Breakdown of a small double stack TLUD kiln for making charcoal at the homestead scale. The primary burn chamber is a 7.5 gallon steel drum. Holes are drilled in the bottom for primary air intake. This barrel is lit at the top, causing air to be drawn in the bottom and pulled up through the barrel (hence Top Lit Up Draft). Above the primary burn chamber sits a secondary retort, from which volatile gases are baked out of carbonaceous material and reinjected into the gap between the primary burn chamber and the secondary retort the "secondary combustion zone". All of the heat generated serves to bake the material in the secondary retort.

This system could be improved a number of ways namely by maintaining a more consistent crosssectional chimney area all the way up through the kiln, and by wrapping the various chambers with insulation and using the heat of the primary burn chamber to preheat secondary air.

This charcoal will be fully hydrated, washed, and then inoculated with an aerobic compost tea, some source of nitrogen, as well as calcium to become biochar (biologically inoculated charcoal), before being incorporated into potting soil and garden beds. Biochar is a great way to make permanent improves to your soil fertility that can literally benefits your family for many generations. This is just one way to make charcoal at a home scale there are many other methods, each of which is uniquely suited to different inputs and desired enduse cases. Bottom line don't just burn your slash piles turn them into biochar!

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