Experimental Kon-Tiki 'Essential' system

Features

• Food and medicine for People and Planet with a broken climate system - this idea is a 'Sustainable Adaptation' option...variations on the theme are out there - this one is my pick for 2024
• suitable for small-scale pot (fabric from hemp or recycled plastic) trials (Zone 1) or Agroforestry/'Food Forest' pits and swales (Zone 2+)
• pump free system
• could be used standalone or with an integrated app and CRM
• water conservation with water reuse. After quench and pH adjustment, a 20L stainless bucket with stainless mesh on top can be used for easy water removal without the biochar. The water is then bucketed into an IBC. For the next burn, some of this 'smoke water' could be reused in the quench. Probably a better use of the 'smoke water' is to irrigate seedlings (promotes growth).
• 2FA with photos and thermocouple thermometer for an app eg.The Biochar App for integration with a Carbon Removal Marketplace for extra cash via award of Carbon credits. Optional QR coded bags which are good for a business but not practical for a small and non-commercial operation
• higher surface area after milling for higher adsorption of microbes, nutrients and minerals on the biochar surface
• cool microbial inoculation which will increase survival rate of the microbes
• easy to measure quantities of microbes (eg.Popul8), nutrients and minerals (eg.liquid sea kelp, rock dust etc.) in the 100L stainless stockpot eg.fill up stockpot to 80L mark with biochar, calculate volumes of additional ingredients per litre of biochar then add and stir in. If adding microbes, I'd give it a couple of days. No products are wasted.
• multiple stockpot units could be used for larger quantities and less down time during inoculation and charging. Alternatively, 200L PE barrels eg.pickle (top screw-in lid), ethanol (cut longitudinally in half - I will also use one of these, leftover from my Permachar Kitchen Garden)
• easy handling of the stockpot (more difficult with barrels plus more plastic and even more difficult with IBCs and more plastic though can be done with smaller volumes and a bit of muscle - better emptied with 2 people)
• easy to clean stockpot between batches of inoculation and charging
• 40% biochar in the Permafert - roughly the sweet spot for biochar application in agriculture and horticulture though needs more field testing. This ratio can be played with depending on what soil is available and what plants are grown.
• the advantage of adding some soil (20%) is local microbiology/'Soil food web' and clay. It also bulks out the mix and is closer to Terra Preta than a soil-free system such as 'Compochar' which is more suitable for a continuous pyrolysis kiln system and very poor soils. I've come across a couple of operations that are using 1:1 biochar:manure for 'fertiliser' successfully though I'm unsure what ratio of the 'fertiliser' they are adding to soil, which will probably vary.
• As per usual, the Permafert will be mixed in a midden then applied to Zai pits and swales