural productivity, and provide protection against some foliar and soil-borne diseases.
Terra preta - a type of very dark, fertile manmade (anthropogenic) soil found in the Amazon Basin. It is also known as "Amazonian dark earth" or "Indian black earth". In Portuguese its full name is terra preta do índio or terra preta de índio ("black soil of the Indian", "Indians' black earth"). Terra mulata ("mulatto earth") is lighter or brownish in color.
Terra preta owes its characteristic black color to its weathered charcoal content, and was made by adding a mixture of charcoal, bone, and manure to the otherwise relatively infertile Amazonian soil. A product of indigenous soil management and slash-and-char agriculture, the charcoal is very stable and remains in the soil for thousands of years, binding and retaining minerals and nutrients.
Slash-and-char - an alternative to slash-and-burn that has a lesser effect on the environment. It is the practice of charring the biomass resulting from the slashing, instead of burning it as in the slash-and-burn practice. The resulting residue matter charcoal can be utilized as biochar to improve the soil fertility.
Also see /r/BiocharVideos for videos on biochar
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Rice U scientists: Cooking temperature determines whether 'biochar' is boon or bane to soil
/r/BioChar
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Continuous feed flame-capped kiln
I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried this: what if your flame-capped kiln was a short trough, where you add feedstock at one end, and the other end feeds into a chute that goes into a bin of water? You shove stuff towards the chute as it pyrolyzes, then finally it goes down the chute for quenching.
03:13 UTC
How to check the BioChar if made properly ?
Hi, i made for the first time my biochar in my kon-tiki, but i do not know which kind of results i reach it. I followed each step in order to make it and now am wondering : how is it possible to check if i made a Good (or less) BioChar ? Thx
06:58 UTC
BioChar Stove Builders workbook finally released & available on Google Play Books
We're celebrating Earth Day (and workbook release) by Standing up to Climate Change with Carbon Negative outdoor Cooking while creating BioChar.
Build your own Estufa Finca Design 5 gallon BioChar Stove by following step by step photo instructions used in our in person workshops the past decade.
Workbook on Sale - Earth Day, April 22nd through May 1st 2023
This biochar stove works great as an efficient (virtually) smokeless fire pit or freestanding carbon-negative BBQ in your backyard or community garden WHILE creating biochar!
Using only dry wood waste as fuel, this clean-burning stove is great to have as a fire pit grill and to use for emergency preparedness. At the same time, this stove also creates biochar for long-term soil improvement, locks away carbon for thousands of years, and other environmental gains.
40% off Sale - Saturday, Apr 22nd – May 1st 2023
Use the ZRKTX0RB5R5CB code to get 40% discount for the first 1k BioCharStove Builders workbooks on Google Play Books before May 1st 2023.
https://play.google.com/redeem?code=ZRKTX0RB5R5CB
Please follow and join the BioChar Stove Builder community page and group for additional information.
22:02 UTC
How To Make Scrap Timber Into Inoculated Horticultural Charcoal - BioChar. Complete Process
A lovely overview video of a start-to-finish biochar process by a farmer who built his own processing equipment from scratch, including a railway and giant flywheel powered grinder.
14:49 UTC
Can bean juice ("aquafaba") be used to inoculate biochar?
I'm new to the biochar world. Tonight we made black beans in the Instant Pot, and I strained off several cups of "bean juice." Normally I'd feel bad about the waste and just pour it down the sink, but now I'm wondering if I could add that to our biochar instead.
I realize they're both alkaline, but I don't know if that would cause a problem.
02:08 UTC
Pupdate 4 new TBM pups in 100% Biochar
02:28 UTC
Charpolooza event in Utah next week 4/19/23
Hey All,
We have a really fantastic event next Wednesday at the Tooele landfill in Utah -- CHARPOLOOZA!
Featuring the CharBoss, Big Box Biochar, and Ring of Fire biochar production systems.
This will be rad. You get to see fire, biochar, and talk soil science with some big hitters in the space. We are arranging press interviews for those interested in such things.
Hope to see you there!
https://biochar-us.org/charpolooza-event-utah-april-2023 This link has the press release you can download.
- John
18:12 UTC
Labs for testing?
Can anyone recommend a good lab for getting my biochar tested? Preferably east coast but anywhere would be fine.
15:58 UTC
How long does charcoal last in the soil compared to biochar?
I'm wondering if I'm just wasting my time adding charcoal to my soil if it's all just going to be broken down by bacteria in a few years.
01:47 UTC
Propane tanks for biochar production
In many places there is an active push to switch homes away from propane and onto electricity as part of decarbonization. This potentially means that there will be a growing number of used propane tanks out there that nobody wants, and it might be interesting to think about how we can take advantage of that resource to increase biochar production. (Personally, I'm thinking about Hookway retorts.)
11:47 UTC