Bringing Biochar—a clean, sustainable industry—to Maine
Grant | $100K
18,000
cubic yards of biochar to be produced per year
500 tons
the amount of locally sourced mill residuals to be processed monthly
What if you could pick up timber waste and turn it into something that can fertilize farms, remediate ‘forever chemicals’, and maybe even capture and remove atmospheric carbon? Standard Biocarbon is ready to use Maine’s enormous supply of woody biomass to turn it into biochar, a product that hopes to do all this and more.
Biochar is made by heating biomass in an oxygen limited chamber at precisely controlled high temperatures. Using funds from MTI as well as CEI and FAME, Standard Biocarbon will purchase equipment for producing high quality biochar at the former site of the Great Northern Paper mill in East Millinocket. Over thirty similar machines, made by Germany’s Pyreg GmbH, are already operating in Europe and Asia.
Standard Biocarbon has found itself at the right place and right time. Maine’s northern forest generates by-products from the commercial logging process and the vacant paper mill was well-suited to be converted to this new technology. “Maine has the right human capital, infrastructure, and natural resources to make this happen with a lot of room to grow,” says President and CEO, Fred Horton.