[Stoves] [Biochar] Ceramic Philosophy: Request for Pyrolysis Biochar Stove Designs

Sun Feb 12 03:38:43 CST 2023

Hi Paul
Thanks for your comments
Clays are acid catalysts and help the charring and combustion process.
Regards
Stephen

On Sun, Feb 12, 2023 at 2:43 PM Paul Olivier <paul.olivier at esrla.com> wrote:

> Stephen,
>
> I like so much what you write here about clay and biochar.
> When we add a small amount of kaolin to coffee husks and then make
> pellets, instead of yellow flame and a lot of black smoke, we get a
> beautiful blue flame when gasified.
>
> Thanks.
> Paul Olivier
>
> On Sun, Feb 12, 2023 at 3:27 AM Stephen Joseph <joey.stephen at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Gabriel
>>
>> I started my biochar career when I taught Indigenous Australians
>> ceramics, engineering and manual arts.  They taught me how to make and use
>> biochar.  But the most valuable lesson they taught me was clay and biochar
>> are synergistic.  The yin and the yang the white and the black.  They use
>> this combination in medicine, for cooking and in art.  From a
>> scientific perspective, we have found that pretreating biomass with clay
>> and or postreating the biochar with clay improves it properties.
>>  Pretreating with clay helps to increase yields and condenses out organic
>> compounds on the clay that helps seeds germinate and provides food for
>> microbes.  We also found that bacteria that can fix carbon and nitrogen
>> grow at the interface between the carbon matrix and the clay platelets.
>> Because kaolin clay has a much higher AEC and bentonite clay a higher CEC
>> than biochars then you increase the nutrient holding capacity.
>>
>> But pretreating with clay also increases persistence of the biochar.  The
>> present methodologies don't take this into account.
>> People should read these article
>>
>> Wang, F., Zhang, R., Donne, S.W., Beyad, Y., Liu, X., Duan, X., Yang, T.,
>> Su, P. and Sun, H., 2022. Co-pyrolysis of wood chips and bentonite/kaolin:
>> Influence of temperatures and minerals on characteristics and carbon
>> sequestration potential of biochar. *Science of The Total Environment*,
>> *838*, p.156081.
>> Rawal, A., Joseph, S.D., Hook, J.M., Chia, C.H., Munroe, P.R., Donne, S.,
>> Lin, Y., Phelan, D., Mitchell, D.R., Pace, B. and Horvat, J., 2016.
>> Mineral–biochar composites: molecular structure and porosity. *Environmental
>> science & technology*, *50*(14), pp.7706-7714.
>>
>> Rafiq, M.K., Joseph, S.D., Li, F., Bai, Y., Shang, Z., Rawal, A., Hook,
>> J.M., Munroe, P.R., Donne, S., Taherymoosavi, S. and Mitchell, D.R., 2017.
>> Pyrolysis of attapulgite clay blended with yak dung enhances pasture growth
>> and soil health: Characterization and initial field trials. *Science of
>> the Total Environment*, *607*, pp.184-194.
>>
>> Reynolds, A., Joseph, S.D., Verheyen, T.V., Chinu, K., Taherymoosavi, S.,
>> Munroe, P.R., Donne, S., Pace, B., van Zwieten, L., Marjo, C.E. and Thomas,
>> T., 2018. Effect of clay and iron sulphate on volatile and
>> water-extractable organic compounds in bamboo biochars. *Journal of
>> Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis*, *133*, pp.22-29
>>
>> stephen
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Feb 12, 2023 at 2:40 AM Gabriel Reed <gabriel at gabrielreed.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello All,
>>>
>>> Just a quick note of deep gratitude and thanks to everyone for this
>>> discussion and pointing me toward such valuable resources.
>>>
>>> I look forward to collaborating with anyone interested. Toward that end,
>>> I will be bringing a select group of Continental Philosopher's from the
>>> United States to Colombia in May and we will work with local indigenous
>>> leaders and clay to further this dialogue.
>>>
>>> As a ceramist I study how fire moves through space. While it seems clear
>>> that any industrial TLUD stoves would benefit from being made of metal, my
>>> hunch is that there may be some productive sideways education, awareness,
>>> and perhaps technology on the ceramic side.  I intend on creating a series
>>> of exploratory biochar producing sculptures in the spirit of Braseros. For
>>> those of you who have been to the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City,
>>> these vessels will be familiar.
