[Stoves] Charcoal in Animal Feed and Bedding

Tue Nov 1 11:19:25 CDT 2011

Kevin,

Charcoal has been used in animal feed and in animal bedding. The benefits
don't immediately come to mind but it is in the literature. We had lunch in
Kyoto with a manager of a sustainable farm near Hong Kong who was using
charcoal in bedding for broilers. 

Palatability is probably not an issue if it is blended with normal feed.
Volume and density of feed components are issues that we face with all
natural additives in large scale, high rate, production. Charcoal would not
be used by large producers unless there was a clear benefit that it would
offset loss in weight gain, egg production, milk production or solve other
issues like disease. We fed ash from broiler litter that was enriched in
phosphorous to recycle P from the feed and to displace purchased dicalcium
phosphate. Birds were healthy and growth was good but the strategy was
rejected because pyrolysis  and combustion in the presence of chlorine (from
salt in the bird's diet) forms detectable dioxin. It is nowhere close to
toxic levels but because it is detectable producers will not use it as a
feed ingredient. This may not be an issue at the rural household level if
there are other benefits. 

We see larger quantities of sand, or grit, in turkey litter than in broiler
litter. It's hard to beat the price of sand or clay. 

The best way to recycle nutrients from poultry litter and manure may be by
composting it with biochar, as described by Christoph Steiner, or by
combining it with biochar and clay in an organo-mineral complex (synthetic
terra preta, STP) as described by Dr. Stephen Joseph and researchers in New
South Wales. Why burn nitrogen?  

My favorite presentation in Kyoto was titled" Environmental Improvement and
Production of Delicious, High Quality Sake and Cheese through Use of Buried
Charcoal," by Takemichi Tsurumi. Hopefully the presentation will appear on
the Japan Biochar Association or conference website.
http://www.geocities.jp/yasizato/JBA.htm 

Japanese have many uses for charcoal like soft charcoal for tea ceremonies
and hard charcoal (binchotan) for pottery making. Tsurumi described two
uses:

1.  Producers of Sake in Chiba Prefecture

                "Hard charcoal and powdered charcoal are buried and layers
of charcoal are spread on the premises. Through iyashirochi-ka the activity
of micro-organisms is improved and delicious, high quality sake is produced.
Over 30 tons are used in 14 places on the premise."

2. An NPO in Hokkaido    

                "With buried charcoal in houses, cattle barns, production
facilities, cheese factory, maturation room, and fields, micro-organisms are
activated through iyashirochi-ka, and delicious, high quality cheese is
produced. 

In both cases, production makes improved use of micro-organisms in
conjunction with carbon storage through the iyashirochi-ka that accompanies
carbon storage, delicious sake and cheese are produced."

In this case Tsurumi explained that only wood buildings can be used Metal
building "interrupt the electron flow." iyashirochi-ka seems to be an
intriguing process for someone to pursue. 

The examples were given for small farms. This might be a strategy that could
be used for rural farmers making charcoal for biochar or cooking. 

Unless there is further interest from the stoves community this discussion
should move to the biochar list. 

Tom   

From: stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Kevin
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 4:44 PM
To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves
Subject: Re: [Stoves] [biochar-production] Re: Stoves Digest, Vol 14, Issue
17

Dear Tom

Given that biochar seems to be a good addition to manure and compost, what
about purposely adding it to food scraps intended for animal feed, for the
medicinal benefit that ingested charcoal may provide?

1: Is there any known detrimental effect to animals consuming charcoal?

2: Is there any reason to believe that animals would find charcoal fines in
their food as unpalatable?

3: Would chickens perhaps seek out charcoal particles as a "grit
substitute?"

If nothing else, at least manure from animals fed charcoal would produce
"pre-biocharred manure." :-)

Best wishes,

Kevin

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Tom Miles <mailto:tmiles at trmiles.com>  

To: 'Discussion of biomass cooking stoves'
<mailto:stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>  

Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 6:17 PM

Subject: Re: [Stoves] [biochar-production] Re: Stoves Digest, Vol 14,Issue
17

Frank,

I can understand that carbon in different forms degrades at different rates.
And dry AD systems are interesting. 

When I add char to household food scraps it makes what appears to be a
better quality of compost. I am also aware that In the developing world
these same scraps might be used as feed. Maybe Paul, Art, or others have had
experience with adding TLUD char to compost from food waste, litter, or
manure.   

Thanks

Tom

From: stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Frank Shields
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 1:45 PM
To: 'Discussion of biomass cooking stoves'
Subject: Re: [Stoves] [biochar-production] Re: Stoves Digest, Vol 14, Issue
17

Tom,

The C/N ratio is almost useless in when preparing compost formulations
contrary to what most people think.  The carbon is determined on a Total
Carbon and so is nitrogen. What we really need is available C and N and the
availability changes during the composting process. If you add wood chips to
a compost they will be there in a large part when the compost is finished -
so should not be counted. Oils  and other lipids will biodegrade quickly
lowering the pH. Then it's the slow release of carbon to available form as
the process continues. With nitrogen becoming available as ammonia the pH
goes up. It can out-gas and be lost so availability of nitrogen should also
be a continuous process. All this occurs with in  vegetative material  that
has wood chips added only for porosity.

