3 pronged strategy for 'Appropriate Carbon Removal Technology' (ACRT)

Definition of 'Appropriate Carbon Removal Technology' (ACRT)
- technology that meets apptech criteria for the 'Age of Biochar' 
    - affordable 
    - accessible (more local, less global supply chains)
    - easy to operate 
    - design principles eg. Modular, scalable, durable/rugged, solid state, ideally electronics free/minimal 'green' electronics, lightweight etc.
    - built with
        - green materials eg. 'Greener steel'
        - unpowered/low powered electric tools, powered with renewable energy 
    - artisanal OR industrial OR artisanal AND industrial scales/type of manufacturing

- 'Carbon Removal in a Cascade of Uses' (CRCU) then removes Carbon permanently (Biochar meeting 'Inertinite Benchmark' of Random reflectance (Ro)>2% for a half life of 100 million years) ending up in a permanent C sink

3 pronged ACRT strategy 
1. very small to small scale  
    - TLUDs  
      - Navigator 'Light' V2 TLUD (see 'Navigator Stove (NS)' page). Great for trekking or alternatively an OTS 'Toaks' Titanium 'Backpacker' stove (which I discovered after designing an almost identical stove, the Navigator 'Backup' V4 TLUD, without a separate fuel canister, which was based on dims from V1, V2 and V3 and the 'Tread Lightly' TLUD)
         - Navigator 'Adapt' V2 TLUD (see 'Navigator 'Adapt' TLUD' web page). DIY and OTS.  This could be complementary for some scenarios to an electric 'Health Pot' (see next blog 'Health Pot')
        - FabStove (Dr TLUD and collaborator)  
        - 'Champion-2008', by Dr TLUD
        - Navigator 'Awesome' V2 TLUD (see 'Bush Survival System' page). More energy efficient than electrical appliances for slow cooking eg.soups, stews, biryani etc. or large volumes of water for pasteurization eg. 15L stainless stockpot. Can also combine with a Bakerstone pizza oven or even a BBQ griddle/grill

        - There's also a minimal biochar option, using a 20 litre stainless bucket with an OTS 40cm round heavy duty wire BBQ grill on top for a stovetop using environmental fuel in cases where there is a sustainable amount available eg. many desert areas in the Oz 'Outback'. The bucket serves as a heat shield, wind shield and stovetop support. It's also good fire safety. For pots or pans wider than the top diameter of the bucket, a wok ring can be placed on top of the grill and used. After a fire, the bucket could be inverted and placed over the remaining hot coals to starve them of Oxygen and put the fire out (no soil quench needed) and could be left overnight. The bucket and grill could be combined with a Navigator burner and biomass pellets for areas with no/minimal environmental fuel for a smokeless fire that produces biochar. Once again, the bucket could be inverted over the biochar pellets and left overnight.
       
