soil, heat and carbon

• part of pirates of cyber states course on off grid living in cyberia
• published on x.com

Intro

• fire can destroy life — or create it

• key promise: how heat transforms waste into fertility and energy simultaneously

Terra Pretta

• the amazonians: pre-columbian people building “dark earths” along the amazon basin
• archaeological context: fertile patches surrounded by poor lateritic soil
• composition: charcoal fragments, pottery shards, bones, plant residues
• lasting fertility: stable carbon, microbial richness, nutrient retention for milenia (8000 years - 500 years ago)
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• mystery solved: char as the foundation — the biochar effect
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Science of Biochar

• basics of pyrolysis
  • input: biomas
  • drying is important
  • pyrolysis: 200c - 400c + no oxygen → devolatilization → carbonization
  • activation + inoculation
  • output: heat, biogas + bio-oil, biochar
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• difference between ash, charcoal and biochar
  • the balance between carbon yield and energy recovery
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  • charcoal is carbon made for fire
  • biochar is carbon made for life
• in the soil
  • physical structure: porous carbon matrix as habitat for microbes
  • chemical role: cation exchange, pH buffering, nutrient storage
  • biological synergy: microbe housing + water retention + reduced leaching
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How to produce?

• fast start: kontiki kiln
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• no smoke:
• how much I need?
• 370 000 m2 ⇒ top 30 cm
• $1-$20 per kg
• current bioavailable carbon: 3%
• target for chernozem level: 12%
• 370000000 kg of soil * 0.09 * 0.5 = ~20 mil kg

⇒ $20M-$200M

• scaled: too big - requires >10 km2 of forest to feed
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• quite good designs, but does optimized for biochar only (not heat energy)
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• we need a two purpose stove: biochar + heat
  • foundation: https://batchrocket.eu/en/
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  • the problem is still unsolved!

Carbon negativity

• biochar is the only technology to slow down

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• reforestation is amazing, but it is too slow

• biochar have positive feedback loop

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• biochar - the tech we missed

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• biochar fusion is the future! ;-)

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Changing the culture

http://burn.city

• global alternative to burning man every niepi on Bali
• the culture of burning not ashes, but to biochar
• next 1 week before 19 march

Connect

t.me/cybervalleyland

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x.com/@mastercyb

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