<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">So in the field we can use Hugh's quick No Soap Test.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">What lab can I test the char in and what should they test for? I assume the lab testing can be done anywhere since campfire embers should be the same as three stone embers.</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Apr 5, 2021 at 11:15 AM Hugh McLaughlin via <a href="http://groups.io">groups.io</a> <wastemin1=<a href="mailto:verizon.net@groups.io">verizon.net@groups.io</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div></div>
<div dir="ltr">Hello K, et al.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">The Soap Test serves several purposes - it identifies materials being sold as biochar that are just fines or crushed material originally intended as charcoal for cooking. Cooking charcoal needs tars and volatiles to assist in lighting the material to get the carbon hot enough to initiate char gasification - the red color of the carbon directly reacting with the air on the surface of the char.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">For char that is not being bought, the soap test serves to identify material that is headed for the soil (passes) and material that might be used as "brands" in the next burn cycle because of the easier lighting aspect discussed above.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Biochar that fails the soap test may inhibit plant growth, especially if there is a burnt or tarry odor, or it may just have water soluble sugars that dissolve into the groundwater - becoming soluble organic carbon, which is readily used by soil microbes. Unfortunately, the same microbes use any available nitrogen in the groundwater, which will impact plant growth until the microbes consume the excess soluble organic carbon.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">For makers of biochar, failing the soap test means the biochar did not get hot enough as you made it to drive off the tars. It also helps to sort the batch into good versus recycle.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">It is a fast and easy guide that helps with the biochar maker's learning curve.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">- Hugh McLaughlin, PhD, PE<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">PS: I have attached a pdf of Chapter 8 of the 2011 book "The Biochar Revolution". It has additional tests for biochar properties. The guidance is ten years old and some advice may be outdated, but it is a start. I wrote it, but I will not defend it if it clashes with newer guidance. It is ten years old, as am I.<br></div><div><br></div>
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On Monday, April 5, 2021, 9:30:49 AM EDT, K McLean <<a href="mailto:kmclean56@gmail.com" target="_blank">kmclean56@gmail.com</a>> wrote:
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<div><div id="gmail-m_-7006099193115834248yiv5685250294"><div><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:small">Hugh, my colleagues in Africa have tried the "Soap Test". After crumbling the char from three stone in their hands, they can wash the black off their hands with just water. Here is a <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/6gfemZo6DsJWgydx9" target="_blank">video</a>. Char from my backyard fire pit also passed the soap test. What does this tell us? The char should work as biochar? Most of the tars have burned off? Should we do other simple tests? Thanks.<br clear="none"></div></div><br clear="none"><div><div dir="ltr">On Fri, Apr 2, 2021 at 9:03 PM Hugh McLaughlin via <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" href="http://groups.io" target="_blank">groups.io</a> <wastemin1=<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" href="mailto:verizon.net@groups.io" target="_blank">verizon.net@groups.io</a>> wrote:<br clear="none"></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div></div>
<div dir="ltr">Hello Many Different Groups, with many different priorities,</div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="none"></div><div dir="ltr">Ron has kicked several issues into my court to see if I will take the bait. I will to the extent of offering my thoughts, but I will decline the offer to convince the world I am right. You can lead a horse to water - the rest is up to the horse and whether it is sufficiently thirsty.</div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="none"></div><div dir="ltr">When it comes to biochar quality - it is easier to assess the material after it is made and cooled down than to predict/indemnify it based on how it was made or deserves to be good. It is like food: It is good unless it is bad for one of many reasons. The most basic criteria for biochar is the "Soap Test" - good char will not leave a black coating on the hands that will not be removed by cold water (mostly removed - it is a qualitative criteria and requires experience with other biochars. If soap is required to remove the biochar from one's hands, that is because of tars and the biochars is inferior and/or charcoal.<br clear="none"></div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="none"></div><div dir="ltr">Good biochar does not have any significant burnt odor - or taste! - and wets out when dropped into water after being ground into a powder. Oh - if is friable - easily crushes into smaller particles and even collapses into a powder. Additional pluses, but not necessary, are a silvery reflection.</div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="none"></div><div dir="ltr">And, any contamination entering with the biomass will remain in the biochar - unless actual analytical measurements prove the contamination is not longer present. Hard to do, expensive, and not justified when one looks at the exhaustive list of clean biomass sources.</div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="none"></div><div dir="ltr">As for handles and letter combinations - I don't care and will not get into the fray.</div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="none"></div><div dir="ltr">My favorite disclaimer is BOHICA - which is obvious to those who have encountered it and better kept a secret for the others.</div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="none"></div><div dir="ltr">- Hugh<br clear="none"></div><div><br clear="none"></div>
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On Friday, April 2, 2021, 12:21:45 AM EDT, Ron Larson <<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" href="mailto:rongretlarson@comcast.net" target="_blank">rongretlarson@comcast.net</a>> wrote:
