View source for The Charvester (biochar producing tractor)

{{Category=Food and Agriculture}} 
{{Category=Energy}} 

[[File:Charvester.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Based on an estimated capacity of 500 kg char/hour and a utitlity factor of 68%,  a large part of the globally possible charring could be achieved with 1–6 million charvesters.]]

Goal: develop a mobile pyrolysis unit for production of [[biochar]] from waste organic material. By incorporating the biochar into soil, soil fertility and water holding capacity are improved and nutrient leaching reduced. 

The aim is threefold: <br>
I.) mitigating high air CO2 levels <br>
II.) improve soil fertility <br>
III.) deliver energy to the agriculture and raw materials to the synthetic industry. <br>

The ”heart” of the project is a ”charvester”, a mobile unit for pyrolysis (that is heating at restricted oxygen supply) of organic waste material in a closed system. Gases produced such as hydrogen, carbon oxide and methane will be collected and serve in the chemical industry as an energy source. 

* extensive project overview [http://www.mistra.org/mistraenglish/research/ideasupportgrants/ideasupportgrants/amobilepyrolysisunitforcarbonsequestrationandfertilizerproduction.4.87749a811cbd4c4fb4800036256.html here] 
* Project leader: [http://www.geo.uu.se/biokol/default.aspx?pageid=37&lan=0 Lars Hylander, Uppsala universitet] 
* poster with illustrations: [http://www.ibi2010.org/wp-content/uploads/CharvesterRioPoster.pdf IBI Meeting, Rio 2010]  (internal copy [[Media:CharvesterRioPoster.pdf|here]])

[[Category:Biochar]]