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Biomass residues from food production are most often considered waste, and burnt after the harvest. Besides releasing CO₂, that was once sequestered by plants in their biomass, burning biomass residues creates smog and poses health risks to local communities.
Instead, we propose to turn it into biochar with a process known as flame curtain pyrolysis. The biochar can then be added back to the soil as a valuable amendment. We know, it looks like burning, but is a scientifically recognized method to capture carbon in soils for 1000+ years!
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All our biochar production projects are tracked from the biomass residue collection to the final carbon sink.
When engineering our business, we have always put main focus on the social and environmental impact. What unites us is the drive to change the status quo and work on solutions for a grandchild-friendly economy.
When a plant dies at the end of its life cycle, its biological decomposition begins and the absorbed carbon returns to the atmosphere. To prevent this, the biomass can be pyrolysed - a thermal treatment at a minimum of 400 °C and the absence of oxygen. The application of nutrition-enriched biochar to the soil further creates benefits like increase of crop yields, reduction of fertiliser use as well as greenhouse gas emissions from cultivation, supports the humus formation, water holding capacity and nutrient buffering and contributes to the soil organic carbon pool.
Artisanal biochar projects in their nature have the wonderful side effect that they are operated in the global south, where in many countries there is less infrastructure and hence the opportunity to do high-tech projects is significantly more difficult. But exactly this is where participation in the climate economy is needed most, since the global south is likely to face more severe negative effects from climate change. In essence, artisan biochar projects enable the people that are impacted the worst to benefit of this new sector. The projects can, for example, create jobs where there are none, condition soils where there are droughts, avoid burning of residues where the air is already polluted, and bring a form of climate justice, which is needed in this globalised but somewhat still disconnected world.
We have the sincere belief that artisan biochar carbon removal projects are THE social entrepreneurial answer for the question how we can do good for people and planet within the limitations of capitalism.
Every project is different and needs to be tailored to the economic and social environment. We develop and manage two types of projects, depending on the regional conditions.
Set up of a centralized production, eligible for processors and larger farms.
Eligible for remote communities who are trained to produce biochar in a small Kon-Tiki type kiln or in a soil pit.
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According to the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, "the deployment of CDR to counterbalance hard-to-abate emissions is unavoidable if net-zero CO₂ or greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions are to be achieved". In other words, we are out of budget and all efforts to reduce or avoid emissions will not be enough. We need to incorporate net-negative-emissions activities into our economy to remove, depending on the scenario we will face in the future, up to 21 gigatons of CO₂ per year by 2050. This poses an enormous challenge which can only be mastered collectively.
As the emerging carbon market struggles to find uniformed definitions, the boundaries between the two concepts are often blurry and misunderstood. However, they are clearly to be distinguished. Offsets most commonly refer to emissions reductions or avoidance. Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) principles allow to only sell the net-negative emissions and generally undergo more strict quality measures to ensure the highest integrity:
Permanence: How long will the CO₂ be safely removed from the atmosphere?
Additionality: Does the CDR activity cause new climate benefits, or would the carbon removal have happened anyway?
Carbon leakage: Are emissions shifted elsewhere because of the CDR activity?
Negativity: How emission-intensive is the CDR process relative to its carbon removal potential?
Verifiability: How is the CO₂ removal monitored and verified?
Co-benefits/risks: What are the consequences for ecosystems, biodiversity, food security, etc.?
In our experience, capital expenditures are on average around 20,000 - 30,000 EUR, give or take, depending on the economic environment.
From the first handshake until a fully audited project takes about 3 months if everything runs smoothly and everyone pushes forward. If this process has been done once, the next project can be onboarded a lot faster.
Artisanal Biochar Carbon Removal Projects
