Precise Thermal Decomposition of Biomass

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We have designed an innovative batch kiln to precisely decompose biomass into pyroligneous acid (PA) and biochar. The precision of this device creates multifaceted, environmental and financial value. We have already designed and built a prototype of a precise continuous device that produces biochar and PA. The batch version will have a much lower CAPEX and maintenance cost, and thus have the potential to be widely deployed. We are ready to build a commercial-scale prototype and are seeking funding to do so. There are a number of barriers, resulting from the technology used to produce biochar, that prevent the scaling of biochar production to levels that would have a significant impact on climate. This is the problem we want to solve. These barriers include: > low revenue potential, particularly because of a lack of precision in current production processes> high capital investment cost to get started at commercial scale, which prevents the vast majority of people interested to get involved> difficulty to raise capital, because of the high level of risk, significant capital requirements and because biochar production alone is not a particularly profitable venture> lack of a way to incrementally scale production capacity as demand for biochar grows in current technology available> frequent equipment breakdowns resulting in high maintenance costs and potentially long periods of downtime, particularly in continuous systems of rotary or auger designNone of the technology choices used today to produce biochar provide for the precise thermal decomposition of biomass. These include auger kilns, rotary kilns, the collection of char residue from the ash stream of biomass power plants, batch kilns, or burning biomass and quenching the fire before the char turns to ash.If we want to address multifaceted environmental issues, for example create a biochar that is optimized to sorb nitrates, or create a pyroligneous acid that can be used to largely replace the use of nitrogen fertilizers to intensify agricultural production, then process precision is essential. Scientists in labs all over the world are coming up with novel uses of biochar, if the specific biochar is produced under the precise conditions available in a lab. None of the current technologies have anywhere close to this degree of precision, neither the control nor the capability to measure process conditions, and they cannot be adapted for this purpose. CarbonZero has made progress in addressing some of this issue with its novel, patented horizontal bed kiln, but as a continuous device costing upwards of USD 2.5 million, the high capital investment and lack of incremental scaling barriers remain. At present, people contact us on a weekly basis seeking biochar production equipment. They all want to get involved with providing an environmental, a climate solution. Very few of them can afford the cost, and even fewer have the courage to assume the risk. We experience this barrier on a weekly basis, and know from speaking with hundreds of potential clients that the batch kiln would be much easier to sell. We have also determined that the degree of precision we need, which includes variable residence time across process stages depending on feedstock moisture content and biochar quality requirements, and the optimization of the condensation stage residence time, can only be attained in a staged batch process. So with the batch kiln, we want to solve problems that our continuous design cannot be adapted to address. Biochar effectively extracts CO2 from the atmosphere by intervening in the natural carbon cycle to prevent the oxidation of biomass residues to CO2. Annually, photosynthesis absorbs and retains approximately 220 gigatonnes of CO2 (80 gigatonnes elemental C) as biomass, in the reaction shown below:CO2 + H2O + sunlight => C6H12O6 + O2Respiration (the biochemical reaction) releases about the same amount of CO2 into the atmosphere every year from all "heterotrophs" that consume biomass for energy, including most microbes, in the reaction shown below, which is the reverse of photosynthesis:C6H12O6 + O2 => CO2 + H2O + energyBiochar is made by heating biomass in the absence of oxygen, releasing larger amounts of H and O compared to C, resulting in complex aromatic structures of carbon that are too concentrated for microbes to convert to energy in almost all cases. So when biomass is converted to biochar, it becomes a relatively stable carbon store.If biochar is placed in a location where oxygen cannot access it, for instance in an abandoned oil or gas well to plug it and prevent methane release, it will sequester that carbon for as long as the earth lasts. Without oxygen, CO2 cannot form.In surface soil layers where oxygen can penetrate, as biochar aggregates with soil minerals, it is further protected from surface oxidation and relatively rare microbe consumption.However, if biochar production can be made profitable and becomes part of standard agricultural practice worldwide, the input of biochar-stabilized carbon into various inactive or relatively inactive carbon pools will be vastly greater than any slow release from oxygenated soil layers that may occur over centuries or millennia.Our solution, the staged, precise thermal decomposition of biomass, produces both pyroligneous acid (PA), a liquid distilled from the gasses produced at temperatures less than 280° C, and biochar, the solid carbon end product produced at higher temperatures. Together, they produce 5-10x the revenue compared to other biochar production processes.PA increases the rate of plant photosynthesis, providing the plant more energy, and allowing it to release more carbohydrates into the soil to nourish the microbiota within the plant root zone. The microbiota dissolve minerals, fix nitrogen, and make them available to the plant. In other words, PA upregulates nature's method of plant fertilization. As it is much less costly to apply compared to chemical fertilizers, it has the potential to become the preferred method of agricultural intensification, making organic food production more cost effective than chemical alternatives while sequestering carbon and avoiding the emissions associated particularly with chemical based nitrogen fertilization.If this approach becomes commercially successful and widespread, it would drive very large scale removal of atmospheric carbon and the avoidance of CO2 and N2O emissions at gigatonne scale. This is the overarching vision of our solution.

