Microwaves for Industrial Scale Biochar
Microwaves For Industrial Scale Biochar
Read how giant microwave ovens could be used to make biochar and lock away carbon
carbon | news
In our article
What is Biochar we introduced
biochar - charcoal which is buried in the ground to
lock away carbon dioxide rather than allowing it to escape into the atmosphere where it would act as a greenhouse gas.
A British geography professor and climate specialist
Chris Turney (pictured above) of the University of Exeter has launched his company
Carbonscape to further develop and sell a giant
microwave oven which can convert wood debris into charcoal locking one tonne of CO2 away per day at a cost of $65 per tonne. The current prototype is 5 metres long, but the next generation oven will be larger, will process more wood at a time, and therefore should be able to
reduce the cost per tonne of CO2
fixed into biocharcoal.
By planting fast growing trees which will remove
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow, and then charcoaling them on an industrial scale to fix the carbon (so the gas cannot return to the atmosphere for centuries) it is possible to reduce the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere and help in the fight against
global warming.
At the top of this article was an image of the first sample of
biochar produced by the Carbonscape prototype oven. Each
patented industrial-scale oven will convert
40-50% of the wood sent though it into charcoal. Although the microwave ovens themselve use energy and therefore have their own
carbon footprint, the amount of carbon fixed in the charcoal far outweighs the carbon released into the atmosphere during the charcoal-ing process.
Carbonscape director
Nick Gerritson is pictured above in front of a prototype (
"Black Phantom") biochar microwave.
More Information
For more information about
Carbonscape, click here to visit the official
Carbonscape website. Carbonscape is based in Blenheim, New Zealand, but is also incorporated in the UK.
Article Last Modified: 16:30, 17th Mar 2009Comment on this Article
If you have any comments on this article, please email them to
neil@reuk.co.uk.
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