How to make charcoal briquettes from agricultural waste

[PyR0Star]

I need to know some really good ways to crush it...... She says oh there's a lot of ways to do it, but after searching, there's no vids or info I can find to crush a lot of the charcoal I'm making. I either have to stomp on it in a bunch of bags, put it in a blender (magic bullet), or put in a ball mill, none which have worked effeciently. I'd say the best method I've used was the magic bullet. Someone help me with a better idea for smashing lots of charcoal to airfloat or close!

[SuperKluckster]

what an annoying voice ,, mono toned ,lol

[hamzakoyatp]

i to make cassavo porridge ?

[audaxboy]

All living things are made out of carbon..

[deathnote667]

she's a dirty girl

[beernchickens]

I have an idea for a solar powered hacksaw but it gets so hot you cant pick it up

[beernchickens]

I think I spotted waldo

[888mrshoe]

so I guess they have arc welders in these countries to weld tabs on ram blocks and post charcoal is a great way of storing seasonal energy or compost the smoke produce is what we don't see its done by some one else miles away so it we don't see it ,this coal made from waste not from mining , like no pollution from mining.

[UnknownNewDisease]

the only thing I didnt get is what the hell is cassava poridge

[888mrshoe]

@UnknownNewDisease cassava porridge is starch paste, potato paste or other starches what we used to used to stick wallpaper with until we refined it and called it cellulose paste same stuff fancy name,when you next cook pasta and are left with slimy water  its starch or calories take your pick

[romilloaguda]

what is the ratio and proportion of the burnt material: cassava porridge? is it 1:1 ?thanks.

[MGARestoration]

Fantastic!

[SuperNolanator]

could you use this as fuel in a forge?

[BurtBartlow]

This chick is really into charcoal.

[fonseca898]

You don't waste energy making char if you use that energy; they could have been cooking with the waste gas. And instead of burning the charcoal produced, if you use it as a soil amendment you sequester the carbon, making the cooking process carbon negative. There are some commercial stoves available that make this dead simple.

[ingesumadre]

thats ok but why didnt you teach how to use the bio gas thats wasted to do the charcoal? that would make you smart! and use the charcoal to enhance the soil. not for burning by doing so your letting go all the co2 that the plants use to live to the air again..

[TonyKaku]

I... like Amy Smith.

[scottiblasto]

neat, but seems to be a lot of work for 12 brinks a minute...couln't you make a whole pan (say 12"x12") and then cut is with a large makeshift knife?

[zibbix]

Using wood ash with newspaper or plant matter in the binding slurry will break down the cellulose making it softer. This is the same method used to make hominy corn. See Wikipedia nixtimalization entry. A paste made from old paper broken down by wood ash will also work as a binder.

[mtwestra]

@zibbix interesting, thanks! will try it out.

[FAIRWORTHD00DAWYE]

LAWL



[pilebut]

good job but this is the reason why Haiti natural mangrove forest is disaapering

[mtwestra]

@pilebut The idea is that you use agricultural waste, which otherwise would rot on the field. I agree of course that using trees to make charcoal is one of the main reasons for deforestation.

[sustainablehuman]

Could these be cured in a solar oven in an hour or two?

[buttkracken]

I think they are using driftwood bamboo. It's free as are the corn husks. You make the smoke in the open rather than in your home to prevent lung disease. Using wood has stripped the trees for miles around the village and it's getting harder to find any trees.

When you live on a dollar a day, you have very limited options.

[TheCone57]

What is the composition of the liquid substance ...?

[MrBeasowl]

brown material such as sticks and dry corn husk have carbon, green material such as grass clippings has nitrogen. this process might be cheaper, but seems like putting more carbon dioxide in the air isn't good either in the process of making the briquettes. I have mixed opinions about global warming. I just know that if there's an increase in CO2 in the air will cause bigger and more vigorous plants as proven in greenhouse research.

[MrBeasowl]

brown material such as sticks and dry corn husk have carbon, green material such as grass clippings has nitrogen. this process might be cheaper, but seems like putting more carbon dioxide in the air isn't good either in the process of making the briquettes. I have mixed opinions about global warming. I just know that if there's an increase in CO2 in the air will cause bigger and more vigorous plants as proven in greenhouse research.

