Apparatus for the production of biochar by the pyrolysis of biomass

An apparatus for continuous production of biochar by pyrolysis of biomass under exclusion of oxygen, the apparatus comprising:

• a vertically mounted reactor having a reactor interior which is defined by a reactor shell and which has an upper feed region, a lower removal region and a process space located therebetween;
• a feed device for feeding biomass to the reactor interior into the upper feed region;
• a removal device for removing biochar from the reactor interior from the lower removal region;
• a heating device positioned in the reactor interior, the heating device comprising an array of heating rods including:
• a plurality of outer heating rods vertically arranged in the reactor shell and distributed around a circumference of the reactor, and
• at least one inner heating rod is vertically arranged closer to a center of the reactor interior with respect to the reactor shell than the plurality of outer heating rods;
• and
• a control device for controlling operation of the apparatus, including actuation of the feed device and the removal device, and for controlling a temperature of individual heating rod elements of the plurality of outer heating rods and the at least one inner heating rod, wherein the individual heating rod elements of each of the plurality of outer heating rods and the at least one inner heating rod comprises two or more, elongated heating rod elements which are arranged one behind another in a longitudinal direction of the reactor and are individually controllable in their heating power.