European Biochar Market Report 2021/2022

March 2022

1 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.

What is Biochar, what is PyCCS?

• Biochar is a stable form of carbon, obtained from

biomass pyrolysis
• Biochar is a highly versatile material used in agriculture
and in construction materials

• Pyrogenic Carbon Capture and Storage (PyCCS) enables the

capture & sequestration of atmospheric carbon through the
carbonization of biomass
• CO2 is captured by plants through photosynthesis, their
biomass is transformed into stable carbon through the
technical process of pyrolysis and stored by the use of Biochar
• Since 2019 Biochar is highlighted in the reports of the IPCC
as material for carbon sequestration
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PyCCS/Biochar goes hand-in-hand with bioenergy
Up to fourfold value creation: electricity, heat, biochar and negative emissions

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Broad range of applications of Biochar

Urban Applications Agriculture Construction materials

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Members of the Industry Consortium
The EBI membership base is growing constantly

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Key Activities of the EBI Consortium
It is all about eliminating/alleviating market entry barriers

Market Industry
Policy Communication
Intelligence Standards

Support/initiate Provide relevant Increase the level of Develop & establish

adaptation of legal market information awareness of standards for a
regulations regarding for members and for biochar and its broad set of
production & usage publications commercial and applications
of biochar environmental (based on EBC)
benefits
Subject of this report
6 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.
Agenda

1. Motivation, scope and methodology

2. Biochar manufacturing equipment

3. European Biochar Market 2021/2022

4. Biochar/PyCCS – Scaling to climate relevance

5. Further market insight for EBI Members

7 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.

Motivation
Why we created this market report

• High-quality market information is key to take the right decisions

(business, investment, regulatory and political decisions)
• Market information in growing industries is difficult to gather and is
often outdated; standardized reports from market research firms, are
(i) expensive and (ii) have limited relevance and actuality
• We want to share the insight that Biochar, as a key solution to mitigate
climate change, is real today and it is scaling very fast
• … and we want to give our EBI-members a head start through further
in-depth market information

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Scope of this European Biochar Market Report 2021/2022
What we look at

• We look at Biochar production plants installed in Europe until 2021 and

installations that will be commissioned in 2022
• We exclusively look at Biochar in EBC quality grade, it is produced in
– dedicated Biochar production plants as well as in
– charcoal production plants and plants for production of carbon for the metallurgic industry with
dedicated production for carbon-preserving applications (counting only the carbon-preserving part)

• Definition of six categories in terms of production volume

equipment category research approach
Micro (<100 t) considered if they came across
Small (100 - 199 t) mostly considered
Medium (200 - 499 t) intense research to include all plants
Large (500 - 1.999 t) intense research to include all plants
Very large (2.000 t - 4.999 t) intense research to include all plants
Industrial (≥ 5.000 t) intense research to include all plants Newly created class

9 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.

Methodology
How we approached this

• Internet research
– Reference lists from equipment suppliers
– Published information from biochar producers
– EBC website

• Interviews
– We gathered information from various stakeholders in the Biochar sector
– Partially this information was provided on a confidential basis (requires adequate handling)

• Information from equipment manufacturers

– We verified the gathered information with key equipment manufacturers
– Some equipment manufacturers provided confidential information on projects that are
(i) under construction or under contract or (ii) in their planning (requires adequate handling)

10 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.