[MrBeasowl]

brown material such as sticks and dry corn husk have carbon, green material such as grass clippings has nitrogen. this process might be cheaper, but seems like putting more carbon dioxide in the air isn't good either in the process of making the briquettes. I have mixed opinions about global warming. I just know that if CO2 in the air will cause bigger and more vigorous plants as proven in greenhouse research.

[NocturnalBreather]

does all plant matter contain carbon, or is there a rule to identify it?

[ronnyb1968]

That seems like a lot of dirty work. I think that I will just continue to buy my charcoal, God bless Kingford.

[TheAnderpov]

Exactly the tutorial I was looking for.

[nommerOfChickens]

could these charcoal briquettes be used to filter water through?

[mattferg84]

Thanks a lot for the video Akvofoundation, can you explain a little bit more what the purpose of the research into making these briquettes is?

[Sindin5]

What I saw seemed quite a stupid thing to do as that was tonnes of carbon monoxide coming off the top and everyone was just standing around it and probably inhaling it.. It ws extremely dangerous and people could have gotten very sick form the poisoness carbon monoxide.

[LakeErieFising]

There is a better way to make the raw charcoal. Watch "how to make charcoal like a eco redneck". His way is more efficient and it makes cleaner charcoal. If you fill the barrel with material, you get a full barrel of charcoal. This method requires a hot fire so there is no smoke and you get charcoal with no ashes and shit mixed in. When i make it for my forge, i just use the raw charcoal (mixed 50/50 with blacksmithing coal).

[mtwestra]

Cassava is a starchy crop. When you grate it, it becomes a sticky mass, that is a quite efficient glue.

[dramey03]

what a smart lady, god i wish there were more like this then those lady gaga kinds

[imglashaus1]

Very usefull and nice.

But what did it means : cassava ??

This liquid - what it is exactly?

Thank You very much.

[wmdrtr]

#5 No large 55 gallon drum is needed. No metal forms to make briquets. No having to make a porridge to make briquets. All that is needed is a digging stick, a coffee can, a 9x9 cookie sheet, a firesteel, dry bio-fuel and 3-10 gallon pot to feed and provide sterile water and heat to even a very large family for years. Total cost is as low as $5-$10 without the cook pot, DELIVERED. Now go save the world!!! And may God Bless all of your efforts.

[wmdrtr]

#4 Filling the holes with water and allowing the water to sink in around the holes help to keep it from collapsing. If the soil is very sandy, adding clay and stirring it in when filling the holes with water makes the holes stronger. This is the healthiest cheapest, lightest way to bring water to 80 % or more of the 3rd world countries for water sterilization, heat and to safely cook food. Burning bio gas is 4-5x more efficient. Now that really eliminates over 90% of the material.

[wmdrtr]

#3This is also 'smokeless technology' depending on the dryness of the fuel and using good tinder material on top to produce enough heat initially. This is also carbon negative because the gases and fuel are burned , accelerating what time and natural decay would do. It increases public health esp. to women and small children usually near the cooking or water boiling areas decreasing particulate ingestion to the lungs. This is like the "Everything Nice Stove' , but bigger , cheaper and available

[wmdrtr]

#2 Rocks surround the flame on the cookie sheet to make a pot stand for boiling water or a separate metal grill a few inches on top of the ground can be used for versatility. The hole in cookie sheet should be in the middle obviously. The metal can in the hole just helps to project the flams upward the holes allow air in and the cookie sheet on top helps keep in the wood gas to be burned. It is best that it is top lit making it a tlud bio-fuel burner. It can also make charcoal as well as ash.

[wmdrtr]

A rocket stove is free to everyone on earth. It is called a Dakota Fire Hole. A Dakota Fire hole can be made even more efficient by a perforated metal container (coffee can) to hold any bio material to be burned and a cookie sheet on top of the hole with a small 3-4 in hole for the flame. The cookie sheet can be used as a grill as well. So a 9x9 cookie sheet and a Coffee can with holes is all the material you need for a bio-gas burner. A blue and white flame emerges when dry bio fuel is used.