>>>
>>> [image: image.png]
>>>
>>> Lastly, as a philosopher, I study the imagination of clay and fire and
>>> would like to offer a few excellent resources to the group.
>>>
>>> 1. Gaston Bachelard, Psychoanalysis of Fire (1938)
>>> 2. Stephen J. Pyne, Fire: A Brief History - Second Edition (2019)
>>> 3. Jo Handelsman, A World Without Soil (2021)
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Gabriel
>>>
>>> *Gabriel Reed*
>>> cell (816) 808-9158
>>> www.gabrielreed.com <http://gabrielreed.com/> (coming soon...)
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Feb 9, 2023 at 1:59 AM Ron Larson <rongretlarson at comcast.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Biochar:  cc Jed
>>>>
>>>> I meant this to go to both lists
>>>>
>>>> Ron
>>>>
>>>> Begin forwarded message:
>>>>
>>>> *From: *Ronal Larson <rongretlarson at comcast.net>
>>>> *Subject: **Re: [Stoves] [Biochar] Ceramic Philosophy: Request for
>>>> Pyrolysis Biochar Stove Designs*
>>>> *Date: *February 8, 2023 at 11:56:41 PM MST
>>>> *To: *"stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org" <
>>>> stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>, gabriel at gabrielreed.com
>>>> *Cc: *Joshua Guinto <jed.building.bridges at gmail.com>
>>>>
>>>> Gabriel and List, cc Joshua (Jed)
>>>>
>>>> I urge more than the Facebook.  See his website (given at the Facebook
>>>> site)
>>>>
>>>> I should have remembered and recommended Joshua.  In the world of
>>>> charcoal making cookstoves, if we had to score everyone on artistic
>>>> capabilities, I’d give Joshua an A+, with the next place person/firm maybe
>>>> getting a C.
>>>>
>>>> I just went looking for proof of this and couldn’t find an example for
>>>> half an hour.  But see some sites below.  So - Joshua - can you send a
>>>> couple of other examples, where artistic design was part of your sales
>>>> strategy.
>>>>
>>>> See more below
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Feb 8, 2023, at 6:54 PM, Joshua Guinto <
>>>> jed.building.bridges at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Dear Gabriel
>>>>
>>>> I'm interested in what you do for ageoecoloegy and how stoves Will fit
>>>> into your work.
>>>>
>>>> We at Bahay Teknik is doing a lot with clay and we formulate our own
>>>> recipe to produce firebricks for our rocket stoves.
>>>>
>>>> Joshua:  I had forgotten on this.  Gabriel will know that potters have
>>>> to pay a lot for firebricks in their gas and electric kilns.  Maybe a third
>>>> (??) of the weight of regular bricks - highly efficient.  I have no idea
>>>> how to make one, but presumably Joshua would be willing to sell some -
>>>> maybe even of your own design.  I hope he can expand on the next sentence.
>>>>
>>>> We also make variations of recipes for different types of bricks
>>>> depending upon the required functions.
>>>>
>>>> Our rocket.stoves is actually a hybrid of a rocket and a TLUD gasifier.
>>>> With pili nut shells which we have in abundance in my region, the stove
>>>> runs on a gasifier mode during the first fuel load and then switch to
>>>> rocket thereafter. It can run on wood sticks, wood pellets, holey
>>>> briquettes and pili (or small size nut) shells. Temperature at the fire
>>>> chamber could go as high as 700 degrees Celsius, thus producing a good
>>>> quality brochar.
>>>> We can harvest the biochar with ease by simply dumping the hot char in
>>>> a pan of water.
>>>>
>>>> You may visit our Facebook page Bahay Teknik. Our manager Sandino will
>>>> be glad to assist you.
