Dirk Jan Rosse is a friend of mine.  He, like many people I know, has lots of ideas.  But, unlike most, he actually acts on them.

What is this “biochar”? It can start off as goldenrod…

But it can be any biomass, even, as in this case, weeds.  It is harvested with the same equipment. farmers use on hay.

The bales are ground up and made into a powder which is fed into a grain mill and compressed into pellets.  

This is a video of Dirk Jan demonstrating that the smoke from a stove he built could actually be burned so that pure charcoal (carbon) remained.

 

 Back in 2009, Dirk Jan and I went to a conference in New Hampshire where Tom Reed, a former chemistry professor at MIT, and an expert on biochar, was a featured speaker.  Here Dirk Jan chats with Tom.

 

For the sake of history, the Pony Farm Biochar Conference in New Hampshire in 2009

 

The story of biochar and El Dorado, The Lost City of Gold

If you’ve got some time to watch a fascinating BBC program (?programme), check this out:

 

And if you would like to try making some yourself, here is a stove you can use at home to cook as well as make biochar.