Biochar Reactor

I've designed multiple biochar reactors, but most are company secrets. This small, manual biochar reactor is simpler and can be shared more openly. It converts wood into biochar through pyrolysis:

Put wood in the inner bucket, fasten the lid, and push it into the reactor.

Start a separate fire underneath, heating the wood in the bucket without oxygen. As the wood heats up, it pyrolyzes into wood gas and biochar. The gas is forced out and burns around the outside of the bucket, further driving the reaction.

Open the reactor and extract the bucket.

Remove the lid and pour out the biochar. No char is burnt, only the gases.

Carbon Capture

Biochar production is certified CO2 removal that can reverse global warming if done in larger scale.

Trees pull CO2 from the air. In theory you could cut trees and bury them, but wood decomposes and releases greenhouse gases. Converting it to biochar first makes the carbon stable.

If we continuously ran 80 million reactors like this (and buried the biochar and replanted trees), we would put as much carbon into the earth as we are extracting, and the net CO2 emissions in the world would be zero.

Other uses

Biochar from wood can be used for soil improvement as it is very porous, and microbes can thrive in the pores. Biochar infused soil is called Terra Preta.

Biochar can replace fossil coal/coke as a reducing agent in some metal production, as a non-fossile alternative.