Trustful handling of provided information
Trust and confidentiality is key

• Respecting confidentially provided information

– Confidentially provided information will only be reported in a consolidated way, so that the
confidential information cannot be deducted from the report
– Respecting confidentiality is the basis for collection of data in the future

• We will share market information at two levels

– General public (e.g. production capacity in Europe, growth rates, …)
– EBI Members will get some further in-depth insights

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 Biochar manufacturing equipment

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Biochar manufacturing equipment
Examples for industrial equipment producing Biochar in EBC quality

Biomacon

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Biochar manufacturing equipment
Further examples for industrial equipment producing Biochar in EBC quality

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Biochar manufacturing equipment
Further examples for industrial equipment

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Biochar manufacturing equipment
Examples for industrial equipment with a focus on sewage sludge

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 European Biochar Market 2021/2022

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Biochar market growth
Number of Biochar production plants installed in Europe

50 • 25 Biochar production plants had been

45
installed in 2021
− In Feb ’21 EBI had 32 projects on the radar
40
screen for 2021 completion
35 − 12 of them were delayed (Covid, permitting,
material shortage, …)
30
− 5 project completed in 2021 were previously
25 not on our radar screen
20
• The cumulative number of installed
15 Biochar production plants has grown
10
to more than 100 installations,
almost 80 of them with a production
5
capacity ≥ 200 t/a
0
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

www.biochar-industry.com/market-overview/ © EBI 2022

18 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.
Biochar market growth
Number of Biochar production plants installed in Europe

50 • EBI is currently aware of 44 projects

45
under construction or under
contract for 2022 commissioning
40

35
• Many further projects (some of them
quite large) are in an advanced
30
planning and permitting process but
25 will likely be commissioned in 2023ff
20
• There are certainly a few projects that
15 are not on our radar screen yet
10

0
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

www.biochar-industry.com/market-overview/ © EBI 2022

19 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.
Biochar market growth and growth rates
Cumulative Biochar production capacity in Europe

Growth rate of biochar production in EU

Cumulative installed production capacity

70.000 t 100%
• The Biochar production capacity shows
very strong growth, with consistently
60.000 t
80% high and even accelerating growth rates
50.000 t • Growth rate 2021 was 71%,
60%
2022 growth expected to be > 85%
40.000 t
• Average growth rates
30.000 t
40%
− 3y CAGR was 50% (2018 - 2021),
− 3y CAGR expected to grow to 67%
20.000 t (2019 - 2022)
20%
10.000 t

0t 0%
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

www.biochar-industry.com/market-overview/ © EBI 2022

20 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.
Biochar market growth and growth rates
Actual Biochar production in Europe

Growth rate of biochar production in EU

Cumulative installed production capacity

70.000 t 100%
• Assumptions for assessment of actual
Biochar production 2022
60.000 t
80% − 70% uptime in commissioning year and 6 months
operations calculates actual production to 35%
50.000 t
− 80% uptime for plants commissioned in previous
60%
years
40.000 t
• This leads to almost 40.000 t of actual
30.000 t Biochar production in 2022, equivalent to
40%
about 100.000 t of CO2e
20.000 t
• This makes Biochar/PyCCS by far
20%
today’s most relevant industrial NET
10.000 t

0t 0%
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

www.biochar-industry.com/market-overview/ © EBI 2022

21 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.
Biochar production by size of equipment
Cumulative Biochar production capacity in Europe end of 2021

Micro Small • More than 60% of the production

capacity 2021 is in the equipment
Industrial category Large and above (≥ 500 t/a)
• Over 90% is in the equipment category
Medium and above (≥ 200 t/a)
Medium
Very large

equipment category
Micro (<100 t)
Small (100 - 199 t)
Medium (200 - 499 t)
Large Large (500 - 1.999 t)
Very large (2.000 t - 4.999 t)
Micro Small Medium Large Very large Industrial Industrial (≥ 5.000 t)

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Biochar production by regions/countries
Cumulative Biochar production capacity in Europe end of 2022

other countries
• The production capacity end of
Germany
24%
35% 2022, expected to be 65.000 t/a, will
have three dominating
regions/countries
• D-A-CH and Scandinavia together
will represent about 75% of the
production capacity 2022
• Within Scandinavia, Sweden
represents the most relevant country
Scandinavia
23%
Austria and
Switzerland
18%

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The European Biochar Certificate (EBC)
Standards and regulations are key for large-scale roll-out

