Development of a Hotbox Mechanism For Batch Pyrolysis Kiln Technology

CapChar is on a mission to verify 1 million tonnes of sequestered carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030\. Our startup is solving a big challenge in the arena of energy and environment technologies, in particular solving the specific challenge of meeting the UK's Net Zero emissions targets through the production and sequestration of biochar with the aim of jumpstarting the UK's biochar economy enabling it to benefit from the future global market in greenhouse gas removal.

Applying stable carbon into agricultural soils in the form of biochar has been recognised as an effective tool for enhancing carbon sequestration into the soil to mitigate climate change. It also offers a myriad of benefits in agriculture, horticulture, construction and waste water management. The production of biochar via pyrolysis is one of solutions that can be deployed within the UK, to meet its Net Zero 2050 goals today!

To enable the UK's nascent biochar industry, CapChar believes the UK should adopt a circular decentralised process for biochar production, it should be produced from low grade waste wood and applied locally in soil or other products as a rapid, low carbon approach to carbon sequestration.

A key barrier to market growth of biochar in the UK is affordability of production technology suited to a range of smaller grassroots operations. Building low CAPEX batch pyrolysis technology meets the biochar production requirements of smaller woodland/forestry/estate operations who can jumpstart a biochar industry here in the UK.

Batch pyrolysis kiln operations typically suffer from inefficiency as they can't be emptied quickly, restricting the volume of material that can run through the process. This project aims to design, build and test a safe, easy to use, efficient mechanism to empty a batch kiln of hot biochar at 300?+.