[lucasmorter]

just seems like a total wast of time and energy. you can buy a bag of kingsford for less than 20 bucks

[mtwestra]

@lucasmorter was this intended humourously? this obviously is not intended for use in western countries, but for developing countries, where you can't buy 'kingsford'.

[lucasmorter]

@mtwestra I THINK MOST POEOPLE 3RD WORLD COUNTRY OR NOT WOULD BE BETTER OFF USING WOOD. BURNS LONGER AND LESS WORK TO COLLECT

[mtwestra]

@lucasmorter Although wood is a great fuel, the trouble is that in many of these countries extensive deforestation has happened, and therefore firewood is not readily available. In Nepal, woman already spend 3 hours a day on average collecting firewood.

[lucasmorter]

we used to just run the plow over our fiels a few times and plant again. the only thing removing the old stocks does is make the feild look pretty besides that its just a waste of time and fuel in the tractor

[TimothyStuartRiches]

Try heating the new briquettes over the drum as the charcoal is being made, or otherwise reclaim the heat to help dry them.

If you make a long wooden form and fill it with mixture you could tamp it flat and let it sit for a few minutes, then gently lift the form and place it next to the row of your new briquettes. Repeat.

[rrnsss]

Love the video and the kind lady in it explaining things in a nice and simple way. Thank you for posting this video. I will try making it at some point.

[realjoefriday]

Regarding design of your press, it' still too complicated and can be reduced further. Get rid of the bottom plate and the bottom anvil, so that you're reduced to two parts:

1) The press-plate with its shaft.

2) The tubular member.

Put the tubular member on a flat surface like the wood you were using. Next, use your press as you were before. Then, hold the press in place and lift the tube off. Now leave your briquette where it is to dry for the next week.

[mtwestra]

@realjoefriday thanks for the suggestion!

[Roar1910]

Interesting ...

[trailkeeper]

can probalby curve a water pipe around that barrel a few times to heat up some water for a hot shower.

[nicosantiago31]

is it possible to make charcoal from water lilies? and if you can show it in video! many thanks!

[hujamboj]

biomass briquettes need no glue if you prepare your materials properly. with the correct mix they hold together like velcro. please check out the fuel briquette google group or the legacy foundation website for information on a large, worldwide network of briquette producers and users . Your process seems way too complicated for most most community projects. Ironic you are using fuel to make fuel and what about the pollution from all of that smoke?

[Akvofoundation]

@hujamboj if you would use this 'fuel' as is, it would create all the smoke in the kitchen. The idea of making briquettes is to generate the smoke at a place where it can do no harm, instead of at the cooking stove. I'll check out the google group, thanks!

[hujamboj]

biomass briquettes need no glue if you prepare your materials properly. with the correct mix they hold together like velcro. please check out the fuel briquette google group or the legacy foundation website for information on a large, worldwide network of briquette producers and users . Your process seems way too complicated for most most community projects. Ironic you are using fuel to make fuel.

[KinGkWeEzy]

hippies lol 

[Thetruthishere11]

why not just use wood?

you waste energy making coal.

[Akvofoundation]

@Thetruthishere11 The idea is to make use of a material that normally would be wasted and just rot on the field. Wood means trees, and the whole idea is to spare trees.

[Thetruthishere11]

@Akvofoundation

i get that. you waste energy makining coals.

search rocket stove.

[Akvofoundation]

@Thetruthishere11 I agree that something like a rocket stove would also work. However:

1) they are much larger / more complicated / more expensive than most regular cooking stoves that people have, which are basically small improvements over an open fire

2) making the charcoal briquettes in the field reduces the volume to be transported and adds value, which can help build small enterprises

3) making the charcoal in the field gets rid of polluting substances away from where people live.

2)

[SaxmanNateEarthsong]

@Akvofoundation That guy sounds like he just doesn't pay attention in class. I guess he doesn't understand that it is actually better in the long run.

