Quantum Commodity Intelligence – Singapore-based renewable energy and carbon developer Alcom has opened the first biochar production facility in the Philippines and listed the associated carbon credits for sale, it announced on Tuesday.
The Nueva Ecija rice husk biochar project has now registered under Finnish standard Puro.earth after completing the necessary paperwork.
Alcom has retrofitted a previously decommissioned gasifier at a grain-handling facility operated by the provincial government of Nueva Ecija, on Luzon island.
Excess heat from the process is being directed to four grain drying units and Alcom says the biochar is distributed at a discount to local farmers.
Rodeo Nunez, managing director in the Philippines, said: “We are extremely proud to put the Philippines on the world map of biochar production.”
“Alcom’s vision is to scale up biochar production facilities by democratising the practice and involving and collaborating with various stakeholders – farmers, universities, governments, local communities,” said Prateek Tiwari, Alcom founder and managing director.
“We have a pipeline of a 60 such projects sequestrating 2.7 million tonnes of CO2 during their lifecycle. Out of these 60 we expect the first ten to be commissioned by 2024.”
The Singapore firm says it has registered an 18% to 20% increase in the yield of paddy, onion and corn after biochar was applied, making the process beneficial to farmers, however awareness of biochar is still lacking in the country.
Siddharth Kaul, the company’s carbon expert, told Quantum support from the Nueva Ecija local government had been key to turn the project around.
Initially, the project will be supported by subsidies from Nueva Ecija and the sale of carbon credits, but the company hopes that in future farmers will be more willing to pay for the biochar too.
Rice husk biochar is said to contain more silicate – a binding agent – than other types of biochar, making it useful for applications in the construction industry, while being harmless to soils.
Alcom is selling carbon credits from the process at €200/tCO2e ($217) and says it plans to use the funds to make its technology more suited to rice husk and straw and to “the requirements of the rice industry in the Philippines.”
The company also has plans to develop rice methane capture projects under the Gold Standard, it said.
Biochar is produced by processing biomass in a heat-intensive pyrolysis plant, with the resulting carbon-rich material added to soil where it locks up carbon and also acts as an organic, low-carbon fertiliser.
Orginially posted on Quantum Commodity Intelligence
