The Biochar Factory

Biochar as a habitat for soil microorganisms      The pore space of pyrolyzed biomass increases during charring by several thousand folds and is related to charring temperature and feedstock materials.              Figure 1 . Biochars derived from corncobs (Zea mays L.) produced at incremental pyrolysis temperatures (350–650°C in 100°C intervals) were characterized using elemental analysis, specific surface area, scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffractometry, and Fourier-transform infrared spectra to estimate the relationship between the physical and chemical properties of biochars and the treatment temperature. Generally, carbonization, aromatization, and specific surface area increased with the elevation of temperatures.  Source: https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/aj/abstracts/105/3/773?show-t-%20%20f=tables&wrapper=no?access=0&view=article       Estimates of the resulting s...

During a field trip organized by the Department of Tropical Agriculture and International Cooperation at NPUST, we visited a bamboo charcoal factory at Hualien County, located in the northern region of Taiwan. In this report I wanted to show the production of bamboo charcoal and the different products they offer. This bamboo charcoal factory operates in the countryside of Hualien. Bamboo charcoal is prepared for different purposes and for different products. Ovens are feed by gas, they count with 4 ovens that operate for 3 days to reach the desired temperature. Shop and factory owner Gas is fed by a small compressor that is connected to the gas pipe, fire is started and is introduced to the oven. Computers control the temperature in the ovens. After 3 days, the oven can reach a temperature of 1100 C, which is the desirable temperature to produce their charcoal. Once the oven is in that temperature, the computers will stop the fi...

     Polyphenols include several classes of compounds, such as phenols, phenolic acids, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and others, with more complex structures, tannins and lignins. Polyphenols are secondary metabolites produced by plants in response to stress conditions (Bennet and Wallsgrove, 1994), such as infections, large amounts of UV rays or other factors (Popa et al., 2007).  Source:  http://www.landesbioscience.com/curie/images/chapters/Wahle1color.gif      Oxidized polyphenols also inhibit growth and development of certain microbial strains. The toxicity mechanism of polyphenols may be explained by the inhibition of hydrolytic enzymes, or by other interactions, such as blocking protein transport, non-specific interactions with carbohydrates, etc. (Popa et al., 2007). Stimulus or inhibition capacity on plant growth and development is closely correlated with the concentration of Polyphenolic compounds used (Anghel, 2001). Polyp...