I’m running my Seachar TLUD at this moment, making bones and eggshells into biochar.
If you are making bulk amounts of char, I figure dry stuff is much nicer to handle, though dusty. Kristijan has had quite good results using damp char as engine fuel, but even he starts with dry char, which would be the only way to get consistency.
What I have found best for snuffing char is an airtight container. Note that if snuffing barrel size batches, the cooling can crush a barrel. Providing a small air hole in the lid will address this. With 5 gallon batches the char will be below the combustion point in less than 10 minutes. Barrel size batches will take considerably longer. The result will be tinkling glassy char.
Do not quench. Drying wet charcoal is difficult. I have used the barrel method in the video and it works well.
To save the charcoal without quenching:
Cut off the curved parts sticking up on the top and bottom so that the opening is flat and even. Bolt angle iron or fence posts along each side a few inches below the cutoff line and extending out beyond the top and bottom. Use these two long handles to roll the barrel over when full of glowing char. Shovel dirt around to seal off air and let cool. You can use the flattened cutout piece of the barrel on the ground to keep your char out of the dirt.
And sorry to hear about the young one throwing phones in the pool. Though, as a father of young ones, I understand, and am amused, at how young brains work…
Thanks, Bruce and Garry, for suggestions about how to save charcoal from the pyramid style kiln without quenching with water. I might give it a try sometime.
I am also doing something similar, but I am using a drum on end, and then snuffing it out in place by putting a piece of 3/16" sheet metal over the top. After an hour or so it has cooled enough that I pull the top off, and put on a gasket that I made out of crumpled tinfoil, then i replace the metal to make a nice tight seal. As long as the drum is tight it should cool off in there, but if you have any air leaks from burn-throughs you have to shovel it over to a metal garbage can the next day to keep it from slowly burning up.
You don’t want it completely airtight. It will contract when it cools and can suck in the sides. That being said, you do want it fairly airtight, like dirt will let in enough air to keep it from collapsing. I just seal up the top of my barrel with the lid, and either twist it into a pile of sand or put about an inch of sand around the bottom, and I pack it tight with my foot while i am checking for gaps.
Thanks Thierry, Carl, and Sean for your ideas. I have seen a description of what sounds like throwing a wet blanket over the gap in the barrel to shut down the burn. I wonder how long it would take for the blanket to dry out and catch on fire–no YouTube video on that one. I suppose one could continue to dampen the blanket until the heat died down.
Hi friends! Things are very hard in Venezuela and internet in the woods where I live is intermitent and we have had several total blackouts with cero power. It´s been very tough for us. Thats why I have been absent s long. I´m posting 2 videos of our method in barrel (the first eficcient) and the second one we baptised "THE BEAST. I posted it in another chat. We have had very good results with both and no need to wet (I don`t recomend it). Here they are
We have been doing it for agricultural purpuses for some years.
I hope you like it!
Hi Abner, Glad to hear from you. Wish there was a way to help you, but have been praying for you, and your country. If there is a silver lining, seeing what you are going through, maybe it will deter people from that type of government.
Hi Abner , i wish we could all have a beast at the bottom of our gardens and then we would have hundreds of run hours worth of fuel in one go !
Oh and another thing you have that i don’t is a lady willing to get her hands black and muck in , even if it is only for the camera , nice one mate .
Wishing you and your fellow countryman / women all the best . from Australia
Thanks for your words D&B, she is my daugther but her mother (my wife) is of the same brand. They are warrior women. Now my daugther left to Chile o seek new horizons, and she is applying what she learned here and they liked the proyect. She is working in a University in Chile; at the end I think she will end in Australia with her sister, another daughter that lives in Brisbane. Of my 11 children, 10 left the country, we only have one left here (another daugther). Thanks again
Make use of your process heat.
I have given a lot of thought and tests to Gary Gilmore and his methods and you are very hard pressed to find easier methods.
