The machine at Southern Illinois University made a good impression on Josh. The fixed bed gasifier there processed five tons of poultry litter an hour with “no smell, no smoke and no internal moving parts.”
Josh set out to procure his own gasifier. He worked with Southern Illinois-based Coaltec Energy to identify a technology that best met his needs, and settled on the fixed bed gasifier produced by Westside Energies of Canada. Coaltec is the US sales representative for Westside Energies, and the companies helped him apply for grants to purchase and install the approximately $1,000,000 unit.
Things fell into place as grants and low-interest loans came through from several West Virginia state agencies such as the West Virginia Department of Agriculture who gave $15,000. After the grant writing was completed, the price of metal suddenly spiked, increasing the cost of the gasifier. Westside and Coaltec kicked in a contribution to keep the project within budget.
A more welcome surprise came for Josh when he was introduced to the concept of biochar by Tom Basden, an extension specialist in nutrient management at West Virginia University. “Tom told me I would end up growing chickens mainly for the poop,” Josh said. “I thought he was off his rocker, but now I think he might be right on the money.”
Josh is now producing a high quality biochar and has sold his first ton at a net price of $480 ($600 a ton for the char and $120 a ton transport costs) to a farmer in New Jersey who is testing its qualities for his crop of corn and soybeans. A farm in South Carolina is testing the char on pharmaceutical grapes (used in the nutritional supplement industry). Josh worked with IBI board members Johannes Lehmann and Stephen Joseph to optimize the gasifier to produce quality biochar rich in phosphorous and potassium. His test burns so far have made biochar that ranges from 1.7 to 3.2 percent P and 5.4 to 9.6 percent K.