Biochar products and method of manufacture thereof

Abstract

A method for producing biochar particles or pellets which use sulphur and other additives. The method includes producing a mixture with biochar and additives selected from sulphur, lignin, and gluten. The mixture is mixed with water and passed through an extruder to produce an extrudate. The extrudate is then cut into pellets. The pellets are then tumbled/spun with each other and heated to result in mostly spheroidal pellets whose mechanical characteristics allow them to be used with well-known agricultural equipment. The biochar can be produced with sulphur incorporated as an outer coating. To produce this sulphur coated biochar, the method includes feeding a biomass feedstock to a pyrolysis reactor, pyrolyzing the feedstock into biochar particles, size-sorting the biochar particles, and coating the biochar particles with the sulphur coating material.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A biochar product comprising a porous biochar pellet having additives selected from a group comprising gluten, sulphur, and lignin. 
     
     
         2 . A biochar product according to  claim 1  wherein said pellet is substantially spheroid in shape. 
     
     
         3 . A biochar product according to  claim 1  wherein said pellet has a composition of 15-12.5% biochar, 75% sulphur, and 10-12.5% additional additive, said composition being determined by mass percentage of a total mass of said mixture. 
     
     
         4 . A biochar product according to  claim 3  wherein said additional additive is one of lignin, gluten, and flour. 
     
     
         5 . A biochar product according to  claim 1  wherein said pellet is composed of biochar and gluten having a gluten: biochar by mass ratio of 1:1.8. 
     
     
         6 . A biochar product according to  claim 1  wherein said pellet is composed of sulphur, gluten, and biochar with a sulphur: gluten: biochar by mass ratio of 1:3.57:6.43. 
     
     
         7 . A biochar product according to  claim 1  wherein said product is for at least one of:
 biodiesel manufacturing; 
 animal feed supplement; 
 esterifications reactions; 
 transesterification reactions; 
 organic solution dessicant; and 
 liquid hydrocarbon mixture dessicant.