Resources

Disclaimer: As much as I love apptech, the technology itself shouldn't be that which takes over our lives. What's more important is that plenty of biochar is produced and integrated into the economies of the world so that over time we can eventually and safely drawdown and remove Carbon out of the atmosphere and prevent or even reverse global climate heating and restore a safe climate. It's a climate emergency! The change to the environment that biochar could bring is partly known and partly unknown but the possibilities are endless and continually fascinate me!

Number of units x Volume of units x Frequency of burn x Time (feedstock growing, harvesting, processing and drying time + burn time) x Application volume and material requirements

This combination should cover most options on the small to medium scale for small landholders and community gardens:
2 x TLUD stoves (2L each) eg. Permastove Kitchen (PK) units (Permastove Burner+Universal Pot Stand), 1 x 100L 'Stockpot Biochar System' (SBS), 2 x Kon-Tiki 'Essential' units (KTE) (370L each) aka
2,2,100,370,370 litres
A combination of these could be run at the same time eg. 2 PK units, 1 SBS + 1 PK unit, 2 KTEs...

Try using this software for DWG and DXF viewing: https://www.dwgsee.com/

I've summarised the above kilns and stoves according to biomass feedstock size. Note that my preference for biochar apptech is completely biased since I designed most of what I'm about to recommend (with a lot of help from my friends):

*Small feedstock eg. Pellets/sticks/coconut shell/corn cob/rice husk etc. - Try the '1G Toucan TLUD' or 'The 'Permastove V3' (beta - still need to prototype it) for cooking and biochar making

*Small to medium feedstock eg. large sticks, bamboo, small cut logs etc. - Try the 'Pyramid BBQ Classic' (3 in 1 BBQ, firepit, biochar making)

*Medium to large feedstock eg. Bamboo, brush, agroforestry waste, rice straw, small branches etc. - Try the Flat-Tiki 'Carbon' V3 (beta) or Kon-Tiki 1.2m production model - biomass 'waste' removal, biochar making, heat on a cold day

*Large feedstock eg. cut and split logs etc. - slow combustion stove/wood-fired Aga (I don't think I can improve/redesign these - quite refined tech) - produces small amounts of biochar but mostly ash (a good source of minerals and alkaline pH adjustment for acidic soils). Also good for space heating, heating water eg. wetbacking cogen for a solar hot water system, water pastuerisation, making a hot drink; slow cooking

Vineyard Agroecology: http://agroecology.berkeley.edu/resources.html

Fenugreek (front) and Dill (back) seedlings using biochar in a fancy potting mix with sphagnum moss and peat. Note that biochar has a higher water holding capacity (WHC) than the original potting mix. Adding it increases the overall WHC. I also add a low concentration of Seasol and GoGo Juice to the irrigation water from my 15L weed sprayer backpack in order enhance root growth and potting mix microbial activity.

My biochar mineral complex (BMC) piss bucket (front, middle) - I've added liquid sea kelp and Blood & Bone to the biochar. and stirred it in. Every few bucket empties (the liquid, onto the succulents) I'll add the BMC to other pots then replace the BMC in the bucket with more biochar, kelp and BnB. The urine contains precious Nitrogen which also bonds to the BMC. The biochar reduces the odor of the other ingredients. There's a possibility of adding desirable microbes too, such as 'Horn manure 500' in small amounts at a time. The biochar could be made from a range of devices. If I didn't have biochar kilns, I would be using a 'Permastove' V4 (or V5 if it ever gets built...anyone wanna donate for R&D?). 

Pissing in a bucket also reduces flushing water, which in most parts of Australia is fresh drinking water. Saving fresh drinking water is vital in drylands where I live - it's not valued highly enough by many people but that will probably change as more droughts will become normal in many areas due to climate change acceleration. Also, why not create a beautiful place to piss?!

Can use microwave tech from Kiwis on biomass eg. agricultural waste, and produce a Graphene-like substance to replace expensive and less sustainable Graphene.

