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<font face="Verdana">Greetings Biochar/Gasifier people !</font><br>
<p class="MsoNormal"><big>Everybody & his dog seems to have
something to say about charcoal/biochar/biochar-compost mix and
so on.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> Well, h</span>ere’s
another dog to bark his piece !<o:p> <br>
</o:p></big></p>
<big> </big>
<p class="MsoNormal"><big>Biochar is often seen as the great
agricultural panacea, but </big><big><u>it is not</u></big><big>.</big><big><span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></big><big>Biochar is a
name given to plain ordinary charcoal to indicate that it is
destined for use in soil improvement, but basically it is still
plain ordinary charcoal, just crushed into smaller particles. </big><big><span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></big><big>In some
circumstances it is a very beneficial tool but it is not magical
as some proponents seem to think. Just remember, all charcoal
has a bio-origin - wood.<o:p> <br>
</o:p></big></p>
<big> </big>
<p class="MsoNormal"><big>In some Ag. trials in </big><big><st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Australia</st1:place></st1:country-region></big><big>
it significantly improved crop volume (treble in one case) but
in other instances, nothing worth writing home about.</big><big><span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></big><big>It depends on
what the soil is like to start with.<o:p> <br>
</o:p></big></p>
<big> </big>
<p class="MsoNormal"><big>Charcoal is stable.</big><big><span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></big><big>That means it
does not take part in any composting system (which is one
primarily of bacterial digestion) and it is indigestible so that
when offered as a dietary supplement (in poultry food for
example) it passes through the digestive system physically
unchanged but will adsorb a high proportion of the gases
and some toxins produced in the process of digestion, because
that is what charcoal does. For this reason, it's adsorption
capability, poultry will generally do better on a little
charcoal. <br>
</big></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><big> Quite a few pages could be filled on the
beneficial services provided by charcoal as it travels through
the digestive system, but it does it as charcoal only and as
nothing else. By all means use a little in the feed, you can
only benefit. <br>
</big><br>
<big>The only physical way to change the nature of charcoal is to
burn it. That is why it lasts in soil (or wherever it is) for
thousands of years.</big></p>
<big> </big>
<p class="MsoNormal"><big>It has an incredibly high surface area of
360 m</big><big><sup>2 </sup></big><big>(varies) and is a mass
of minute tunnels which in turn means a very high volume and
gases become trapped in these tunnels.</big><big><span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></big><big>It does not </big><big><u>ab</u></big><big>sorb,
it </big><big><u>ad</u></big><big>sorbs and traps only.</big><big><span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></big><big>The difference
between absorb and adsorb is the same as the difference in
liquids of suspension and solution.</big><big><span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></big><big>Clay particles
will be in suspension, sugar and salt go into solution.<o:p> <br>
</o:p></big></p>
<big> </big>
<p class="MsoNormal"><big>Charcoal is useful in an aerobic
composting system because again of the entrapment of air in the
tunnels.</big><big><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></big><big>A
composting system goes well if there is enough oxygen bearing
air available to the bacteria which are a significant part of
the system.</big><big><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></big><big><span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></big><big>The more air, the
higher the population of bacteria (other factors being OK). </big><big><span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></big><big><span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></big><big>The charcoal
itself is inoperative, and doesn’t change, nor is it a catalyst,
it simply provides a service. It will only provide a haven for
soil benevolent bacteria if there is something trapped in the
tunnels which the bacteria can eat.<o:p> <br>
</o:p></big></p>
<big> </big>
<p class="MsoNormal"><big>Charcoal is a good adsorber of gas and
liquid simply because that is what it does.</big><big><span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></big><big>Zeolite on the
other hand, can have an even higher surface are per gram and has
a propensity to entrap gases, most particularly nitrogen in it’s
various forms – as gas – ammonium for example – and in liquids
as a salt of NO</big><big><sub>3 </sub></big><big>.</big><big><span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></big><big>It actually
draws them in (like a magnet attracts ferric objects) where
charcoal just takes it as it comes. It is easy to see also
why charcoal is so effective as a filter, but if you have a
solution rich in nitrogen, run it through Zeolite and the N will
be removed. </big><big>Add some to the litter<o:p> in poultry
grower sheds, there will be fewer mortalities because the
ammonia which sometimes will asphixiate small birds will be
absorbed.</o:p> Zeolite will take N out of solution,
charcoal will not. There's 40 natural forms of Zeolite and
more than another 150 can be synthesised, so choose carefully
for the one most appropriate to your problem. Zeolite can
perform an amazing range of actions. Once used and applied as
fertiliser, Zeolite subsequently will release the N<o:p> slowly
and remain in the soil as a balancer of N. Too much, it will
take it in (so that the soil pH is not lowered) and release it
as required.<br>
</o:p></big></p>
<big> </big>
<p class="MsoNormal"><big>Charcoal’s great stuff though, it's easy
to make and holds answers to a lot of problems - but not all !</big></p>
<big>David Murphy.</big>
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