Making Charcoal with the Exeter Retort
By woodlandstv
Slow connection? Watch in lower quality
Alan and Jo Waters are expert charcoal makers with many years experience of this traditional skill from the land they coppice. Here they speak about the benefits of charcoal production using the Exeter Retort. They join with Geoff Self and Robin Rawle, designers and manufacturers of this Retort, to explain their experiences of the benefits of this method compared to traditional ring kilns - that the Retort produces more charcoal, that it has a shorter burn time, is cleaner, more efficient, easily accessible and transportable, and that it ultimately produces better quality charcoal - ideal for small woodland owners. [email protected] http://www.carboncompost.co.uk/ An Adliberate film http://www.adliberate.co.uk for WoodlandsTV http://www.woodlands.co.uk/tv
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Discussion
very nice rig.when i hit the lotto i will buy one.
Is it sustainable? Surely if too many take it up we'll be burning trees faster than they can grow.
It's correct that we flare off excess wood gas to control the retort temperature to 450degC.
We are working, with the help of a government grant to clean up the excess gas and use it to drive a CHP unit. More of this later.
Geoff Self
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We're happy to tell you we have a biochar business too. It's where the fines go. All the harvesting is carried out in accordance with an approved forestry plan. Most of our wood we fell ourselves (both Alan and Carbon Compost Company) and obtained through hardwood thinning exercises or coppicing.
Come to Devon. We'll be happy to show it in full swing. Robin.
Not quite true, maxdecphoenix. Different woods offer different carbon densities as you've pointed out. For biochar it makes little difference but it does for BBQ charcoal. Nobody wants carbonised sausages so supplying somebody with a charcoal that burns very hot and fast is not a good idea. Dense, long lasting charcoals are ideal for cooking and, with a few exceptions, this usually means a hardwood charcoal. Softwood FC waste such as GlenislaGhillie suggests will make an excellent biochar.
Robin Rawle nice, would love to see a video of the fines turned into biochar
That's some beautiful charcoal. How long do you season the wood before hand?
if this ever takes off, what you HAVE TO DO is make sure at least 5-10% is turned into powder or pearock sized consistency and put back into the ground to turn into biochar, you could use/add a bunch of sticks trigs and dead leaves. That will rejuvenate the forests soil.
Also make sure you ONLY do select harvesting. By doing so, you will also help preserve the forest.
shexdensmore
May 2, 2017