Project Idea Metadata

Project Idea Name: Precise Thermal Decomposition of Biomass
Date: 3/8/2023 1:20:57 AM
Administrators:

Project Idea Description

There are a number of barriers, resulting from the technology used to produce biochar, that prevent the scaling of biochar production to levels that would have a significant impact on climate. This is the problem we want to solve. These barriers include:

> low revenue potential, particularly because of a lack of precision in current production processes

> high capital investment cost to get started at commercial scale, which prevents the vast majority of people interested to get involved

> difficulty to raise capital, because of the high level of risk, significant capital requirements and because biochar production alone is not a particularly profitable venture

> lack of a way to incrementally scale production capacity as demand for biochar grows in current technology available

> frequent equipment breakdowns resulting in high maintenance costs and potentially long periods of downtime, particularly in continuous systems of rotary or auger design

None of the technology choices used today to produce biochar provide for the precise thermal decomposition of biomass. These include auger kilns, rotary kilns, the collection of char residue from the ash stream of biomass power plants, batch kilns, or burning biomass and quenching the fire before the char turns to ash.

If we want to address multifaceted environmental issues, for example create a biochar that is optimized to sorb nitrates, or create a pyroligneous acid that can be used to largely replace the use of nitrogen fertilizers to intensify agricultural production, then process precision is essential. Scientists in labs all over the world are coming up with novel uses of biochar, if the specific biochar is produced under the precise conditions available in a lab. None of the current technologies have anywhere close to this degree of precision, neither the control nor the capability to measure process conditions, and they cannot be adapted for this purpose.

CarbonZero has made progress in addressing some of this issue with its novel, patented horizontal bed kiln, but as a continuous device costing upwards of USD 2.5 million, the high capital investment and lack of incremental scaling barriers remain.

At present, people contact us on a weekly basis seeking biochar production equipment. They all want to get involved with providing an environmental, a climate solution. Very few of them can afford the cost, and even fewer have the courage to assume the risk. We experience this barrier on a weekly basis, and know from speaking with hundreds of potential clients that the batch kiln would be much easier to sell.

We have also determined that the degree of precision we need, which includes variable residence time across process stages depending on feedstock moisture content and biochar quality requirements, and the optimization of the condensation stage residence time, can only be attained in a staged batch process. So with the batch kiln, we want to solve problems that our continuous design cannot be adapted to address.

Biochar effectively extracts CO2 from the atmosphere by intervening in the natural carbon cycle to prevent the oxidation of biomass residues to CO2. Annually, photosynthesis absorbs and retains approximately 220 gigatonnes of CO2 (80 gigatonnes elemental C) as biomass, in the reaction shown below:

CO2 + H2O + sunlight => C6H12O6 + O2

Respiration (the biochemical reaction) releases about the same amount of CO2 into the atmosphere every year from all "heterotrophs" that consume biomass for energy, including most microbes, in the reaction shown below, which is the reverse of photosynthesis:

C6H12O6 + O2 => CO2 + H2O + energy

Biochar is made by heating biomass in the absence of oxygen, releasing larger amounts of H and O compared to C, resulting in complex aromatic structures of carbon that are too concentrated for microbes to convert to energy in almost all cases. So when biomass is converted to biochar, it becomes a relatively stable carbon store.

If biochar is placed in a location where oxygen cannot access it, for instance in an abandoned oil or gas well to plug it and prevent methane release, it will sequester that carbon for as long as the earth lasts. Without oxygen, CO2 cannot form.

In surface soil layers where oxygen can penetrate, as biochar aggregates with soil minerals, it is further protected from surface oxidation and relatively rare microbe consumption.

However, if biochar production can be made profitable and becomes part of standard agricultural practice worldwide, the input of biochar-stabilized carbon into various inactive or relatively inactive carbon pools will be vastly greater than any slow release from oxygenated soil layers that may occur over centuries or millennia.

Our solution, the staged, precise thermal decomposition of biomass, produces both pyroligneous acid (PA), a liquid distilled from the gasses produced at temperatures less than 280° C, and biochar, the solid carbon end product produced at higher temperatures. Together, they produce 5-10x the revenue compared to other biochar production processes.

PA increases the rate of plant photosynthesis, providing the plant more energy, and allowing it to release more carbohydrates into the soil to nourish the microbiota within the plant root zone. The microbiota dissolve minerals, fix nitrogen, and make them available to the plant. In other words, PA upregulates nature's method of plant fertilization. As it is much less costly to apply compared to chemical fertilizers, it has the potential to become the preferred method of agricultural intensification, making organic food production more cost effective than chemical alternatives while sequestering carbon and avoiding the emissions associated particularly with chemical based nitrogen fertilization.

If this approach becomes commercially successful and widespread, it would drive very large scale removal of atmospheric carbon and the avoidance of CO2 and N2O emissions at gigatonne scale. This is the overarching vision of our solution.

We have designed an innovative batch kiln to precisely decompose biomass into pyroligneous acid (PA) and biochar. The precision of this device creates multifaceted, environmental and financial value. We have already designed and built a prototype of a precise continuous device that produces biochar and PA. The batch version will have a much lower CAPEX and maintenance cost, and thus have the potential to be widely deployed. We are ready to build a commercial-scale prototype and are seeking funding to do so.