[Cob] Joe Kennedy comments on biochar in earth ovens

[Joseph Kennedy]

Hi Shawn,
 
I am thinking to create a biochar drawer that would fit in the lower slot of your rocket door.  In my design, I think the gases would ignite, even though the main fire will be in the chamber below.
 
I like the carbon scrubber.  I am planning to make a chimney plug of a ceramic flower pot filled with vermiculite cob.  I could use the same size flower pot to form carbon plugs with chicken wire and biochar (i.e charcoal).  I am also thinking of vermiculite cob to make the oven door per your design.
 
All the best,
 
Joe
 
> Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:48:39 -0700
> From: sbkingster at gmail.com
> To: livingearth62 at hotmail.com
> CC: coblist at deatech.com; albert at thefarm.org
> Subject: Re: [Cob] Joe Kennedy comments on biochar in earth ovens
> 
> Joe and Ray,
> 
> Hmmm, Joe, I like the drawer idea. I'll keep an eye out for an old
> popper, likely to work well and have a great vibe! I'm thinking heat
> loss would be a minimal issue as the heat is stored in the mass walls,
> not in the air, so opening/closing won't cause much loss in most
> designs, unless you are also loosing a lot of mass wall area in the
> design. My oven "breaks the rules" as the door is wider than would be
> considered optimal to allow use of an earthen crock for slow cooking
> stews after the bread/pizza etc. is done. It still works, but I think
> I do loose a little efficiency by having a >50% door width rather than
> the approx 1/3 recommended traditionally. Maybe the drawer could be
> built into a metal "rocket door" type retrofit, with the drawer
> sliding in above the rocket door tube.
> 
> I'm not sure how air tight the biochar unit needs to be. The canister
> is pretty well sealed except for the burner holes. This may be key in
> getting combustion to stop on its own when the pyrolysis gasses are
> exhausted, a good feature IMHO.
> 
> I need to get good data on the canister method on my next firing.
> Weight of the wood mass before and after char, some estimate of volume
> as well, and maybe the length of time a can-full will burn gasses. I
> would also like to try bamboo from local sources as a biochar fill,
> see what happens. Our sycamores drop lots of small branch material
> every year, twigs may just be the easiest and most available thing,
> but I bet bamboo will make prettier charcoal.
> 
> Another experiment I'd like to try is a crude charcoal filter built
> into the chimney, likely near the end, to filter out some of the smoke
> that seems inevitable when you first fire up. Make your own filter
> charcoal! Could be something easy, a slot in the chimney for a couple
> of layers of charcoal in wire cages - maybe those old wire smore
> cookers, or something of the like. Change the charcoal out
> frequently, and keep it loose in the cage for maximum air flow,
> causing the exhaust to roll over and around charcoal pieces. Even if
> you only got half of the soot and other smoke nasties out of the
> exhaust, it would be well worth it.
> 
> Plenty left to do!
> 
> On Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 3:49 PM, Joseph Kennedy
> <livingearth62 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Dear Shawn and Ray,
> >
> > I am thinking of a biochar "cooker" that could be inserted like a drawer
> > into the firing chamber and easily slid out with not too much loss of heat.
> > Maybe several interchangable drawers, like old 8-tracks that could
> > be slotted in and removed when the biochar is ready, with the biochar
> > removed as generated during the firing of the oven.  Or maybe like those old
> > fashioned popcorn poppers used in fireplaces, now that would be a cool use
> > of old tech!  Gotta find me one of those to try.  Biocharpopper.
> >
> > Mad science for all!
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Joe
> >
> >> Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:47:55 -0700
> >> From: cobanation at yahoo.com
> >> To: sbkingster at gmail.com; coblist at deatech.com; livingearth62 at hotmail.com
> >> Subject: Re: [Cob] Joe Kennedy comments on biochar in earth ovens
> >>
> >> Dear Joe,
> >> We just launched the Dragon Pizza Oven and it was a smash hit. We ran it
> >> for five straight houts and collected at the end only a half cup of biochar.
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Ray
> >>
> >>
> >> The Great Challenges we now face as a species present the very
> >> opportunities that are giving birth to Ecological, Psychological, and
> >> Spiritual Sustainability.
> >>
> >>
> >> --- On Mon, 4/25/11, Joseph Kennedy <livingearth62 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> > From: Joseph Kennedy <livingearth62 at hotmail.com>
> >> > Subject: [Cob] Joe Kennedy comments on biochar in earth ovens
> >> > To: sbkingster at gmail.com, coblist at deatech.com
> >> > Date: Monday, April 25, 2011, 12:03 PM
> >> >
> >> > Dear Shawn,
> >> >
> >> > I have been inspired by your low-tech stuff, and am going
> >> > to integrate the door design into my new oven under
> >> > construction with high school students.
> >> >
> >> > However, it seems a waste to make biochar unless you are
> >> > using that heat to heat up the oven for other purposes.
> >> >
> >> > To me the ideal would be to make a biochar chamber below
> >> > the oven (like in Ray Cirino's example) to create efficient
> >> > heat and biochar at the same time.  Any ideas on this
> >> > option?  I can play around with this idea, since my
> >> > oven is still under construction.
> >> >
> >> > I love the mad science going on!
> >> >
> >> > All the best,
> >> >
> >> > Joe Kennedy
> >> >
> >> > PS.  I just published an article of my earth oven
> >> > odessey at Kiko Denzer's site.  It has the plans of my
> >> > latest oven.
> >> >
> >> > http://www.handprintpress.com/ovens/an-earthen-oven-odyssey-by-joe-kennedy/
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > Coblist mailing list
> >> > Coblist at deatech.com
> >> > http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist
> >> >
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Coblist mailing list
> >> Coblist at deatech.com
> >> http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist
> >
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Coblist mailing list
> Coblist at deatech.com
> http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist