Permachar
I started my biochar kiln journey July 2015 with a modified version of Kelpie Wilson's pyramid kiln with 3mm mild steel and top folds. I caught the biochar bug and wanted to make more of it so I
reverse engineered Hans-Peter Schmidt's and Dr Paul Taylor's 'Kon-Tiki' 1.2m kiln also in July 2015, using 3mm mild steel. I wanted a kiln with less weight that could be easily moved around so I
designed and built my first flatpacked 'Flat-Tiki' V4 biochar kiln in September 2015, based on the Kon-Tiki truncated cone kiln but in a hexagon which I called 'Hybrid', as the bottom could be
expanded by digging a central pit.
In July 2017, I designed and built the 'Flat Modular Biochar Kiln' after designing and using a number of other 'Flame Cap' biochar kilns. This kiln would be better, I assured myself with the
ability to expand the volume and flatpack modular panels for easy logistics. After a few burns, I realised the ends were too wide and the ends and sides possibly too low. The truncation/area of
earth between the side panels of the kiln was too wide too. I didn't have the money to build a new one so I went on to design and build the Oregon 'Hybrid' in August 2017, based on Kelpie
Wilson's 'Oregon' kiln and Flat-Tiki 'Carbon' in Ocober 2017 with higher sides and basically a flatpacked hexagonal truncated cone, similar to the Kon-Tiki cone kilns and compared to
Flat-Tiki V4, a larger volume, thicker steel (initally 2mm mild steel with top folds that majorly warped) and a tab and slot system - an improvement over the Flat-Tiki V4. After a couple versions
of 'Carbon', I worked out that I needed 3mm steel with higher minimum yield strength so I went to HW350 structural Corten/'weathering' steel. The steel worked great but the panels were too heavy
for one person operation - as it was just me operating it, I gave up. A similar concept was used in Nepal where there were more people, usually in villages, to manage the panels eg. assembly and
disassembly. Octagonal flatpacked Kon-Tiki cone kilns were popular due to their logistics mobility and used bolted external folds for easy assembly and durability as these are external to the
fire cavity.
I went back to Kon-Tiki cone kilns - I was still trying to solve the logistics problem, so I designed a new variation of the original Kon-Tiki 1.2m kiln I designed and built in 2015 and updated
the steel to 3mm HW350, put it on wheels with a tipping cradle and called it a Kon-Tiki 'Rolls', a double entendre on wheels and being a premium product like a Rolls Royce car which I thought
would drive sales. I sold a couple of them but the problem was no available, large enough, cheap enough and flame retardant castor wheels. Suspension could have worked well but ultimately too
much cost. There were many supply chains. The cone tipping feature was also a little unstable. The logistics problem also wasn't solved moving the kiln on and off my trailer, with ramps, which
still required 2 people to move - I had to ask my neighbour to help me unload for the first time so it ended up becoming a stationary kiln - not what I had intended it to be.
I then went back to a stripped down Kon-Tiki 1.2m kiln I called the Kon-Tiki 'Essential' designed in March 2022 with Dr Paul Taylor and built in July 2022, with a view of stationary use but could
be loaded onto a trailer if needed by two people. The costs were still high for manufacturing but the integrated system I designed around the KTE (see 'Kon-Tiki 'Essential' (KTE) latest system'
web page) works almost perfectly for gardeners, including me. I even made the drain optional to reduce cost and went for a Galvanised heat shield that was cheaper than HW350 but was durable and
light enough to do the job. It's been on the market for a couple of years but not much interest though they're still available for purchase (and work great).
In July 2024 this year, Dr. Paul Anderson, also known as 'Dr TLUD' (a pioneer of the Top-Lit UpDraft movement) contacted me. I had just finished testing a new design of Navigator TLUD stoves and
burners so was excited to hear from him. He contacted me because he had found design work on my website, under the page of 'Bamboo Biochar Kiln' at permachar.net, that he classified as a 'Panel
Kiln' and was interested to talk about it as he had also been doing design work and research into panel kilns earlier in the year. He also found photos of the 'Flat Modular Biochar Kiln' on the
internet without a source so I pointed it out to him that it and the concept had been documented (though light on detail) on my website 7 years ago. This got the conversation started.