So a measure of total N and total C at the beginning has little use and is
only a guideline.  Real way is to measure the Total N and C at the beginning
and again at the end to determine the C removed as CO2 IMO.  But to answer
your question you might as well test for Total N and total C to get a C/N
ratio with the char along with the wood chips. 

As for food scraps; They are the hardest to compost unless well mixed in
with a lot of other materials. That because they are readily available C and
N and react fast and that causes smells and fluctuation in pH, hugh oxygen
demands making anaerobic conditions etc. New interest is AD dry systems then
aerobic composting remaining material that have been partial stabilized.  

Frank

From: stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Tom Miles
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 1:01 PM
To: 'Discussion of biomass cooking stoves'
Subject: Re: [Stoves] [biochar-production] Re: Stoves Digest, Vol 14, Issue
17

Frank

If I am taking char from a TLUD and adding it to cooking scraps for compost
do I ignore the carbon in the char when calculating the Carbon to Nitrogen
ratio? 

Thanks

Tom

From: stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Frank Shields
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 12:05 PM
To: 'Discussion of biomass cooking stoves'
Subject: Re: [Stoves] [biochar-production] Re: Stoves Digest, Vol 14, Issue
17

Dear Tom,

For compost the purpose is to 'stabilize' the carbon to a point the
environment can replenish oxygen and nutrients at a rate plants and biota is
not effected.  When in an ag situation we have growers ready to supplement
nutrients (nitrogen) at the ready when plants or lab tests indicate needed.
Stabilized values I like to see is < 4 mg CO2-C / g organic matter / day.
This dry weight.  But many people use 8 mg CO2-C as a stabilized value. 

I think biochar is not even in the picture for nitrogen up-take or oxygen
depletion in an ag soil because they will be so low. Perhaps over time in a
non ag environment the carbon may deplete the nitrogen  - put more likely
just hold the nitrogen from being leached for later use. 

Frank 

From: stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Tom Miles
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 11:50 AM
To: 'Discussion of biomass cooking stoves'
Subject: Re: [Stoves] [biochar-production] Re: Stoves Digest, Vol 14, Issue
17

Crispin, Frank,

Apart from fraud, it is nice to have a general indication of how much of the
fuel will convert to a gas before burning and how much would, in theory,
remain as char. IN practice you oxidize part of he "fixed" carbon as well. 

In carbonization the volatile carbon is a useful indicator of the extent of
carbonization. We look for volatile carbon to be less than 20% for most
applications. That does not mean that all biochar needs to be less than 20%
volatile carbon. Other measures of labile carbon would be helpful. 

For biochar applications it would be useful to know how much of the carbon
is likely to be consumed by organisms and will thereby have a demand on
nitrogen or other nutrients. I have assumes that is the volatile fraction.
How much char C do you include in calculating a C:N ration for composting,
for example?  If you intend to deliver a char to a uses that will supply
it's own N how much to you have to add? How much char from stoves can you
estimate will have a demand on plant nutrients if used as biochar? 

Tom

From: stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Crispin
Pemberton-Pigott
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 1:09 PM
To: 'Discussion of biomass cooking stoves'
Subject: Re: [Stoves] [biochar-production] Re: Stoves Digest, Vol 14, Issue
17

Dear Frank

My main disagreement is the term Fixed Carbon and that it means the total
weigh DAF where it should be a measure of carbon in that fraction. I will
need to get over that. 

I assure you that Fixed Carbon does not have a clear and scientific meaning.
I have given up hope with analyses that use the term. That means, it is
'helpful' but not an exact measure of anything.

It really is taken to mean the carbon that happens not to disappear when the
sample is treated in a certain way. Treat it in another way and the 'fixed'
portion changes so it is an inherent property of the protocol times the
fuel, not a property of the fuel alone.

The coal industry is so large that they feel they can get away with internal
definitions and that makes huge problems for stovers because we never really
know what we are being handed to burn. With biomass that has historically
been the 'chemistry' of the fuel contents. But the principal users of 'fixed
carbon' are the coal consumers like power stations. To give the DAF value of
anything is misleading because we need to know what % it is of the fuel, not
of part of the fuel.

There are many tricks played by people promoting processed fuels that
involve switching the fuel energy content numbers during the conversation.
For example, people will report the 'as received' heat content as the fuel's
heating value (which is true) and then point out that their 'Processing'
increases this to a much higher 'DAF value' showing a '60% increase in
energy per kg' even though it takes energy to remove the water and calculate
out the ash.  Plain fraud. Whenever someone reports the energy content you
have to not only ask on what basis the figure was derived, but also
investigate the protocol to see if it really is what it claims to be. Many
people believe that there is free energy to be harvested in this manner.

Regards

Crispin

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