[Stoves] Embers from Three Stone as Biochar - Who has done this?

Thu Apr 1 00:02:28 CDT 2021

Dear Kevin

Good to hear from you.

The reason the WBT didn't give a significantly different result is because of the way the test deals with remaining char. If you performed a proper fuel consumption test, the result would be that for every kg of char removed (not burned) 2 additional kg of wood is needed (or more) to accomplish the same amount of cooking.

Char is not a fertilizer - I hope that is understood from the start.  It can be soaked in various things like urine and it has fertilizer value.  The reasons it has an effect are mainly two: it retains moisture and releases it slowly keeping the average soil moisture content around roots up, and it offers breeding sites for colonies of bacteria.  It is inert for the most part so whatever it does, the bacteria colony idea is at least a viable explanation.  Some soils are short of carbon so that is a possible benefit.

Char has benefitted agriculture in Japan for centuries where it has been researched thoroughly.  They say it has to be the right species of tree, processed in the right manner, then applied to the right crop, to have benefit.  The application rates in Japan are on the order of 20 tones per hectare.  To grow enough trees on a farm to make enough charcoal to treat a farm at that rate of application would take from 2000 to 8000 years.

The response to one pointing out this fact is usually to say that it can be applied in does around the plant of seed and the effect will be localized.  OK....maybe.  Show me.

I think there are clear examples of benefit from high rate application especially for water-sensitive plants.  It is an absorbent material.

Regards
Crispin

From: Stoves <stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org> On Behalf Of K McLean
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2021 20:37
To: Stoves and Biofuels Network <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>; main at Biochar.groups.io; Ronal Larson <rongretlarson at comcast.net>
Subject: [Stoves] Embers from Three Stone as Biochar - Who has done this?

Stoves list, biochar list, cc Ron Larson

Have any of you actually used embers/char from an open-fire cookstove (eg 3-stone) or campfire as biochar (soil amendment)?  Did it work?

African women can get plenty of char from three stone while cooking.  But will the char work as biochar?

Ron and I have been discussing this with others.  We all have ideas on why it should or should not work.  But we cannot find anyone who has actually tried it.

We want to train women on smallholder farms to collect, quench and crush embers and then charge the char and apply it to their fields.  I think this training can happen at scale with relatively little expense.  With hundreds of millions of families cooking over open fires, the potential is enormous.

Using tongs to remove embers, women can make 300-800g of char daily.  Because they've reported that firewood usage does not increase, SNV did a simplified WBT<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Ffile%2Fd%2F10aUtzXfo_y9AlmCBr5zMo-tLZbQ8qq48%2Fview%3Fusp%3Dsharing&data=04%7C01%7C%7C9492605e924143be52fe08d8f4bb9d70%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637528433939678669%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=FS0cvdrha38Xrz5BGslszBuvEzPukfNQl8Bw5JlPdnU%3D&reserved=0> and, counterintuitively, SNV found only an insignificant increase in fuel usage.

But will the char be effective?  Who has tried char made this way as biochar?

Kevin McLean, President

Sun24

https://sun24.solar<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsun24.solar%2F&data=04%7C01%7C%7C9492605e924143be52fe08d8f4bb9d70%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637528433939678669%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=xUnbxTQq%2Budk1EsHCjZ1c4S0uSmpV1zW8WYVjO0aOG4%3D&reserved=0> Embers from Three Stone<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fdocument%2Fd%2F1NBJwnqQToaNJlYu-NajiFh8KQQEqiQJW-jHX29wQuQo%2Fedit&data=04%7C01%7C%7C9492605e924143be52fe08d8f4bb9d70%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637528433939688664%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=Vx32URPLWMDb1ro9TOchwP8ya05KWJwL1ifQnh7H%2BoQ%3D&reserved=0>
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