[neiallswheel]

@Thetruthishere11 hey bananas. banana skins ? does potatoe peel burn?. brits love barbeques ,ozzies too so do the yanks. recycling waste products and eating healthy outdoors. cant see much harm in that. plus youre guaranteeing some corporation treebased briquette could be used for other use in the boardroom when they all get sacked coz of they're prehistoric attitude towards planet. bend over. take this home with you. youre fired. HAPPY DAYS. peace

[doxamarkoy]

nice idea for greece because we are so fukcing lazy and no money :)

[crazy650c]

@Akvofoundation ....it makes more sense just to grow more trees.

[mtwestra]

@crazy650c oh absolutely.

[lucasmorter]

@Akvofoundation it would be better to let it rot like mother nature intended than even touch it. when plant matter or anything like this rots it provides vital nutriants to the earth.

[mtwestra]

@lucasmorter you are right of course that fields need nutrients and fiber to stay healthy. you could also use manure or fertilizer to accomplish this, or leave the land lay fallow one year in three or four. Another option is to use the plant matter to make briquettes, and return the ash to the soil. Most of the nutrients are in the ash. In any case, mother nature probably didn't intent to have large fields with a single crop :-)

[johnh32156]

@Thetruthishere11 It burns better. My folks use a wood burning stove and sometimes some of pops buddies drop a load of elm wood off on his property while he isn't around. Elm doens't burn very hot like locust wood or hedge. If a person were to grind this down and turn it into coal or charcoal then, in that form it would burn better and hotter.

[johnh32156]

@Thetruthishere11 I've been thinking about the wasted energy/money part that it takes to make coal. I've been thinking about an HHO torch hooked to a battery bank and it could be charged by solar panels and or wind generators to keep the battery banks charged whilst running the torch to keep the container hot as it turns bio waste into coal/charcoal. Still, you would have a startup cost for the batteries, getting the solar panels and or making and putting up the wind generators.

[9DragonMaster]

@Thetruthishere11 I USE CHARCOAL FOR FIREWORKS, SO THIS IS COOL.

[bigaxe87]

@Thetruthishere11 i have to make charcoal for my metal working forge,wood doesnt burn even enuff to get steel and iron up to 2000*f. it is a waste of energy to make fuel but sometimes its unavoidable,but she couldve done a lil better job,if you dont light the woodgas (wood smoke/fumes)its pretty harmless but when you light it it piuts off carbon monoxide,haha i know that and i didnt go to m.i.t. lol i hope this helped a lil :)

[drannard123]

we already have that thing in our country , our invertor create it and very useful in our country today, anyway thank  you ....

[feltwiener69]

I have a burn setup that diverts waste gases to the fire, thus reducing the fuel I need to char a barrel of wood.

BUT CAN SOMEONE TELL ME OF A COMMON BINDER I CAN USE TO MAKE BRIQUETTS? I live in BC and don't have cassavas.

[Akvofoundation]

@feltwiener69 Any kind of starchy material usually works, at least, if you can 'bake' the brickets afterwards to firm them up. Otherwise, you will need some kind of natural glue, I suppose.

[amelka0808]

very funny. This year I burned six tons of coal to heat 120m2

[mukhlis51]

BRIKET NABATI KARYA LUAR NEGERI

[TheHackersGambit]

This is very cool

[enzo83sr]

this vid is 100% win as far as the basic concept is concerned. and the bit at the end about presses and how to put them together is great especially the way she explains the improvements made.

[northerbrewer]

Your small batches are good proof of concept but to be practical in the third world this needs to be more efficent.

A considerable amount of energy is wasted in simply flaring the waste gasses. Consider this " Process heat ". maybe there is a natural agricultural waste product that could be used as a binder or the Char could be mixed as a filler in heated extruder biomas product.

Great stuff though. This is how we can raise the standard of living for the rural power in the 3rd world

[jws6018]

This is just the kind of video I want my son to see in Niger West Africia where he is serving in the Peace Corp. What does the table look like you built for "mass production"?

[THE420WELDER]

Can this type of charcoal be used as tera preta?

[marktielewestra]

Yes, I think so. See the question by TogieTung below.

[bamaslamma1003]

What is a "vavle" and a "thimney?"

