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#371 (permalink)
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| Thinking | Re: Terra Preta Quote:
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| | #372 (permalink) |
| Thinking Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Memphis
Posts: 46
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Figuring out what to do with the gas created by the pyrolysis process is the real challenge. Unfortunately, since I am a lawyer not a scientist, I can't help much with the design. But I had envisioned a ceramic based stove, potentially made out of pottery for third world applications. Even better would be a stove made out of something like soapstone for first world applications. Modern wood stoves burn exceptionally clean, combusting the gas with catalytic converters or secondary chambers that get intensely hot. I have kind of envisioned a three chambered stove/barbecue/smoker. The first chamber would have a small amount of sacrificial starter woodstock. The second chamber would contain woodstock for charcoal and the third chamber would be an oven for cooking/barbecuing/smoking. Obviously, the gases produced in the second chamber need to be redirected into the first chamber where they ignite and keep the oven going. Maybe catalytics are necessary here -- maybe not. But that is what I have envisioned. If they can make woodburning stoves that recombust all the gases, why not take this technology and use it for making charcoal in our homes? After all, heating and cooling our homes takes up about 60% of our energy requirements, depending upon location. |
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| | #374 (permalink) | |
| Thinking Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Memphis
Posts: 46
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Re: Terra Preta Quote:
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| | #375 (permalink) |
| Thinking | Re: Terra Preta I place the retort directly on my BBQ briquets after the steaks finish cooking. I could probably get by with a tad fewer briquets if it was just the steak. A downside is that it only works well when there isn't a cold wind blowing. Hot afternoons best. I expect your in-vessel combustion method isn't quite so limited. |
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| | #378 (permalink) | |||
| Thinking Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: England
Posts: 50
![]() ![]() ![]() | Re: Glomalin and Terra Preta Good post Philip, well worth building on. Quote:
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pH up? The mean pH of terra preta is 5.7, and of terra mulata 5.3 (Kämpf et al in Amazonian Dark Earths), higher than the awful common soil but nowhere near suppressing fungi. Phosphorus up? The high P (and Ca) levels in terra preta are believed to be original, from the debris of habitation, not accumulated. They are reported to be the main features distinguishing terra preta from terra mulata, apart from the colour, which is probably due to bacterial decomposition of the debris but has no known beneficial effects. Terra mulata has low P and shows that P does not “come up” in Dark Earths. A useful hypothesis: more glomalin will be found in TM than in TP. I had hoped that there was no link between TP and glomalin, because then we’d have two weapons against carbon dioxide instead of one. But the scientific evidence is too compelling for me right now. Nevertheless, I cling to the hope of a pleasant surprise when independent glomalin assays of Dark Earths are published. M | |||
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| | #380 (permalink) | |
| Creating Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: North of Sydney Australia
Posts: 5,902
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Quote:
My understanding was the charcoal was very fine in ADE,Terra preta?
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