Industrialising the production of biochar could place Australia in a unique position to become a global leader in the permanent removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Biochar is a charcoal-like, stable form of carbon that is the result of burning organic material from agricultural and forestry wastes in a process called pyrolysis. Early adopters in Australia are already initiating biochar production, placing the country on the map in the burgeoning market for permanent carbon removal. However, the nation has the potential to do even better.
By expanding biochar production on an industrial scale, Australia can seize the opportunity to lead the world in carbon removal, earning export revenues and creating jobs in the process.
One promising policy initiative, currently under discussion in leading carbon removal countries such as the United States and Europe, could significantly accelerate the growth of Australia’s carbon removal industry.
This initiative involves governments purchasing carbon removal credits, thereby acting as the initial seed customer for biochar carbon removal industries within their territories. Federal, state, or local governments could commit to buying a certain amount of carbon removal credits at a target price as an off-taker.
Ideally, these governments would cover all their emissions, but some may prefer to start with a smaller, fixed dollar amount.
Purchasing removal credits from local biochar producers would stimulate sustainable job creation and accelerate the growth of new biochar carbon removal companies in their area.
Biochar producers would have the option to sell some or all of their credits to the purchasing government.
The mere existence of a government buying program would signal to lenders and investors that biochar carbon removal projects have a ready customer for carbon removal credits, thereby stimulating private investment.
Over time, biochar producers might choose to reduce the credits they sell to the government as higher-paying global corporate demand increases. This could result in the government purchase offer going unused, but local producers would become more profitable and taxable.
This approach offers a rare opportunity for the government to directly combat climate change through carbon removal, complement current emissions-reduction efforts, seed a new industry, and create new profitable jobs.
Moreover, governments might not even have to spend the money if local biochar producers prefer selling their credits on the international market, leading to a win-win situation with a profitable new local industry.
Biochar production is low-tech, straightforward, and can utilise off-the-shelf industrial-scale machines available now. It can provide additional revenue for farmers and agri processors from their biomass waste, which currently incurs disposal costs.
Biochar can be used as a soil improver to boost agricultural productivity while reducing input costs, as a cattle feed additive, or as a construction material.
Climate change is accelerating, and the global economy is retooling towards net zero emissions as countries and industrial competitors race to secure their share of the future economy.
The demand for permanent carbon removal activities including biochar is high. Permanent carbon removal credits are issued on the international voluntary carbon removal markets and sell for over a hundred Euros per ton of carbon dioxide removed, compared to tens of dollars for local Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs).
Demand is evident in the market commitments of US tech giants, European insurers, and Asian industrial firms that are buying removal credits to meet their net zero plans.
For example, the NextGen CDR platform marshals requests for proposals to buy permanent carbon removals for organizations like Boston Consulting Group, LGT, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Swiss Re, and UBS.
Australia’s world-leading agricultural and forestry sectors naturally produce large amounts of biomass waste. This contains significant carbon and can be easily transformed into biochar to generate carbon removal credits.
Biomass processors benefit from a new additional revenue source, separate from the price fluctuations in their usual food/timber market prices.
The beauty of biochar is its ability to allow biomass producers to continue earning their regular income from normal production while adding extra profits from the global market through carbon credit sales.
They can also retain the biochar to improve their farms’ soil, reduce input costs and further boost profits. Sustainability/productivity benefits include less irrigation (biochar increases soil water holding capacity), less fertiliser (biochar holds fertilizer in the soil making it more effective with less runoff), and a healthier soil microbiome.
To achieve net zero emissions, it is essential not only to avoid further emissions, but also to permanently remove the excess CO2 already in the atmosphere.
Natural carbon sinks like forests, mangroves, and oceans remove some CO2 each year but cannot match the enormous amounts humans emit. Therefore, active efforts to remove CO2 pollution are necessary.
Engineered methods to remove CO2 include enhanced weathering (crushing carbon-absorbing rocks to maximize their surface area and chemically lock up CO2), direct air capture (using fans and thermochemical processes to scrub CO2 from the air and store it underground), and biochar production from sustainable biomass.
Plants absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, storing it in their cells. When plants die, most of that carbon is released as CO2 if burned, or worse, as methane, if decayed anaerobically.
However, heating plants to high temperatures in an oven with little oxygen decomposes them thermally, driving off the oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen and leaving behind stable carbon-carbon bonds in the form of biochar.
Properly made biochar is safe, useful and stable, with the carbon locked away for at least 100 years, and potentially much longer according to recent academic studies.
Despite Australia’s significant biomass production and the availability of pyrolysis ovens from many proven manufacturers, awareness of the export revenue opportunity and the value of global voluntary carbon credits remains low.
Decision-makers are more familiar with the lower-priced local ACCUs. However, biochar awareness in Australia is growing.
Australians are known for their competitive spirit and drive to be first. This is a competition that Australia is well-positioned to win. By embracing the biochar carbon removal opportunity, Australia can become richer, more sustainable, and more productive, benefiting the entire world by taking its place as a carbon removal superpower.
James Stewart, CEO, Always Carbon. James founded Always Carbon to maximise the amount of CO2 removed from the air, working with biomass processors to transform their waste plants/biomass costs into highly useful biochar. Projects deliver new revenue for agri processors by issuing high-value permanent carbon removal credits. The biochar is a highly useful soil improver used to boost farm productivity/profits. James is a GAICD, a UK chartered mechanical engineer (C.Eng., MIMechE). He holds an MBA from INSEAD, and an MEng (Manufacturing) and MA (Cantab) Engineering from Cambridge University.
Michael Hallam, COO, Always Carbon. Michael is a renewable energy engineer who has spent his career in carbon markets, carbon accounting and carbon project development. He has successfully registered Australia’s first transport project under the VCS, registered a number of projects under the Emissions Reduction Fund, including a biomass fuel switching project at a timber mill in South Australia. He has helped design technical solutions for biochar projects in Vietnam and for the largest biochar project in the world on Kangaroo Island.
This article is part of The Industry Papers publication by InnovationAus.com. Order your hard copy here. 36 Papers, 48 Authors, 65,000 words, 72 page tabloid newspaper + 32 page insert magazine.
The Industry Papers is a big undertaking and would not be possible without the assistance of our valued sponsors. InnovationAus.com would like to thank Geoscape Australia, The University of Sydney Faculty of Science, the S3B, AirTrunk, InnoFocus, ANDHealth, QIMR Berghofer, Advance Queensland and the Queensland Government.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.