Quote:
Originally Posted by MTUbiochar
1. Is this method legitimate? I know most setups I've seen are more advanced than this.
2. How big should the fire get or how long should it burn before sealing the barrel?
3. For proper pyrolysis, should air be completely sealed out, or just mostly? Our bottom seal is just dirt, which probably lets a small amount of air into the barrel. Is that good oxygen control, or just a poor oxygen seal?
Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to help us out.
|
The black is the char, so your setup seems to be working, at least partially.
I'd recommend trying what a member here does (I think it was phillip, but I can't remember for sure). It's the same setup except without holes on the bottom and an unsealed lid. He starts a big fire and then throws unburnt material on top of the fire, just like your group did, but he places the lid on top with a slight gap (about 1/2 to 1 inch). This should put out the flames as the fire will not get enough oxygen. According to his description (I haven't tried it myself yet), it will smoke for several hours, changing color along the way. Once there is no more smoke, remove the lid (after it cools!) and there is your char.
I believe that your setup is not working that well because you cut off the oxygen completely and did not have enough heat to continue the pyrolysis. Are you using a thermometer?
Commercial setups, or even advanced homemade ones, use sealed containers with no oxygen to do the pyrolysis. What they have that you do not have in your setup is a continuous heat source (usually a jet torch). Also, it's important to note that as the material chars, it releases gases. If you were to do this yourself, you would need to have some way to vent these gases without allowing oxygen in. I'll leave it as an experiment for the reader to figure out how to accomplish this, but the info is on this site.
The really neat systems imo are those that feed the gases back to the burner (they're flammable!).