2. small to medium scale  (all using 'Flame Cap' operating software)
 - 'Pyramid BBQ Classic' (see 'Resources' page). Versatile firepit, stovetop, BBQ, biochar kiln, herb dryer and more...
 - Kon-Tiki 'Essential' (KTE) biochar kiln, co-designed with Dr Paul Taylor (see  'Kon-Tiki 'Essential' (KTE) biochar kiln' web page). Water conservation/reuse, possible in-kiln biochar inoculation (I generally use separate inoculation after biochar milling for more surface area), optional drain.  
    - other Kon-Tiki cone kilns eg. 1.65m deep cone kiln, by Dr Paul Taylor (or others inspired by Dr Paul Taylor and Hans-Peter Schmidt, co-originators of the flame cap software and K-T cone kilns)  
    - 'Ring of fire' tube kiln by Kelpie Wilson. Good for sloping ground, hard ground, forestry and more...
    - Flame Cap 'Algorithm' V2 (DIY) or V3 (industrial) Panel Kiln. The original/first version was co-designed with Dr TLUD (see 'Flame Cap 'Algorithm' Panel Kiln' web page) which I added 'U legs' to after the consult. Water conservation/reuse or in-kiln biochar inoculation not possible BUT more scalable than K-Ts (though additional units eg.1.2m can be added) with unlimited expansion adding more pairs of side panels to increase the kiln volume to match the feedstock amount/volume. Logistically, easier to move around than most K-Ts, with horizontal panel stacking (V2) or vertical panel stacking (V3) that nests panels on pallets or horizontal panel stacking on ute/truck trays or 4x6+ trailers. Definitely less feedstock processing than the K-T. Perfect for bamboo. Can still be water quenched but ideally soil quenched with biochar left on the field/forest for use ('In Situ Resource Utilisation'/ISRU). Still at concept stage but hoping to prototype in 2026 if I can get 'pre-seed funding'
    - Flame Cap 'Obtainium' (coined by Dr TLUD)/'whatever you can get' Panel Kilns (first one in Kenya, using corrugated iron sheets, with subsequent variations like my 'Flame Cap 'Corrugated Box' Panel Kiln' (see web page) and 'U' shaped ones like my own variation in 2024 (on the same web page) and the 'U-TROF' (TM) by Dr TLUD and Daniel Velasquez which I suppose you could call a hybrid trough and panel kiln). However, need to seriously look at air quality WHS for some types of roofing steel/sheets eg. Zinc Alume...

3. medium to large scale
- For industrial scale biomass waste streams eg. agricultural (wheat, rice, sorghum straw etc.), council green waste, exhausted grape marc at centralised processing facilities, saw dust (pellets), rice husk (pellets) etc. medium to large scale biochar kilns need to be matched to the feedstock volumes and type. Bioelectricity is also an option too (with panel kilns being the exception), complementary to big batteries and can earn some CDR credits.
    - Made in Oz

    For ag, forestry, agroforestry and hort biomass waste
        - LONG flame cap panel kilns (eg. Flame Cap 'Algorithm' V3 Panel Kiln - if the prototyping is successful)
        - Energy Farmers Australia pyrolysis system
        - Rainbow Bee Eater 'ECHO2'
        - Batch Charmaker  
        - Charmaker CPP200, CPP500, CPP1000, CP2000  
        - Metamorf Engineering 'Charcell' 3 and 4

     - Made elsewhere 
        - many

    For plastic

        - 'Resynergi'/other MAP modules for plastic waste management/pyrolysis ->ULSD, plastic monomers, plastic char-> advanced Carbon materials eg. Graphene

               - there's also a bioelectricity possibility with a Stirling Engine for self-powered module and excess electricity to the grid

               - there's also a GaN possibility for highly granular/tunable MAP

    For electronics

        - steam activated bamboo biochar for battery and supercap anodes ('Algorithm' V3 or Charcell 3 or 4 possibility) AKA graphite disrupter (and that's even before Mn MOFs) 

    For multiple products eg. pharmaceutical, food, energy, biochar etc.

        - Microalgae biorefinery->biomass waste->biomass pellets->biochar and bioelectricity ( see 'Microalgae for an industrial desert ecology' blog)

Ideally, CDR credits could be earned at all scales of biochar production. It get's trickier when you go from larger to smaller scales (more difficult to quantify/measure and verify) but not out of the question. Planboo have pretty much perfected a dMRV for small to medium scale biochar production, mainly using Kon-Tiki cone kilns as the kiln of choice. I've given up on my dMRV for the 'Algorithm' (totally underresourced) but I am hoping that once I go from prototype to commercial stage, I'll be able to integrate Planboo's dMRV to the tech. I should also mention that the Planboo dMRV is locked in with puro.earth and CSI, both very respectable operations. 

I think the 'Biochar Revolution' is just starting to get fired up considering it's enormous potential to cool the Planet with a growing global awareness around ACRT, the biochar material itself and it's many applications.

Happy New Year for 2026!