Biochar: A Natural Climate Solution
Myno’s carbon removal facilities produce biochar, renewable electricity, and secure green jobs. Biochar application has many co-benefits beyond removing and sequestering carbon including supporting healthy forests, improving soil health, stormwater filtration, and environmental remediation, as well as increasing crop yields and increasing revenue for farmers and timber managers.
Removes & Sequesters Carbon
Biochar production and application sequesters carbon back into the ground for centuries.
The production of biochar removes and sequesters carbon creating a carbon sink to support healthy forests and a clean environment. Business-as-usual practices to reduce wood waste from timber harvesting or forest thinning involve traditional slash pile burning, sending unfiltered particulate matter and other toxic pollution straight into the atmosphere.
Biochar production is inherently low emission because approximately 50% of the carbon contained in the feedstock remains in the biochar. When applied to soil, biochar has a half-life of roughly 1,500 years.
Improves Soil Health
Biochar increases crop yields and forest productivity.
When used as a soil amendment, biochar improves soil health and increases agricultural revenue. Biochar increases crop yields and forest productivity by increasing soil water and nutrient retention.
Biochar also enhances the growth of beneficial soil microbes which reduce plant diseases and emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. These benefits accelerate drawdown and can last for many centuries.
Supports Healthy Forests
Timber wood waste can be used to produce biochar to regenerate healthy forests.
Traditional timber harvesting and wildfire management thinning create large amounts of wood waste that is typically burned on-site in large slash piles sending a large amount of pollution into the atmosphere. Wood residuals from forest thinning and other industrial waste that is not disposed of by burning is often left in large piles. These piles are sources of methane, a greenhouse gas 90 times more potent than carbon dioxide across a 10-year timeframe.
With increased wildfire management thinning needed in our forests, there is a growing need to sustainably manage and utilize wood waste as a climate benefit. Biochar production sustainably uses timber slash and other wood waste, like sawdust and bark, to sequester carbon back into soils. Myno works with leading forest product and timber management partners to create high value for their wood wastes and increase their timber harvest yields.
Enhances Stormwater Green Infrastructure
Biochar improves stormwater treatment and plant health in green infrastructure.
Biochar creates multi-faceted solutions as an additive to stormwater green infrastructure by its ability to sequester carbon, improve plant health, and remove toxic pollutants from runoff.
By improving plant health through increasing nutrient and water retention capabilities, biochar can help reduce maintenance costs by reducing plant disease and death, which are becoming significant costs as more cities across the country adopt green infrastructure stormwater management practices.
Biochar can also supercharge the pollutant removal properties of green infrastructure for emerging contaminants like PFAS, PFOA, and 6-PPD Quinone.
Improves Livestock Feed
Biochar can be used as a livestock feed additive to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions.
As an additive to feed for dairy, poultry, swine, and other livestock, biochar reduces greenhouse gas emissions and improves animal health through its ability to absorb toxins and promote the growth of beneficial microbes. In cattle, these beneficial microbes help to reduce enteric methane emissions released by cow burps, which make up nearly 3% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Catalyzes Anaerobic Digestion
Biochar improves efficiency and yield within dairy and wastewater treatment anaerobic digesters.
Biochar amendments in dairy and wastewater treatment plant anaerobic digesters increase biogas yields, improve process efficiency and improve sludge for subsequent land application.
Biochar enhances microbial performance, increasing total methane yield and increasing production rate, so digesters can produce more renewable electricity or increase material throughput.
Biochar also helps to improve process stability reducing costly downtime.
Generates Renewable Electricity
The production of biochar generates renewable electricity to support electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Myno’s carbon removal facilities sequester roughly 50% of carbon from the biomass feedstock into the biochar product. The other half of the carbon is converted to thermal energy, which is used to produce steady, base-load, renewable electricity.
Accordingly, our facilities complement other renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind by reducing intermittency within the grid. The electricity produced at our facilities supplies energy for electric vehicle infrastructure, supporting the transition away from fossil fuels in the transportation sector.
Creates Green Jobs
Our facilities create supportive green jobs in rural communities.
At Myno, our goal is to remove and sequester carbon, to mitigate the climate crisis, while expanding the green economy to support working families in our rural communities. Simply put, we are building the green economy at scale.
Each of our facilities creates over 50 jobs on-site, and other supporting jobs in the forestry, transportation, and agricultural sectors.
Our facilities are mainly located in “wood basket” rural communities, many with depressed economies and job loss that would benefit from new employment opportunities.
We aim to support a just transition to a green economy – one that supports working families in our rural communities.