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<div><div id="gmail-m_-7006099193115834248yiv5685250294gmail-m_4403712756919684815yiv0007295425"><div></div><div><div><div>Two lists and cc Kevin and Hugh Mclaughlin<div><br clear="none"></div><div>See inserts below.</div><div><br clear="none"></div><div><br clear="none"><div><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Mar 31, 2021, at 8:37 PM, K McLean <<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" href="mailto:kmclean56@gmail.com" target="_blank">kmclean56@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br clear="none"><div><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:small">Stoves list, biochar list, cc Ron Larson</div><div style="font-size:small"><br clear="none"></div><div style="font-size:small"><br clear="none"></div><div style="font-size:small"><div>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? </div><div><br clear="none"></div><div>African women can get plenty of char from three stone while cooking. But will the char work as biochar?<br clear="none"></div><div><br clear="none"></div><div>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.</div></div></div></div></blockquote><div> </div><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><b>[RWL1: I’m firmly in the ’should work’ camp. I’ve been privileged to see more than Kevin's cites below and seen a lot of char produced with scientific knowledge of their measured chracteristics. So I am pretty sure this char should have the large surface area we usually desire. - as in this famous graph from this early non-fee Johannes Lehmann paper.</b></div><div><b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span> (<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/1540-9295%282007%295%5B381%3ABITB%5D2.0.CO%3B2" target="_blank">https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/1540-9295%282007%295%5B381%3ABITB%5D2.0.CO%3B2</a>)</b></div><div><b><br clear="none"></b></div><div><img id="gmail-m_-7006099193115834248yiv5685250294gmail-m_4403712756919684815yiv00072954259E78125C-E0AD-44AE-A21B-84122C7A6650" src="cid:178ac97a775d422a67c1" width="796" height="464"></div><div><br clear="none"></div><div><b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>Hugh what can you recommend for Kevin’s associates in rural African towns where this work is occurring? (Hugh being the biochar expert I trust most on such measurements)</b></div><div><br clear="none"><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:small"><div><br clear="none"></div><div>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.</div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br clear="none"></div><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><b>[RWL2; Kevin’s use of the word “charged” refers to urine.</b></div><div><b><br clear="none"></b></div><div><b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>Kevin has had great success using women’s auxiliaries in local churches to spread the word about adding rock beds under 3-stone fires to significantly improve stove efficiency. Costs for adding one new rock bed user is pennies. The same likely here - with char removal. The difference from many such stove education programs is that this one will involve biochar. We know that much more care has to be taken when the char is scheduled for the field rather than cooking a meal.<br clear="none"></b><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:small"><div><br clear="none"></div><div>Using tongs to remove embers, women can make 300-800g of char daily. Because they've reported that firewood usage does not increase, <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/10aUtzXfo_y9AlmCBr5zMo-tLZbQ8qq48/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">SNV did a simplified WBT</a> and, counterintuitively, SNV found only an insignificant increase in fuel usage.</div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br clear="none"></div><div><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><b>[RWL3: I’ve. reviewed this SNV work (in Viet Nam) and have asked for the raw data as well as the finished reports. </b></div><div><b><br clear="none"></b></div><div><b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>But I can believe the results. - because the embers that are being collected (by SNV and by women being paid for the char) had already mostly given up its hydrogen. The fallen ember necessarily came from near the bottom of the fuel bed - where it was not contributing much to water boiling.</b></div><div><b><br clear="none"></b></div><div><b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>Kevin’s note is just the beginning of the study of what could be revolutionary for converting any 3 stone fire into a char producer. Kevin and I have been discussing other features of a small modification of 3 stones that will only cost a few dollars and significantly improve efficiency. I am quite sure we can go from a Tier zero performance to Tier 2 or 3 - with a lot of char.</b></div><div><b><br clear="none"></b></div><div><b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>I have Kevin’s permission to offer one possible name for his stove - a B-CHER. (“Cher” being pronounced as the French word for “Dear” - meaning premium or precious,). The BC comes from being biochar itself shortened to BC or here B-C. HER is short for “Hot Ember Removal”. Only two syllables in B-CHER - as in “T-LUD. Other thoughts?</b></div><div><b><br clear="none"></b></div><div><b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>Coming are more details on how to make (locally) a Tier 2-3 stove for a few dollars. I believe there are then billions who can find those few dollars if they are making char with little or no extra effort. And they can first make char with no dollars invested.</b></div><div><b><br clear="none"></b></div><div><b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>This is why I am excited about Kevin’s newest work.</b></div><div><b><br clear="none"></b></div><div><b><br clear="none"></b></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:small"><div>But will the char be effective? Who has tried char made this way as biochar?</div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br clear="none"></div><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><b>[RWL4: I couldn’t recall any char or biochar papers along these 3-stone. lines. But I told Kevin that I would look up some of the earliest biochar papers. (Before the name ‘biochar” was adopted). They used char purchased along a rural road. Almost certainly this char was made in a mud covered mound - and therefor was a low temperature char - much lower than char made in a. 3-stone fire.</b></div><div><b><br clear="none"></b></div><div><b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>A key way to think of Kevin’s approach is that all combustion (burning)) of wood starts with a pyrolysis phase. The ‘HE” - hot ember will presumably have the low H2 we desire, simply because we know it went through a red phase - and. Kevin’s workers see no white ash. Also I think virtually impossible for a “HE” hot ember to have broken off of the larger size pieces used in 3-stone fires, until it was indeed s usable char..</b></div><div><b><br clear="none"></b></div><div><b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>So I’m looking for Hugh M’s thoughts on HER and B-CHER. </b></div><div><b><br clear="none"></b></div><div><b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>And others?</b></div><div><b><br clear="none"></b></div><div><b>Ron<br clear="none"></b><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:small"><div><br clear="none"></div><div><br clear="none"></div></div><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span style="background-color:rgb(147,196,125)"></span><div style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font color="#999999"><i>Kevin McLean, President<br clear="none"></i></font></div><div style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><i><font color="#999999">Sun24</font></i></div><div style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font color="#999999"><i><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" href="https://sun24.solar/" target="_blank">https://sun24.solar</a> <span style="font-size:small"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NBJwnqQToaNJlYu-NajiFh8KQQEqiQJW-jHX29wQuQo/edit" target="_blank">Embers from Three Stone</a></span></i></font><span style="font-size:small"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NBJwnqQToaNJlYu-NajiFh8KQQEqiQJW-jHX29wQuQo/edit" target="_blank"></a></span><i><font color="#999999"><br clear="none"></font></i></div></div></div></div></div>
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