We got talking about the benefits of what I now called 'Flame Cap Panel Kilns', in agreement with his nomenclature for the purpose of marketing and design communication. He had uncovered the main
application for panel kilns which I hadn't made the connection to - on field biochar production (which I had previously given up on with the Kon-Tiki cone kilns until I was inspired by the 'Plant
Village' Prosopis woody weed to biochar project in Kenya earlier in the year for the X-Prize 'Carbon Removal' contest). Then the penny dropped - the physical scalability/expandability potential
of a panel kiln (with one or many units of custom lengths and volumes) is huge which could be very appropriate for large windrows or piles of field biomass waste. This was enough to get me hooked
again on expandable, flatpacked and modular 'Flame Cap Panel kilns' so, with Dr TLUD, designed a kiln together called the 'Algorithm' flame cap panel kiln. It was basically a 'Bamboo Biochar
Kiln' but built from 3 standard (HW350, with minimum yield strength of 350MPa) sheets, for a basic test unit also with optional length expansion and possible truncation for more volume - the
panels were larger and roughly 4 foot/1.2 metre panels which could be stacked on a standard pallet (1165x1165 in Australia), for shipping new kilns and with or without a pallet for moving the
kilns between jobs/sites eg., the panels would also easily fit on a a 6' by 6' or 8' trailer or ute - perfect for the Barossa Valley wine region (where I'm based) and other wine region logistics
in Australia, and possibly overseas in many other wine regions.
*Future possibilities*
But the dream doesn't stop there. We're talking about many different biomass feedstock (waste) types from different plant-based industries could be used in the 'Algorithm' (and other panel kilns
made from what Dr TLUD calls 'Obtainium' - 'whatever steel you can get' though there are some safety issues with this for certain alloys, eg.Zincalume in Australia, which can only be heated to
200 degrees C before releasing toxic emissions, Lead (Pb) based paint (uncommon), galv Zinc (Zn) welding 'Metal Fume Fever' which can be managed with good ventilation and a respirator etc., with
less feedstock processing than a Kon-Tiki cone/flatpacked cone kiln due to it's expandable length (perfect for long bamboo culms and limb wood), and easier logistics. Emissions evaluated in the
article 'Emissions and Char Quality of Flame-Curtain "Kon Tiki" Kilns for Farmer-Scale Charcoal/Biochar Production' (Cornelissen, G et al, 2016) shows that flame cap/'flame curtain' operation
produce 'relatively low emissions'. In other words, a farmer/gardener could have all the benefits of a flame cap/'flame curtain' panel kiln with relatively low emissions compared to some other
kiln types (helped if the biomass has a moisture content (MC) of less than 15%), though I would like to get emissions testing done for the 'Algorithm' kiln when I can afford to do so just to be
certain given this idea could go viral like the Kon-Tiki kilns did.
Some of the biomass (preferably waste) feedstock types could include bamboo (around the world), forestry/agroforestry waste (around the world), woody weeds eg.Prosopis (Namibia, Kenya and
elsewhere), olive trees (Adelaide Hills, Australia) etc.; straw eg.rice (India, Thailand and elsewhere), wheat, sorghum etc.; hemp stems (around the world), vine prunings and vine wood (wine
regions), coffee plant prunings (coffee regions), orchard prunings (many places) and more!
So, the next steps are building the 'Algorithm' panel kiln test unit, testing it, developing it and commercialising it (many business model options) for the Australian market.
Anyone interested in getting involved in an R&D cluster for the 'Algorithm' in Australia (or anywhere that can access the same steel) please get in touch so we can compare the results with a
standard test unit, refining the design and maybe achieve something worth sharing with the world, possibly commercially with an open source and decentralised approach to manufacturing.
Write a comment