Salt Lake City-based Radian BioEnergy has completed preliminary engineering on a commercial-scale proprietary torrefaction system, which can convert wood and other biomass feedstocks into biochar or “green coal.”

“It’s a top-fed system where the wood enters the top and warm inert flue gases are used to do the torrefaction,” said Radian BioEnergy CEO Ben Phillips. The technology leverages Radian’s existing biomass gasification reactor configuration. “It basically readies us to be able to supply this type and scale of torrefaction system to perspective commercial buyers.” Phillips said the company would either license the technology to potential buyers or sign a contract to sell the equipment and then have it manufactured.
Read More http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/5237/radian-completes-preliminary-engineering-on-torrefaction-process/

"We have created the basis for what I consider from my years involved with U.S. defense projects, an 'engineering center of excellence'," said Keith McDade, VP of Technology and Engineering of Great Wall, in charge of overseeing design, development and IP protection for the Cyclone technology in China. "We are committed to the highest level of quality in our engineering, and we expect this attention to detail and performance to define the products we develop utilizing Cyclone's technology."

Great Wall anticipates commencing building of initial engine prototypes this quarter. Their current focus is on the Cyclone WHE-25 for use with biomass-to-power generator systems. These will include distributed combined heat and power (CHP) applications, and power sources for bio-char based environmental remediation (water and soil) equipment. Subsequent development will include Cyclone's Mark V and larger engines.

"We see a massive market developing for distributed power in China's rural areas," said Great Wall's Managing Director, Robert Devine. "The first demand driver will be government-financed projects focused on cleaning up water and soil pollution in rural China. With Cyclone, we can deliver a viable biomass-based solution that combines distributed power and environmentally beneficial byproducts to support these efforts locally and at low cost."
Read more Tradingmarkets.com

I concluded that I wanted a fast method, that could burn green freshly cut branches from hedge trimming and scrub clearning in the garden. It needed to be simple and not produce excessive smoke. It also needed to be able to deal with relatively large quantities at once. I wasn't concerned about getting the maximum possible weight of biochar from the waste material burnt, instead I sacrificed a small amount of yield for ease of operation and clean burning.

The top down Fast Furnace way
The counter-intuitive method I settled on basically consists of filling a drum with close packed branches and twigs. The drum has an open top and bottom and is supported a few inches off the ground by three sturdy blocks of wood. The drum itself has large air holes cut into it two thirds of the way up the side - mine are triangular, but only because that was easiest to cut with the jig saw at the time.

Last year, there seemed to be an unwritten rule in enviro-circles: whenever two or more enviro-folks were gathered together in a place of meeting, talk must turn to biochar.

Accounts would be exchanged of articles half-read and half-digested...the pros would be arrayed against the cons...the words "local" and "sustainable" would be flagged up early and often. A common reaction was "Good idea, but...". The notion of biochar takes us back to ancient human civilisations in South America.

The ground remaining when rainforest is cleared isn't very fertile, despite the luxuriant herbage of the forests themselves. So about 2,500 years ago, people developed what Portuguese settlers later termed terra preta - black earth - created by ploughing carbon into the soil in the form of charcoal. With ever more hungry mouths on the planet, with soils degrading in many places and with climate change threatening to reduce yields in coming decades, there's renewed interest in the ancient technology, which has been championed by James Lovelock of Gaia fame among others.
Read More http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/08/last_year_you_could_hardly.html

Large tech companies like to claim that they need broad patents to encourage their investment in innovative new technologies. And they are poised to make a fortune by selling patent licenses for new “green technologies” designed to abate carbon emissions.

But David E. Martin, an intellectual property activist who works with many developing countries, argues that a great many green technologies are already in the public domain and ready to be developed. They just need to be identified and used.

Making charcoal in Pennsylvania. Charcoal was the fuel in many iron furnaces until the conversion to coal.

Die RWE-Tochter Innogy ist bei dem niederländischen Start-Up-Unternehmen Topell eingestiegen. Deren Spezialität: Ein spezielles Verfahren für die Umwandlung von Biomasse in Kohle-Pellets. Jetzt plant RWE den nächsten Schritt.

http://www.handelsblatt.com/technologie/umwelt-news/rwe-steigt-in-geschaeft-fuer-biokohle-pellets-ein;1437778