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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 07/12/13 09:00, David Murphy wrote:<br>
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<blockquote cite="mid:52A248F0.1030500@dodo.com.au" type="cite">
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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> <br>
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</blockquote>
BioChar is not "ordinary charcoal".<br>
Charcoal is usually made at temperatures above 1000C and all
volatiles are removed.<br>
Bio-char is made a lower temperatures, 400~600C just above
spontaneous combustion temperature of organic material (wet or dry).
It contains tars and a different structure withing the hollows than
`ordinary charcoal`. It is the structure and the tars that make a
good home for soil micro organisms. It also holds water and minerals
better than charcoal. <br>
<br>
See <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.biochar-international.org/">http://www.biochar-international.org/</a>
for more detailed information and projects.<br>
<br>
Local Australian groups:<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://biocharproject.org/">http://biocharproject.org/</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.bioenergyaustralia.org/">http://www.bioenergyaustralia.org/</a><br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Paul Judd B.App.Sc. Secondary Metallurgy, Dip Electrotechnology Renewable Energy, Dip Sustainability
Trainer and Sustainability Advisor
PAJeco Sustainable Education
Sustainability: Learning to live today but leaving enough to live tomorrow
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.pajeco.com.au">http://www.pajeco.com.au</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:paul.a.judd@pajeco.com.au">paul.a.judd@pajeco.com.au</a>
+61415518134</pre>
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