[Akvofoundation]

I would think 'valve' and 'chimney' .... :-)

mark westra

[bestSVMS]

So this is to let haiti more easly cook right?

I know this would add to cost, but maybe instead of a big hole at a the top, make a thimney out and maybe a vavle or something to feed it back in or reburn it. That way less monoxide and whatever

Just wondering, but how do these compare to kindsford?

If they are pretty good, then thats kinda amazing such simple tech could produce the same thing

[Chilax]

Compared to Kingsford they won't compare Since Kingsford uses hardwoods and chemicals to make the briquettes last longer and burn hotter. This process though sounds great it uses up a lot of waste to make something more useful.

[bluecarpenter]

what are you using for a binder? or what would I use that is close to the porridge/ thanks mark

[marktielewestra]

any kind of starchy material. In this case, grated casave was used, which forms a sticky goo.

[bluecarpenter]

so probably potato flour mixed with a little bit of water would work?? or even corn starch?  thanks

[marktielewestra]

yes, although potato flour would be a waste of a good product, I suppose. Perhaps even a grated potato, or, indeed corn starch.

Because the briquettes are supposed to be very cheap, you don't want to be the glue a significant part of the cost

[plord28]

would this type of charcoal work as a media in carbon filters, for filtering and purifying water?

[Firefly804]

what is the recipe for briquettes? do you just use enough "porridge" to make the charcoal stick?

[marktielewestra]

exactly. You add enough 'glue' so that the charcoal briquettes remain firm. The glue is wet, so less is better, as it has to dry.

A technique that is sometimes used is to fire the briquettes a second time in a metal net in the barrel, to 'set' the glue. This makes the briquettes sturdy, so you can squeeze them. This is done because if they are sold at a market, people tend to squeeze them to test quality. However, firing them for a second time does not improve the quality.

[jacksellers]

A very viable way for Haitians to make fuel

[JAROSLAVAGINA]

i don't know if you've heard of it before, but gasification might be a valuable tool for the problems your trying to address.

gasification produces fuel gasses (carbon monoxide, methane, and hydrogen) which can be used to run a generator, and if designed appropriately you are left with charcoal as a byproduct. its generally used with wood and pellets, but with a little research you might find a way to make it viable for your applications.

hope it helps.

A Gasifier Goon.

[JAROSLAVAGINA]

(after watching the full video, it seems you've built a strange variant of a gasifier... very interesting...)

[marktielewestra]

Some gassification certainly occurs during the carbon making. But the desired end product is different: here they are just trying to make good quality charcoal in the simplest possible way. There are many ways in which the technology can be improved, this is just a simple 'entry technology'. I like gasifiers too :-)

[TogieTung]

From what I read, biochar is a carbon based soil suppliment & it could retain moisture & valuable minerals from run-offs. For detailed info just Google TERRA PRETA INDIO..

[Akvofoundation]

sounds interesting... So, yes, it could be used like this. However, the amounts produced by this method are quite small, and it would be hard to produce enough to have a substantial impact on a piece of land. But it is worth a try, I guess

[TogieTung]

Have you heard about Adam Retort Kiln? It's a low cost charcoal kiln that produce 600 lbs or more charcoal from agri waste. I think it can be applied to your next projects in the 3rd World countries.

[Akvofoundation]

that's very interesting, thanks for the suggestion! I didn't know it, and will pass it on also to Amy Smith of MIT.

[TogieTung]

Your welcome, I am a great supporter of people using low tech solution to help the low income farmers gain more with less. If i have any new info you'll be the first to know.

[TogieTung]

Can the charcoal be use as biochar?

[Akvofoundation]

I'm affraid I don't know what biochar is?

[dalid717]

how long do the briquettes burn?

[Akvofoundation]

I'm affraid I don't know, but I would think about as long as ordinary charcoal briquettes.

[juanchosequeira]

Hello, Im looking for information about how to make charcoal briquettes, I live in Managua, Nicaragua, I heard about the foundation in Haiti and how its helping reduce the use of wood for firewood, we have a similar problem in Nicaragua, as a very poor country just second after Haiti. We still have very large spreads of forests, but slowly and surely they are being consumed. Could you help me?