Making Biochar- Need Steel Drums- Help

I'm finishing up a design for a simple barrel burner to make a bunch of Biochar cheap. A shitload... cheap.

The design uses 30 and 55 gallon steel drums / barrels. Anyone have any steel drum connections?

I'd rather buy from a brother than hit Craigs List

I'll share the plans and pics when I build it. Someone could build this and sell biochar or charcoal. Make a little business out of it. Get a write-off

Thanks!

Try carbon steel woks from many department or kitchen supply stores. A lid would help keep oxygen out and the wood from combusting.

Might have a hook up here Rrog. Let me find out

Greg- Ya, but I'm building a double 55 gallon stack. I'm making a lot of biochar!!

St0w- Cool!!- standing by...

OK all required drums are on their way ! I'll post what the heck I'm doing. This unit will makes an awful lot of char.

You gonna sell it? There was a guy who sold biochar in michigan but he stopped making it. We need a local source.

No selling, but I think if people want to bring wood, I'll trade them for char. I'm doing it to build my shit sandy soil up north. That's just a part of the strategy, but a big initial part. Establish little islands for water, nutrients and microbes in the sea of sand. Then I can start linking the islands together with biomass. Char helps to keep a lot of nutrients from washing away initially.

This is a simple build and I'm hoping if I document exactly what to do that others will build them or something like them.

I'm about to commence on a two-stage deal. An upsizing of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LGB7lOOvV4 which is a modification of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg95KYrH8PI

So Building the big Jolly Roger, but with a double wall TLUD below as the Oz-man built in the first video. Is that a "toucan" - "two-can?"

The outer can allows for a slower burn while channeling a pre-heated air supply to the Syn gases. This secondary afterburn is at the heart of any of the newer TLUD cooktop designs for third world challenges. :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HPQjvq8Cdw

This is a nice video of the TLUD burn. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2Cjt7AiZJY

The standard 2-barrel TLUD makes less ash due to less O2. The secondary burn of the gasses is normally wasted, except in these two-stage designs, as the heat from the TLUD below heats and pyrolyzes a true retort above. What a great use of the heat from the TLUD below, I thought.

OK so after checking the dimensions of the airways, here's what I'm building:

First, here's a pic off the web that roughly shows what this looks like if you don't feel like watching the video above.



This would look like two 55 gallon barrels one on top of another and a 4' section of stove pipe on top.

Schematics look scary, but here's the deal.

EDIT: ROI ability to attach pics is offline I read in another thread. Will post pic when I can.


This is a Jolly Roger Oven. A JRO. There are different variants. Mine has the Double barrel bottom, so I'm calling it the JRO-d.

Any welders / machinists out there? I'm going to need a rim of steel with a hole for the 4" pipe. I don't know steel, but I'm thinking like 14 or 16 ga steel? Not sure if they still use "gauge" to describe thicker steel like that. 4 1/2" tall ring, around 19" diameter. You can see it in the above pic with the pipe threaded into it.

I'd hire a brother before another so if there's someone, please lemme know.

30 gallon barrels of beauty arrived today. I'll start chopping them in a couple weeks. Don't hate me because they're beautiful

I have biochar 90% carbon .03 ash if anyone looking. made free of oxygen!! and good for the planet.........

so-

howd this work out?

Hey Murph- getting this house ready to sell has just eaten me up. I look at the barrels daily. Soon , I hope

Hey Rrog! Hows this going brother? I want to build one too!

Hello Oriah-

Thanks for the thread bump, but my reply in post #14 is still in effect. I'm caught in a relocation vortex...

Took me minute to find this thread but:

http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/zip/4380335804.html