Char Chit Chat

Char Chit Chat
Podcast Description
Char Chit Chat is created by Dylan Graves and explores char in New Zealand and beyond. The podcast aims to interview a range of people involved in biochar, activated charcoal, carbon anodes, and so on. The main subject will tend to be biochar as that is most accessible and scales from individuals making char in their woodstove over the winter to large industrial pyrolysis units outputting several tonnes per day. Biochar is also a great soil conditioner and improver and so is relevant to gardeners and famers alike.
An introduction and overview of Biochar: https://www.sces.org.nz/biochar
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast primarily focuses on biochar and its broad uses, ranging from home production methods to large-scale industrial applications. Episodes such as the one featuring Dennis Enright delve into sustainable agricultural practices and the significant role biochar can play in enhancing soil quality. Other episodes, like the one with Phil Stevens, explore innovative use cases for biochar, including its potential in environmental decontamination and discussions on making biochar more widely adopted.

Char Chit Chat is created by Dylan Graves and explores char in New Zealand and beyond. The podcast aims to interview a range of people involved in biochar, activated charcoal, carbon anodes, and so on. The main subject will tend to be biochar as that is most accessible and scales from individuals making char in their woodstove over the winter to large industrial pyrolysis units outputting several tonnes per day. Biochar is also a great soil conditioner and improver and so is relevant to gardeners and famers alike.
An introduction and overview of Biochar: https://www.sces.org.nz/biochar
In this episode Dylan reads the article now on the BNNZ website that outlines the benefits of adding biochar into any composting system. Dylan was paid by BNNZ to create the article and a couple of versions of it to help promote biochar being used in composting. It outlines 10+ ways that biochar benefits composting. Aeration, nutrient adsorption, biology habitat promotion, pH improvement, carbon sequestration, less smells, quicker completion, and so on. Every benefit is backed up with links to academic research! 2-10% by weight and high temperature (above 600° C) best so that the biochar has high surface area.
Here are some great supporting resources:
USBI brochure on composting with biochar (pdf)
Video featuring biochar made at a composting facility in Spain: https://youtu.be/oHbdtJxb6ZE?si=ckop5L8FBJg0OURr (4.5 mins)
Thorough and referenced blog post: https://www.compostmagazine.com/biochar-in-compost
Extremely well referenced white paper by Pacific Biochar: https://pacificbiochar.com/wp-content/uploads/Pacific-Biochar_Biochar-Compost_white-paper.pdf

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