Date: Jun 28, 2014 Source: (
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Advanced Renewable Technologies International (ARTi) gave a live demonstration of its newly built pyrolysis reactor to friends, family, colleagues and industry partners at Wilson Ag outside of Prairie City, Iowa, June 28.
ARTi founders Bernardo del Campo, Matthew Kieffer, Juan Aviles-Proano, and Edson Vendrusculo demonstrated, from start to finish, in a cold run how the reactor autonomously turns biomass feedstocks into biochar -- a black, charcoal-like substance that can be used to enhance soil quality, sequester carbon, and remove and filter contaminants from water sources.
The reactor is encased in a 40-foot long shipping container that emphasizes modularity in design and ease of transportation. There is an opening located on top of one end of the trailer where biomass feedstocks are fed into the reactor. On the opposite end, there is an auger protruding from the side that expels the biochar product into a storage container.
On July 6, ARTi members performed a hot run that tested the reactor's equipment and capabilities. It took about two hours to preheat, three hours to run and configure the parameters and then they set it to a fixed biomass rate (about 5 tons per day) and ran it in that configuration for three hours. They processed 900 pounds of pine sawdust through the reactor and produced about 300 pounds of biochar.
The Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Reserve in Canada purchased ARTi's first reactor to expand its operations in the biochar industry. Haliburton previously explored the technology but to little avail. Once their new reactor arrives, they'll be able to produce biochar from tree bark, sawdust and wood chips to enhance soil quality in forest nurseries. They also plan to pioneer the carbon sequestration market with biochar.
In addition to Haliburton, ARTi is open to collaboration with businesses and investors.
