Turning Wood Waste Into Soil Nutrition
Industry-leading biochar production and innovation.
About this Project
Biochar is one of the safest, most durable and fastest ways to draw down carbon today. Carbofex offers high-quality biochar produced from biomass or biowaste, through pyrolysis (heating in high temperatures in the absence of oxygen). Pyrolysis creates a very stable, solid form of carbon that can endure in soil for thousands of years, making it an ideal technology for scalable carbon removal.
Carbofex biochar is manufactured from spruce thinnings of sustainably managed Finnish certified forests (via Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification). The resulting biochar has multiple commercial uses at potentially industrial volumes, for example, as greenhouse additive, in soil regeneration and in wastewater treatment.
Carbofex is one of the largest and most established biochar producers in the world. Carbofex not only performs carbon sequestration, but also uses the resulting byproducts, pyrolysis oil and gas. In a feedback loop, the gas produced by the pyrolysis is recycled to fuel the reactor and any excess heat is used to dry the wood chips. This self-sustaining process means no external energy is needed at all at this factory.
Why We Picked This Project
Carbofex biochar uses waste wood products, but also is well-integrated into the local community in Nokia, Finland, where it is a net exporter of heat energy. The product is a highly permanent and durable form of carbon removal. Biochar’s internal honeycomb-like structure enhances plant growth and crop yield by storing nutrients and beneficial microbes, and increasing water retention. A gram of biochar has the surface area of a tennis court, which makes it highly absorbent of both nutrients and pollutants. The large absorbing area of Carbofex biochar makes it also ideal for water filtering and leak prevention applications.
Our Assessment of this Project
Project Developer
Standards & Certifications
Puro.earth Biochar Carbon Removal Methodology 2022
Timeline
Carbofex begins production
Beginning of project monitoring
End of project monitoring
Credits issued on registry
Benefits & Impact
Co-Benefits
Harvesting and managing forests sustainably decreases risk of forest fires, insects and diseases. Pre-commercial harvesting is the first step in sustainable forest management.
Use of Biochar can displace use of fertilizer, water filters or building materials that would have caused emissions. In particular, biochar may decrease soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Most agricultural N2O emissions are due to increased fertilizer application. Nitrous oxide is 300 times more powerful carbon dioxide at warming the planet.
When biochar is used in substrates or soil improvements for horticulture in greenhouses or agriculture, 10% yield increases have been reported. More crops and products means also that less land is required for producing the same amount of food or that more food can be grown on the existing farm land and greenhouses.
Manufacturing biochar creates green jobs throughout the value chain from harvesting to distribution and use.
Carbofex produces 1 MWh of district heating in the winter for nearby apartment buildings in the surrounding community.
Sustainable Development Goals
This project supports the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Additional Information
2022
800 years
One ton of Carbofex biochar removes 3.2 tons of CO2 eq. from the atmosphere into long-term storage in the product. The revenues from carbon finance directly support the net-removal and storage of emissions.