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Slide 2 WASTE FACILITY B&B GARDEN SUGAR MILL PROJECT 540 Northern Rivers & Tweed Valley Slide 3 The Project 540 Kiln has the specific intent to sequester atmospheric CO2, in many small localities, and to make soil good to the seventh generation. Geoff Moxham www.bodgershovel.com Constraints and goals Accessible sensors Validate simple visual tests Cheap low-emission designs Household uses of process heat Finessing efficient solutions including Vortex flow induced in chimney stacks Pre-heated and controlled air to tuyeres Multiple purpose dampers & vents Building and testing prototype kilns Catenary and sprung-arch trolley kilns Side-loading carriages Quenching and inoculating tanks Educational outreach Community kiln-building projects Market and show presentations Phoenix Kiln series 20 L 40L 3 cu m, small farm Slide 4 Phoenix Rising Ben Speirs http://absorberroof.comhttp://absorberroof.com Mark Feltrin gasificationaustralia.comgasificationaustralia.com Human scaled for 1 person Output must justify the input _________________________________________________ Compact method producing usable amount of char. Metal shell of washing machine makes smoke proof shell. Lined with fire brick Contains and store the heat Worked well no need to top up fuel during burn Slide 5 Simple parts Double drum retort Inside the kiln Lifting the lid Slide 6 Future steps - Using the heat Ben Speirs http://absorberroof.com/ Mark Feltrin http://www.gasificationaustralia.com/ Heat for clothes drying Hot water Home heating Refrigeration Micro-gasification Electricity generation Thermoelectric Organic Rankin Cycle Creating independence in the rainforest Slide 7 Inoculating Biochar Charring the weeds Lantana vines Camphor Laurel trees Bamboo Crush finely smaller than in, while wet worms can transport the fines Course meat grinder Garbage disposal grinder, drip on inoculant heavy drum roller lawn mower over wet char in a bay Inoculate with: Urine, worm juice, compost percolation Sea minerals, brewed crop specific teas Biodynamic compost & soil Application: 4t/ac = 2 lb/sy. Improves to 1lb/sf Animals Chickens, cows, humans Hyphae: Microbial C reef If composted returns CO 2 to atmosphere in 3-5 yrs. Biochar sequesters 30-40% of C for thousands of years. Charcoal pores: Tilling it in is urban renewal, with quality public housing Slide 8 Compost Compost loo BIOCHAR Design Site Bush regeneration Events Fund raising Food Seed savers Nursery Chooks Sustainability Promotions Best practises Childrens garden Water Mullumbimbi Community Garden Growing to Share & Sharing to Grow Slide 9 Mulching with green cane tops returns C to soil rather than going up in smoke Nitrogen added, 2lb/ac facilitates break down of machine harvested trash Legumes planted directly into trash in fallow period Legumes add nitrogen Add lime at 2t/ac then scrapes top 8 inch into mounds giving equivalent 4t/ac of lime in the mounds Plant cane into the mounds improves aeration on land subject to flooding Traffic controlled to inter-rows & reduced cultivation Lime & cultivate only once every 6 yrs minimizing soil damage, maximize soil life Sugarcane Farming Tweed Valley - Robert Quirk 50kg N/ha 250kg K/ha 6kg P/ha Slide 10 Slide 11 Ap ply char at rate 2-4 ton/ac in 15 plots with some having no char Test for crop yield, leaching of nutrients, nitrogen cycling, emissions of CH4 & N2O High sulphate soils High N 2 0 with normal cultivation Preliminary results indicate reduction in emissions of N2O with applications of 10t/ha green-waste biochar No agronomic benefit found to char Trails continuing with reduced N Slide 12 Biochar field site Tweed Valley NSW Lab tests at DPI show up to 95% reduction in N 2 0 emissions Slide 13 30 MW cogeneration plant fueled by remnants from sugar production Saves 400,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year $220 million capital cost Government policy has resulted in a plunge in the price of renewable energy credits. Future potential for biochar production. On farm collection of cane trash and use for biochar production requires proof of agronomic or climate benefit. There is interest in small scale production for return to fields as trials Slide 14 Germany seeks to reduce landfill disposal by 65 percent by 2016. Convert most of residuals into compost and energy. Pyrolysis plant on location to char the wood waste & produce electricity Inoculate the biochar with liquid wastes or blend with compost. Reduce odor, speed digestion, enhance soil amendment. Next step: Receive