In the above system, there are only two mechanical moving parts, powered with bioenergy - the crank handle and augur attached on the grinder. The blade on the grinder is self-sharpening. The rest is solid state. There are also no electronics used. The only electronics would be the use of a smartphone (billions of people have them) with an infrared camera (used in many industries) for the proposed interface at the bottom of the page.

The finely ground biochar has a higher surface area (on the nanoscale) than biochar pellets which more effectively controls the odour of the piss both in the piss bucket and barrel compared to biochar pellets and presumably charges a larger amount of Nitrogen too. The rainfall and piss in the barrel will dilute the sea kelp over time (and can be topped up once in a while) and the microbial colonies will keep expanding into additional water from the piss bucket and rainfall and colonise the fine biochar - a very efficient use of microbes. The additional fine biochar added to the Permafert surface during irrigation will provide slow release nutrients and minerals, microbes and microbe housing and water conservation (with a higher Water Holding Capacity than scarce Sphagnum moss).

This system should hopefully build a diverse 'Soil food web' over time and grow some healthy and productive plants!

I should also mention too that the half barrel has the double purpose of being an inoculation/charging bath for biochar (from a KTE)->compost->Permafert, used for expanding the growing system with additional half barrels ('Urban Permaculture') or for other almost plastic-free soil-based growing systems, such as the ones mentioned on the 'Latest Regenerative Agroforestry System (RAS) notes' page...

Carbon removal credits for the KTE

There's also the possibility of generating Carbon removal credits for the KTE (or other Kon-Tiki kilns) either via an established Carbon Removal Marketplace (CRM) such as puro.earth or with a new open source CRM specific for the Kon-Tiki biochar kiln.

Here's a clue for the interface: https://intofuture.org/ie.html

This should be great scientific software combined with a Flir One camera attached to an Android smartphone or possibly an iPhone in the future. The app is getting revamped from 12/23.

I hypothesise that there will be a predictable infrared signature of a KTE burn if the kiln is operated correctly (see user manual at the bottom of the 'Kon-Tiki 'Essential' (KTE) biochar kiln' page). There are many variables in play here and it's not going to be easy to work out, or even automate verification using Machine Learning.

Hopefully no need for a supervisor or even biochar samples, though these could be taken and analysed randomly to increase transparency and quality control of the biochar.

I propose using the KTE for a pilot project. Anyone interested? Charistas/interface testers could get a kiln for an awesome price, programmers could help with the CRM, data scientists with ML training might have some ideas etc...I just want to get the ball rolling for what could be a long-term project to help small-scale farmers/hobbyists get paid to remove C and can get paid twice if biochar is sold on the local market or reap the rewards if integrated with a growing system for long term C sequestration and increased crop yields, water conservation etc.