Adsorption analysis by Hugh McLaughlin

[josiah hunt]

Hello Biochar Hawaii Group,

-  As a follow-up to the E-mail I posted last week concerning the biochar now in retail stores, I now have analysis by Hugh McLaughlin on the Adsorption qualities of the biochar produced.  Below is the return e-mail from Hugh as well as a spreadsheet data set showing the results.  Included are results from a sample of charred cattle bone that was sent with the wood biochar sample.  The bone char is not for sale, but I have been experimenting with it for use as fertilizer.  

-  For those not familiar with Adsorption properties in reference to a given biochars quality, see Hugh Mclaughlin's recently published article titled:

 All Biochars are Not Created Equal, 

and How to Tell Them Apart 

 Hugh McLaughlin, PhD, PE(1), Paul S. Anderson, PhD(2), 

Frank E. Shields(3) and Thomas B. Reed, PhD(4)    

which can be found at:  http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/content/all-biochars-are-not-created-equal-and-how-tell-them-apart 

 

-  E- mail from Hugh:

Hello Josiah,

Attached are the results of the testing on the biochar and the bone char.

The biochar looks very good, but had quite a bit of weight loss during heating - likely due to water added to quench the batch at the end.

The bone char showed little, but not significant, adsorption capacity. You may consider having it tested as a fertilizer, but I do not hold out much hope. While I don't know for sure, I think it takes much more than just roasting with charcoal to convert mammal bones into something that is bio-available. The is a commercial product called bone char used in the sugar industry - but it is a very complicated production process.

See http://www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com/product/Bone-Char-Agr

and http://www.sandia.gov/water/2005vendors/BrimacCarbonServices.pdf

Please email some pictures of your operation.

- Hugh

Hugh McLaughlin
Director of Biocarbon Research
Alterna Biocarbon

-  Josiah Shelton Hunt

[Jay FitzGerald]

I think the main conclusion to come from that study is that the char you produce by your own means with your own material is always superior to what you can buy.

---

From: josia...@me.com
To: biochar...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Adsorption analysis by Hugh McLaughlin
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:57:11 -1000
CC: ju...@biochar-international.org

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[josiah hunt]

I am not sure how you came to that conclusion.  Quite the contrary seemed evident to me.  The analysis of more than a dozen chars produced by Real Montana Charcoal showed higher and lower adsorption than the char that I had produced and the char that Lehmann produced.  What seemed evident to me is that lump charcoal may or may not make a good soil amendment.  Adsorption is an important measure when intended for use in soils but not so for barbeque charcoal.  Although rudimentary, the method I use has been refined through trial and error towards creating a high quality biochar.  I have made some junk biochar along the way before finding the superior techniques guided and confirmed by analysis by CTAHR and Hugh McLaughlin.  While I promote doing it yourself, I know from experience that it does not always come out that good. 

- Josiah