Closed loop for traditional farmers in SE Asia

Harvest bamboo/rice straw/rice husk-->chop up bamboo/dry bamboo/rice straw/rice husk feedstock-->cook taro on TLUD gasifier/cogeneration via biochar kiln->add the biochar to the animal feed (+ use biochar for water filtration)-->feed to water buffaloe/cow/pig-->livestock shits->take the manure/biochar complex and add to biodigester (biochar also reduces smell)-->collect the gas for cooking/electricity-->take the biodigester effluent/byproduct and add to soil-->grow the taro/rice/bamboo-->harvest (back to the start)

In the above flowchart, the barrels/IBCs just need basic plumbing connectors (similar to those used by Aqueous Solutions in their water filtration system). The first stage of the filter will have the highest concentration of salt and will need to be emptied once the output water reaches greater than 600 mg/Litre of salt (300-600 mg/Litre is the desirable salt concentration in potable water). Once position 1/stage 1 is emptied fresh biochar is added to the barrel/IBC and is rotated to position 3/third stage. Position 2/second stage becomes position 1/first stage and position 3/third stage becomes position 2/second stage. A 'TDS meter' can be used to measure the salt concentration. These are available for AUD$6.45 on eBay. Note that the unpowered measured irrigation controller (UMIC) can provide efficient irrigation according to evaporation and rainfall.

• The solar oven can be built from polished stainless steel (ideally) or even cardboard and Al foil http://solarcooking.org/plans/default.htm
• A pot stand is needed for the main pot/glass jar
• The purifier/desalinator can be made from a used gherkin jar (water vessel), saucepan (water collector), steel bowl (condenser), TLUD pot stand (as a condenser spacer), plastic saucepan bib (to reduce additional evaporation from the saucepan) and biochar
• Direct and indirect solar radiation will hit the floating biochar creating a hot biochar-steam interface for water evaporation on to the condenser which will then drip into the saucepan for freshwater collection
• The biochar will filter any POPs, pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, dyes etc.
• The thickness of the biochar layer and the particle size needs to be tweaked
• Suitable for contaminated water that may also be salty/brackish
• Boiling water kills deadly microbes/pathogens
• More R&D needs to be done in this field!

An outdoor hybrid solar parabolic cooker and box oven.

Reused pyramid biochar maker made from 1.6mm HW350 weathering/Corten steel.

Lined with cardboard panels with Reynolds Wrap heavy duty Al foil (why doesn't Glad do it?).

Foil glued to panels with flour and water glue with a thin batter consistency.

Heavy duty UV resistent polyethylene greenhouse plastic clamped on with steel C clamps (or with UV resistant clear polycarbonate with high light transmissity if you can afford it)

Black pot with transparent glass lid.

Biochar and water in the pot.

Uses

1-Oven cooking

2-Produce drying

3-water pasteurisation and purification

4-desalination

Competing water filtration technologies:

 -boiling water

 requires energy and doesn’t remove salts, pathogens and heavy metals

 -pasteurisation

 requires less energy than boiling and doesn’t remove salts, pathogens and heavy metals

 -ceramic containers

 requires less energy than boiling and pasteurisation and doesn’t remove salts, pathogens and heavy metals

 -nanomembranes eg. the SolarBag

 breaks down after 200 litres..more plastic in the environment

 -electrolysis

 expensive

 focused on salt removal

 -reverse osmosis

 different membranes eg. plastic, graphene

 focused on salt removal

 -solar evaporation

 need a large area and sunlight

 expensive

 -capacative deionisation (CDI)

 expensive to commercialise

 needs to be low-powered off car batteries in series to be affordable

 -Aqueous Solutions barrel system

 suitable for many places at the village level

 -Permachar barrel system

 doesn’t remove all pathogens

 *A new system...the multi-stage barrel/bucket/container system to remove:

 -harmful pathogens

 -bacteria

 -viruses

 -salt

 -heavy metals

 -persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

 -pesticides

 -herbicides eg. glyphosate

 -fungicides

 -fertilisers

 NPK

 Ammonium

 ?

 -other

Could hemp grow in the desert?

The idea I am proposing involves growing acacias, coppicing them, making biochar, creating a biochar fertiliser called Permafert (inc. Response), digging swales slightly off contour (to avoid 'wet feet'), adding the Permafert to the bottom of the swales, placing tek line along the top using the 'Unpowered Measured Irrigation Controller' (UMIC),  growing hemp (using an appropriate cultivar) then using the hemp for more biochar, housing (using hempcrete and replacing a fraction of the lime with biochar: 'hempcharcrete'), food (hemp seed, hemp protein, hemp oil),  biodiesel (as a last resort) and many other uses. I would also like to trial biochar filtration for groundwater from a bore and investigate water quality as a result of the filtration - used for 'Measured Irrigation' of the hemp plants. Irrigate when the swales have a below optimal moisture content determined by swale cores and evaporation levels. Start with a 1 hectare trial. Anyone interested?

If you found this information useful, please share some money for further Permachar R & D. A recommended amount is AUD$10 - more if you feel really generous. Thanks!! Please use the link below...