[TheForge] eco coke

[dann at wctatel.net]

My old fuel oil furnace was about 60 percent efficient ... translating the
BTU's of fuel oil into heat.  Most of the new propane furnaces are now at
90% plus.  Not exactly green, but saving 2/3s of the energy, while being
warm isn't all bad.

The Eco Coke idea comes from a German guys patent for making charcoal fuel
in developing contries.. ( 3rd world  countries) where they like to cook
with charcoal and are destroying their forests making it.  So saving 75%
of the wood in the process of making an environmentally cleaner charcoal
isn't to be sniffed at.

Some charcoal makers harvest  their wood from the forests of broken pallets.

I  haven't read a review of the eco-coke as a blacksmithing charcoal as
compared with traditional home made charcoal.  I wouldn't want to invest
in a stainless steel retort. However, when  I see  something like that my
mind jumps to alternatives ways.. I  was thinking of a  used 250 gallon
sized tank converted to be a retort... or cutting down an old stainless
steel dairy bulk tank.

What I took away from watching the video of making eco coke vs 
traditional charcoal ... the wood gases were being driven off both during
the process,   but that  making this new style of retort was that the
higher temperature was more effective in cleaner combustion of the wood
gasses driven off,  rather than the  pollution cased by slow smoldering
fire traditionally used for making charcoal.

As promoted in America,  it wasn't the charcoal fuel goal, but as a method
of turning waste wood into sequestered carbon  soil.

As I dug deeper into this yesterday,  I found that one noted  university
critic,  questioned the economics of  ECO COKE as a soil additive, 
basically said that old fashioned composting used less energy, and
produced a higher value soil additive.

Dann Johnson
Thompson, Iowa