Air Burner introduces mobile biochar production system

CharBoss, the world’s first mobile onsite biochar production system, has arrived, and the timing couldn’t be better, says Air Burners, which created the product.

Every day, unwanted wood waste piles up worldwide—up to 70 million tons is collected annually, but only 48 percent of wood waste is recycled. If that weren’t a big enough problem, landfill space also is becoming scarce. On top of that, disposal can be costly to businesses and the environment.

Air Burners, Palm City, Florida, partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service to boost the environmentally-friendly technology while adding power and speed to the self-contained CharBoss. The fully assembled above-ground air curtain burner system is an advanced pollution-control device scientifically proven to eliminate wood waste 40 times faster than open burning while significantly reducing particulate matter, such as black carbon smoke, to help slow climate change.

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The CharBoss accepts whole trees, logs, root balls, slash piles, invasive shrubs and other unwanted biomass debris. It burns about 1 ton per hour, producing 20 percent of that weight in biochar, a valuable, carbon-rich residual to sell or return to the soil. The towable CharBoss is ideal for hard-to-reach, remote areas, such as forest thinning, land clearing and disaster cleanup sites. Orchard growers and farmers turn to the CharBoss to maneuver in and out of tight spaces without damaging crops or equipment.

After a successful debut at the University of Idaho Experimental Forest in January 2023 and last month’s biochar production demonstration in Harrisonburg, Virginia, the world’s first mobile onsite biochar production system has proven itself able to tackle even the most challenging, most demanding jobs with no grinding, hauling, or permanent facilities.

“The CharBoss is effective at reducing slash piles without as much smoke and particulates as would be seen from open slash pile burning,” says Debbie Dumroese, a senior research scientist with the Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station. “At the same time, we are creating a high carbon product that can be used to restore soil at the log landings and skid trails or elsewhere within the watershed. Our goal is to use this tool to reduce residues and wildfire risk, while building more resilient soils and improving forest health.”

Air Burners’ system creates a curtain of air over the opening of the firebox where the wood is burned. The primary purpose of the air curtain is to create a “secondary burn chamber.” The air curtain is like a lid covering the opening in a firebox. The particles of smoke rising on the hot gasses of the fire are trapped under the air curtain, says Air Burner. These smoke particles are then reburned and their size is significantly reduced. With this reduced size, they can now escape through the air curtain and appear more like waves of heat than smoke. The result is a very clean burn.