Amaron Energy of Salt Lake City, Utah partnered with the Eureka County Department of Natural Resources to bring a mobile pyrolysis kiln to the town of Eureka for biochar and bio-oil production Sept. 15-19. This demonstration was the first in an effort to utilize approximately 100 tons of chipped pinyon-juniper biomass from treatment projects conducted on several hundred acres in and around Eureka by Eureka County Department of Natural Resources Manager Jake Tibbitts.
Biochar is produced when biomass undergoes the process of pyrolysis, or exposure to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. The resulting fine-grained, high-carbon residue is thought to be a sustainable soil amendment that, when applied, should increase water holding capability, soil performance and vegetative cover, among other benefits.
“This was the first time this portable pyrolysis unit was operated in the field,” said Scott Bell, Regional Woody Biomass and Bioenergy Expert for the U.S. Forest Service. “Due to issues with chip size, only a fraction of the 100 tons of biomass could be processed.”
Despite this, enough biochar was produced to fill seven barrels with roughly 100 pounds of biochar each. Six of these barrels were transported by ENLC Executive Director Betsy Macfarlan to the US Forest Service’s Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, which is encompassed by both Clark and Nye Counties, for use in a study to determine the value of biochar in a road reclamation effort. The remaining barrel was sent to the Desert Research Institute in Reno, where it is being used in both greenhouse and laboratory trials to determine its effectiveness in Great Basin soils.
“We plan to bring the pyrolysis kiln back to Eureka after a few modifications are made to the unit,” said Bell. “Then we’ll reprocess the remaining chips for application locally.”
Biochar produced during those later demonstrations will be applied as a soil amendment at a Eureka County mine site that has yet to be satisfactorily reclaimed. Additional application on agricultural lands is anticipated to begin in the spring of 2015.
For more information on this operation, contact Jake Tibbitts at 775-237-6010 or Scott Bell at 801-625-5259.