all green waste and kitchen waste from Wurzburg. Separate and sieved into fines for composting, Woody trash for incineration for electricity, Plastic mixed trash for electricity production in a different plant. Compost sold to farms and also bagged for retail on location. Current operation Slide 15 Ballina Shire Waste Management Centre No green waste to landfills + fees: $80 /ton on weigh bridge $40 / ton C arbon P ollution R eduction S cheme Self hauled green waste = 6000 t/yr Bio solids = 2000 ton/yr Pickup green waste & kitchen = 4000t/yr Shred all 12000 ton/yr Row compost for 6 to 8 weeks Sieve to separate: Fines for compost = 5000 t/yr Chips for mulch = 4000 t/yr Pyrolyze - biochar = 3000 t/yr Send back to community Residential gardens Community gardens Broad acre application on farms Small horticultural farms Macadamia, avocado, bananas Food Links Project: Build resilience against climate change & peak oil Slide 16 Thank you From the Project 540 Team http://bodgershovel.com Slide 17 Low-emission, low cost biochar kilns for small farms and villages Focus is to prove that emissions from small biochar kilns can be controlled to best practice standards, while using easy designs, accessible materials, and simple cues for emissions checking. Project results are committed to the Creative Commons public domain. Available annual biomass worldwide: (Rounded from Yevich, Logan 2002) 4 Gt of agricultural waste (2 Gt developing world including 400 Gt field-burned, 740 Gt fuel) 2 Gt wood fuel burned Vision: 1 Gt of C sequestered globally via small scale pyrolysis and hands on land management = Terra Preta EXAMPLE: Anila Stove Project, Tamil Nadu (D. Friese-Greene, Schumacher Inst, Bristol) 25,000 Number of families cooking/day 25,000 31,250 Kg wood used/day 62,500 Kg of bio- residue used/day 25,000 Kg of charcoal used/day 10,000 tonnes Charcoal production in 1 year Slide 18 Accessible Pyrometry Instrumentation Three main indicators for good pyrolysis Temperature of the kiln chamber ceiling - non-contact infrared thermometer Temperature of the pyrolysis vessel core - N-type thermocouple in ceramic shroud CO content of the flue gasses - automotive CO monitor Time-keeping is important The soak period of one hour at 450C - 500C, needs to commence as soon as the reaction vessel core reaches temperature. This requires an process-area clock, or in our case a dedicated laptop data-logging set-up. N-type Thermocouple inserted 100mm into drum Non-contact Infra-Red thermometer CO monitor Slide 19 Available Global Biomass: Global charcoal production, 1992 = 24 mt (FAO) Biomass & field residues burned, 1985 = 2.9 Gt (1995, +20%) (Yevich, Logan) Total field waste available = 4 Gt (developing world = 2.0 Gt (Yevich, Logan) Total Forestry production = 9.5 Gt/yr Net Primary Production (NPP) = 60 Gt C/yr Human Appropriated NPP (HANPP) = 20 Gt C/yr (32%) Conversion efficiency: 60% of wood is emitted as volatiles: CO2, CO, CH4, and NMHC. Traditional methods require 6 to 12 tons of wood for 1 ton of charcoal. Biochar potential (assuming 40% C fixing efficiency): 1 Gt C/yr (assuming 50% of Ag, biofuel & forestry waste) 2 Gt C/y (assuming conversion of 25% of HANPP or 8% of NPP). Biochar potential from waste biomass Slide 20 fines & handling losses [100] (=10% but could be 20%) Wood [1000] Charcoal kiln Biomass pyrolysis GWP = 749 charcoal [403] charcoal stove combustion GWP = 477 CO 2 [353/353] CO 2 [234/234] CO [56/112] NMHC [2.8/34] NMHC [1.3/15] CO [45/90] CH 4 [17/367] CH 4 [2.9/64] aerosol [2.2/2.2] aerosol [0.7/0.7] Pyroligneous liquids [185] CARBON/ENERGY BALANCE FOR CHARCOAL PRODUCTION & COMBUSTION Brackets contain C in grams, followed by 20 year CO 2 equivalent global warming potential (GWP) Charcoal production and use is more climate damaging than burning. Kiln data Lacaux, et al 1994; Stove emissions Smith & Thorneloe, 1992. Warming potential of CO assumed to be 2 - ibid Slide 21 CARBON/ENERGY BALANCE FOR TERRA PRETA Small Kiln Scale Brackets contain C in grams, followed by 20 year CO 2 equivalent global warming potential (GWP) Biochar soil sequestration provides relative GWP 500, if CH 4 is captured. Kiln data Lacaux, et al 1994; Assume waste biomass emissions = wood. Waste Biomass [1000] Pyrolysis Retort Biomass pyrolysis GWP = 399 charcoal [503] Soil sequestration & crop growth GWP = +- CO 2 [?] CO 2 [234/234] CO [56/112] NMHC [2.8/34] CO 2 [17/17] CH 4 [?] aerosol [2.2/2.2] N 2 0 [?] Pyroligneous liquids [185] Useful heat 5MJ Slide 22 Correlation of methane emission with combustion efficiency (CO2/CO+CO2)