Biochar, Fuel and Water Production from Municipal Waste Steams

Appropriate Use of our Carbon, Nutrient, Energy Storehouses

Danny DayEprida Power and Life Sciences

2010 U.S. Biochar Initiative Conference

What are our primary long term goals?

Sustainability by:

Recycling our plant nutrients

Maintaining/improving soil fertility

Capture and use available energy

Building integrated local economies

Where are our nutrients?

Are they here?

We always have added nutrients

But where do get plant nutrients?

We mine most mineral nutrients. These are early 1900 circa Florida phosphate mines.

And today?

We continue to mine minerals like potassium from these petroleum powered potash mines.

Yet we now can recycle the energy and value of almost everything

Some of us have learned how to use and reuse even better

Tree Swing

Recycling has become fun

Recycling to new levels!

But what about the vast quantities of nutrients we consume each year?

Can this system capture those lostand squandered nutrients?

Will we need to learn new behaviors?

It is a big challenge

Practices of Nutrient Recovery

Composting sewage sludge

Short soil retention time

Possible pathogen distribution

Drugs, antibiotics & long term implications

Extracting and Concentration

Typical fertilizer issues, i.e. retention time, salts build up, leaching, reduction in microbial diversity, loss of nitrogen.

Proposed Options

Use yard waste as screw press filtration sweetener to remove bio-solids

Use crushing pyrolysis to size particles needed for maximum aggregate formation

Use staged pyrolysis to separate ammonia gas

and trap nutrients within biochar matrix

Use submerged plasma arc to reform oil into

hydrogen process gas (MagnegasTM) needed to smokeless process wet sludge

Yard Waste + Sewage?

NO!

NO!

Not Here!

Yard Waste + Sewage Sewage systems must remove the solids

from the liquid stream to properly function

Yet adding ground up wood fiber, bark, tree trimmings can improve the performance of low cost dewatering (i.e. screw presses) and provide needed carbon for later biochar production.

Biomass

BioChar

Bio-Oil

EpridaManure and Biomass Processing

Manure

BioSoildsDewatering and Plug FeedingProcess

Chipped

Green

Multi Staged

Transport Reactor

Using a Screw Press

This Press Technology and Mfg, Inc screw press dewaters

and acts as screw feeder for pyrolysis reactors. (www.presstechnology.com)

AM Fungi produce a glue “Glomalin” shown in light green, which aggregates small soil particles

This increases water and air holding capacity, resulting in soil tilth with increased biomass yields.

AM Fungi live 3 weeks. The glue binding the particles remains for decades.

The structures are biologically built cathedrals, with large internal volumes

Fertile Soil is “aggregated”

silt, clay and sand particles

Charcoal addition to the

soil provides nutrient and

water storage center for

mycorrhizal fungi

Their hyphae invade

charcoal pores and

support spore

reproduction

Ogawa

Kansai Environmental

Charcoal is sought out by AMF

Fungi on New Char

Fungi on 100 Yr Old Char

Untreated Soil -16cm from surface

Soil Aggregate Demonstration 1/8 inch top cover of inoculated biochar

Biology + Charcoal = Fast Aggregate Formation

Treated Soil – 16cm from surface

Untreated Soil -16cm

Treated Soil -16cm

Aggregate

110 days after surface application of 50/50 biochar& compost, this clay soil was converted to this

200x

200x

Char and Aggregate Formationto Increase Water Holding Capacity

Char factors: Natural gradient of diverse

pyrolytic condensate to support widest range of life

Dissolved organic matter holding capacity (inverse to wetting rate)

Optimize particle size relationship (char-to-colloid)

Microbial/Fungi inoculation

AggregateVolume for

CarbonStorage

Material Process ResultsYields BTU

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

Percent Yield

Feedst

ock

Yield by Feedstock

Biochar Yield

Bio-Oil Yield0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

Feedstock

BTU

/lb

BTU Measurements

Source Material BTU

BTU Bio-oil

BTU Bio-char

Smokeless Pyrolysis

406C

PyrolysisComplete

Magnegas Sweep Gas Flow Rate 0.5 SCFH

For:Oil StabilizationOil YieldSmokeless Pyrolysis

50C 78C 87C 105C 112C 288C 352C

380C 403C 416C 424C 419C 411C 410C

This multipurpose fuel can drive your car as well as cut metal better and twice as fast as actelyne.

2009 Eprida & Magnegas (MNGA) offer a Carbon-Negative Oxygen Positive Fuel from Organic Waste

2 inch bar stock sliced like butter

EPRIDA and MagnegasMulti-Product Biomass Refinery

Produce valuable fuel and bio-coproducts - now!

Restore topsoil - now!

Turn waste into profits

Magnegas Fueled

Magnegas Power and Fueled

Fuel Alternative –A Comparison of Exhaust

ECOSSFertilizer

Mixing Plug/Feeder

BioChar

Bio-Oil

Flocculate

and Lime

Activated Carbon

OutgassingAmmonia and Water Vapor

Multi Stage Transport ReactorDewatering

&Screw Plug

FeedingSystem

Biomass/

Yardwaste

Sewage

Hot Gas Filter

Condensing and Gas Return

Sludge

BioSoilds

Sedimentation

Biochar Filter

BiologicalReactor

Final Clarifier

Disinfection

Activated Carbon Polishing

Discharge Water

Magnegas

Combustion Housing

Fluidized

Precipitator

Cyclone

Discharge

Plasma Arc

Flow Recycler

HeatMagnegas

Storage

Exhaust

Compressor

+30 Watts/SCF

Burner

Process Diagram

Color Removal

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Effluent Biochar Filtered

Biochar Filtered 2

Acivated Carbon Filtered

Acivated Carbon

Filtered2

Perc

ent re

moved

Filtration by Biochar and AC

Measured by Spectronic Gensys 20

Biomass Processing Analysis Services

Samples and yields produced

Accurate Oil Yields

Biochar

Custom Biochar Fertilizer Development

Nitrogen – Total 3.96%

Nitrate Nitrogen 0.12%

Available P2O5 4.47%

P2O5 – Total 4.60%

K2O – Total 6.51%

Boron 0.009%

Zinc 0.012%

Manganese 0.072%

Iron 0.708%

Copper 0.024%

Magnesium 0.450%

Use: 2-3 Tablespoons per pot around roots

Are we are all committed to making this work?

Sample Testing and Analysis

Please remove stool sample before use

Thank you for your kind attention

Danny DayEprida Power and Life Sciences

danny.day@Eprida.com