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Senator pitches $1 million pilot to buy air curtain burners for biochar from forest fuels
Summary
Senate heard testimony supporting a $1 million pilot grant to let the Oregon Department of Forestry buy mobile air-curtain burners for on-site conversion of woody debris to biochar, which proponents say can reduce smoke and create soil amendment while helping fuels-reduction work.
Salem — Lawmakers heard detailed testimony Feb. 10 supporting Senate Bill 355, a proposal to appropriate $1 million from the general fund to the Oregon Department of Forestry for a pilot grant program to purchase air curtain burners for biochar production and fuels-management work.
Senator David Brock Smith, who represents coastal and southwest Oregon, described air curtain burners as mobile insulated fireboxes that use forced air to create high combustion temperatures, reducing smoke and particulate emissions by up to 90% compared with open burning and producing biochar — a stable carbon-rich soil amendment. "Air curtain burners have been used in California, and other states," Brock Smith said. He said the machines can destroy pathogens such as sudden oak death and that higher combustion temperatures can allow biochar capture for soil-improvement uses.
Brock Smith told the committee the pilot would let the department deploy one or more machines to demonstrate on-the-ground applications and that units vary widely in cost. "They vary between $285,000 up to a half a million or more depending on the application," he said. He and other witnesses said the pilot's scale is intentionally modest to test performance, smoke reduction and market opportunities for biochar before larger investments.
Supporters argued air curtain burners could expand the toolbox for clearing hazardous fuels on federal and private lands while minimizing community smoke impacts. Witnesses noted air curtain units can also be configured with conveyors to collect char for later use and can power camps or operations on-site in some configurations.
Committee members asked technical questions about throughput, costs and operational constraints; Brock Smith said proponents would follow up with vendor and operational data. The hearing closed with no final action; proponents asked the committee to consider the pilot as a step toward reducing hazardous fuels, protecting rural communities and stimulating an emerging biochar market.