>>>>
>>>> *[RWL:  I’ve just spent more than an hour wandering around.  Found many
>>>> things new to me.  Example here is a 1 hour video on biochar:
>>>>  https://www.facebook.com/bahayteknik/videos/551466433518685
>>>> <https://www.facebook.com/bahayteknik/videos/551466433518685>*
>>>> * It is in a native language - as it should be.*
>>>>
>>>> * I found a huge file of photos. About 5 (out of at least 500) that
>>>> showed a bit of his combined engineering and art skills.  Here is an
>>>> example of the very small number I could find.  I’ll bet he has made
>>>> hundreds like this - with little repetition.*
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> * I was amazed at the advances seen in pizza ovens.  Maybe 10 different
>>>> designs.  Some that could be very cheap.*
>>>>
>>>> * It is now so late that I have to stop.   Josh - congratulations on
>>>> having accomplished so much.  It must be very satisfying to be working with
>>>> a very talented son.  Please talk a little about the likely big difficulty
>>>> of combining your art talents with a shop focussed on low-cost biochar.*
>>>>
>>>> *Ron*
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Best regards
>>>>
>>>> Jed Guinto
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, 9 Feb 2023, 5:54 am Ronal Larson, <rongretlarson at comcast.net>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Gabriel and ccs (adding the stoves list (the predecessor “mother” of
>>>>> the biochar (terra preta) group you started with.  [note different address
>>>>> for Paul]
>>>>>
>>>>> Welcome as a first poster.  We need more potters on this list - as so
>>>>> many cook stoves are presently being made by potters.
>>>>>
>>>>> I write as husband of a potter.  I have tried to make several clay
>>>>> TLUDs.  I failed.   Cracked. Pretty quickly   But I still think that
>>>>> char-making can be done in ceramic stoves.
>>>>> There is some clay being sold with paper as an ingredient that is
>>>>> claimed to have minimal expansion as heated up (the exhaust gas
>>>>> temperatures are pretty impressive.  I have never heard of anyone using
>>>>> such clay.  I haven’t)
>>>>> The top of a TLUD will get up to cone 022 (dull red) in a minute or
>>>>> so, while the bottom is still room temperature.  Having the cylinder be
>>>>> segmented will help, but you also are trying to control air.  Not like
>>>>> heating up in a kiln.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Kevin McLean has had considerable charcoal-making success with unfired
>>>>> large un-fired clay “bricks."  See his Sun24 website. The firing as a stove
>>>>> will do some hardening of the clay.  Too early to get lifetime data with
>>>>> Kevin’s nice low-cost approach.
>>>>>
>>>>> I wouldn’t worry too much about Terra Preta.  Very valuable
>>>>> discussions around 2000-2010 - but no connection to pottery.
>>>>>  (One exception - I’ve seen some literature that the ancient
>>>>> Amazonians also obtained a product like that coming from a present day
>>>>> low-temperature approach called HTC, they using big clay urns)
>>>>> The sites www.biochar-international.org and www.biochar-us.org will
>>>>> give some good information.  Especially on webinars - some have been on
>>>>> stoves.
>>>>>
>>>>> Ron
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Feb 8, 2023, at 12:45 PM, Teel, Wayne <teelws at jmu.edu> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Gabriel,
>>>>>
>>>>> Get in contact with Paul Anderson, , and he will help you from
>>>>> there.  He is a regular and valuable contributor to this list.
>>>>>
>>>>> Wayne
>>>>>
>>>>> *From:* main at Biochar.groups.io <main at Biochar.groups.io> *On Behalf
>>>>> Of *Gabriel Reed
>>>>> *Sent:* Wednesday, February 8, 2023 12:21 PM
>>>>> *To:* main at Biochar.groups.io
>>>>> *Subject:* [Biochar] Ceramic Philosophy: Request for Pyrolysis
>>>>> Biochar Stove Designs
>>>>>
>>>>> *CAUTION: *This email originated from outside of JMU. Do not click
>>>>> links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the
>>>>> content is safe.
>>>>> ------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>> Hello All,
>>>>>
>>>>> First post in this group.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm a ceramic philosopher doing some research here in Cali, Colombia
>>>>> and am interested in building pyrolysis stoves for an agroecology project
>>>>> called Fundcación Yūtopialab. If anyone has resources they can point me to
>>>>> specifically on the topic of Terra Preta and/or especially stove designs
>>>>> that would be greatly appreciated!
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>
>>>>> Gabriel
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>
> --
> Paul A. Olivier PhD
> 104/43 Phu Dong Thien Vuong
> Dalat
> Vietnam
>
> Louisiana telephone: 1-337-447-4124 (rings Vietnam)
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