An alternative to Ethanol from Corn “Clean energy +BIOCHAR”
July 19, 2010
Just to give an understanding of how to make clean energy and biochar and also to show the benefits of biochar in soil
Duration : 0:3:21
[youtube PpozW9039_o]
THis is good and a …
THis is good and a very noble idea yet there is one problem that exists that also exists with the ethanol made from corn. Using corn in this fashion decreases the amount of corn which is used in many products (too many to list). What I am saying is this can cause a shortage of food in some respects, this is the same problem we face when using ethanol made from corn. But a solution would be to have acres of corn used for food, and acres set aside for corn for fuel. We dont have a land shortage.
ok now i have to …
ok now i have to agree with this video . so is biochar high in nitrogen ?
Alternative to …
Alternative to ethanol? How about growing something other then corn. Iowa et al import 80% of their food in spite of having the best top soil in the world.
What is the music …
What is the music in the soundtrack?
I’m making charcoal here at home in an urban setting, using smoke free methods – secondary combustion. I have both test and control beds but no definitive results yet. Great video. Thanks.
in the title, the …
in the title, the poster stated that this is an ALTERNATIVE to ethanol, not ethanol production.
Would it not be …
Would it not be more realistic to burn ethanol in a laboratory to calculate the carbon footprint? I think you missed a few steps, corn alone is not ethanol, but corn is an ingredient used to make ethanol.
I don’t understand …
I don’t understand how you get char when you feed the stove air. Feeding it air, wouldn’t you have complete combustion and make ash? I make charcoal out of wood but add no air. Also how about maybe eating corn kernels and using the dried corn stalks. I have a local riverbed that is choked with bamboo. I will see if I can cut and dry a bunch soon.
On a side note here …
On a side note here and something to look into:
The first time a saw a industrial carbon manufacturing area was in DEATH VALLEY.
Apparently the silver miners in the area needed a pure form of carbon to “extract ” the silver , so they went up in the mountains and “gassified” the wood in the area. In about 20 foot tall “Upside down acorn” shaped buildings.
They still stand to this day.
I’m cooking in my …
I’m cooking in my kitchen.
So, is there a place I can just BUY
agrichar/biochar, or do I have to make
my own? There’s a new stove from, I think,
GTZ called a ‘rocket stove’. Will that
work, too? They’re trying to sell those
in Bangladesh to stop all the soot & CO.
does this kind of …
does this kind of stove need a fan like a gassifier stove?
Hi Nipwit7,
If …
Hi Nipwit7,
If your in the States you can buy one of Tom Reeds “Woodgas Camp Stoves” to make a little biochar while producing clean cooking gas. If you want to make more biochar for your garden you might like to use some of the ideas posted on dub dub dub biochar . org
Regarding biochar temp having to be low this is not true, microbial response has a lot more to do with pore structure then oils!
Good luck with your trials!
Where does a person …
Where does a person find a portable stove like the one shown in your video? I’d like to make my own biochar in a sustainable way, before some giant, shameless company exploits the name and the environmental image, and starts selling low-quality, industrial, lifeless bags of super-hot fired charcoal as “biochar” in Wal-Mart. My understanding is that biochar requires that temperatures be kept relatively low so as not to burn off volatile oils and partially pyrolyzed organic matter.
just lovely
just lovely
Hey jcrubin78,
…
Hey jcrubin78,
Here I wanted to show people that you could get clean energy from any fibrous material and have the option to keep the fixed carbon (Biochar). If the biochar is put into soil it can add to soil fertility by retaining nutrients, water and provides shelter and support living conditions for soil microbes. When we take this “Take a little and give a little” approach, nature gets right back to work to grow more biomass to provide us with more food and fuel (Sustainability).
The large stove …
The large stove could have a stirling motor placed over it. If its true that the CO levels are extremely low. You could provide house heating and electricity at the same time from corn
Hey jcrubin78,
The …
Hey jcrubin78,
The stove is a work in progress and as yet I’ve not had a chance to fine-tune it with a combustion analyzer but when I do the CO should be very very low. I really only wanted to show that it is possible to get clean energy and keep the fixed carbon (Charcoal). We’re just about to start some school trails and I needed something to show the students how it all fits together. Later we’ll do a full energy balance with different feed stocks so I’ll keep you posted.
How many BTU’s does …
How many BTU’s does one obtain from a given amount of corn in kilograms. Here in germaqny wood and corn pellets are used for furnaces. Has the CO output been measured?
Good video! *****
Good video! *****