There are many technologies available that produce Biochar as a primary product or as a by-product. These can be from small cook stoves through to big industrial plants.
This page explores and provides research links for the various technologies available and their typical applications.

This page also presents current case studies on technologies that are currently in practice for farmscale production of biochar. We hope through these case studies key knowledge gaps and areas for improvement are identified.

This is also were collaborative design development comes in. Identified knowledge gaps can form specific tasks for anybody to work on. Field testing of these technologies can also be done by you and results and findings feedback into OpenChar. Starting the Open-source Design Cycle.

If you are looking for what technologies to use for a particular application go to: Applications

Technologies

There are basically three types of chemical processes that form biochar. Each technology generally can fit into these three processes. Slow Pyrolysi, Fast Pyrolysis and Gasification.

For the purpose of identifying the most appropriate technology this site has been split into technologies defined  by their biomass feed rates:

Small Scale Technologies (0- ? kg/hr feed)
> Cook Stoves

Farm Scale Technologies (?- ? kg/hr feed)
> Pit/Mound Kilns
> Drum Pyrolyzers
> Bourry Box Kilns (Clay Kilns)

Commercial Scale Technologies ((?- ? kg/hr feed)
> Rotary Kilns
> Multi Hearth Kilns
> Flash Carbonizers
> Gasifiers

Resources

A summary Matrix of Biochar technologies can be found here: /resources/286/423
It is work in progress so feel free to download, edit and upload new versions to contribute to OpenChar. Note: It has not been verifed

Discussions

Add discussions or comments here: /search/discussions/286
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