Dear all,
My earlier comments about charcoal as a space filler in TLUD reactors
have been placed at my website.
http://www.drtlud.com/2013/05/01/dr-tlud-shares-some-tlud-stove-operation-tips/
Tom Miles replied that between 7% and 10% of the charcoal could be
consumed during such a the TLUD batch. I do not have any data on that
(not yet), but I raise some questions:
1. Tom, what percentage of the fuel in your "batch" was biomass and
what percentage was charcoal? A very high percentage of the "fuel" as
charcoal would favor higher percentages of char consumption. If there is
rather little charcoal as filler, even 10% of consumption might be a
small price to pay for being able to use skraggly narly twisted biomass
that does not fill well into TLUD fuel chambers. But the ability to
fill in the excessive space could be very important for biochar makers
who otherwise could need to do considerably more pre-processing of the
fuels. In other words, more "forms" of biomass could be better
accepted into TLUDs for heat and char production.
2. Charcoals are not pure carbon. Some residual volatiles are
present, with more in the chars that were prepared at lower pyrolysis
temperatures. Merely giving a second chance (and more time) for the
volatiles to become gases could result in a different (better?) form of
biochar. If that is the case, then the 10% reduction could be viewed
as an improvement and not as a loss.
3. Please note that the addition of charcoal into the TLUD fuel
chambers was not a topic of discussion. This is new ground and is an
open field for everyone and anyone.
WE NEED SOME DATA ON THIS. I hope that those who are actively producing
biochar will conduct a few simple experiments to help us be better
informed. TLUD users do NOT need to wait for others to get us some
more data. Please contribute whatever experiments you can.
And if you want to work together with others, maybe some of you will
come to one of the Dr TLUD Workshops on Stoves and Biochar this year.
Paul
--
Paul S. Anderson, PhD aka "Dr TLUD"
Email: [email protected] Skype: paultlud Phone: +1-309-452-7072
Website: www.drtlud.com
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