• EBC Classes
− EBC-Agro, EBC-AgroOrganic
− EBC-Feed
− EBC-ConsumerMaterials, EBC-BasicMaterials
− EBC-Urban
− EBC-Sink (since 2020)
• Production
− Permitted feedstock
− Energy efficient production
− Calculation of carbon sink potential
• Characteristics
− C-content
− H/C, O/C
− pH
− heavy metals
https://www.european-biochar.org
− PAH
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Biochar production with and w/o EBC
The EBC Certificate is becoming more and more widespread

• In 2018 about 50% of the total

production capacity has been EBC
certified, since then it is becoming
increasingly relevant
• Of the total production capacity
available by end of 2022, almost 70%
is either already EBC certified, in
process for certification or under
planning for certification
• EBC-Sink has been identified as
a key driver for the increased
relevance of EBC
EBC non-EBC

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Trends beyond the general growth

• Beyond the established equipment manufacturers several new industrial players

are entering the market
• Today there are at least seven companies that have been operating commercial plants
for several years, most of them with an installed number of systems in the low to mid
double-digit range
• There is a clear trend in the market for growing system sizes
• Replacement of fossil carbon in metallurgy as well as for activated carbon is
becoming a relevant application for biogenic carbon (no Negative Emissions though)
• The EBC Certificate is becoming more and more widespread and is clearly
the established quality-standard for Biochar
• EBC-Sink, which enables valorisation of the climate service, has become an important
element for the industry. Today only one C-sink trader is accredited (Carbonfuture),
further traders are in the process for accreditation.
26 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.
Summary

• The strong market growth has even accelerated compared to previous years,
3yCAGR will be 67% (2019 – 2022)
– End of 2021 Biochar production capacity was 35.000 t,
actual production was about 20.000 t
– End of 2022 Biochar production capacity in Europe will grow to 65.000 t,
production in 2022 will be almost 40.000 t (equivalent to 100.000 t CO2)
• Biochar production technology is mature with at least ten serious EU technology
providers, from which at least five are at TRL8+ levels
• With EBC-Sink a mature and trusted methodology for CO2 accounting and
certification is in place
• Among the industrial NET solutions, Biochar/PyCCS is easiest to scale to
significant volumes in the near term
27 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.
 European Biochar Market 2021/2022
Appendix – Reference Projects

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Selection Criteria for Reference Projects

• The equipment supplier has already realized multiple projects that are up and
running with an operational experience of several years and the equipment has
proven to be capable of producing EBC certified Biochar
• The Reference Project itself is either operational or in commissioning and has
a smart energy utilisation concept

equipment category
Micro (<100 t)
Small (100 - 199 t)
Medium (200 - 499 t)
Large (500 - 1.999 t) For each of the most relevant
Very large (2.000 t - 4.999 t) equipment categories we show
Industrial (≥ 5.000 t) at least one example

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Stadtwerke Groß-Gerau
Reference Project (“Medium”)

• Customer: Stadtwerke Groß-Gerau (GER)

• Equipment: Biomacon C400-I
• Commissioning: 2020
• Feedstock: Municipal green waste
• Energy utilization: Feeding up to 400 kWth
into the local district heating network
• Biochar production: up to 360 t/a of Biochar

30 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.

IWB Basel
Reference Project (“Large”)

• Customer: IWB Basel (Switzerland)

• Equipment: PYREG PX1500
• Commissioning: early 2021
• Feedstock: Municipal green waste
• Energy utilization: Feeding up to 750 kWth
into the local district heating network
• Biochar production: 700 t/a of Biochar
corresponding to 1.500 t CO2

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EAD Darmstadt
Reference Project (“Large”)

• Customer: EAD Darmstadt (Germany)

• Equipment: CTS 20, two carbonization units
• Commissioning: in process
• Feedstock: Municipal green waste
• Energy utilization: Feeding up to
400.000 kWhel into the electrical grid
• Biochar production: up to 800 t/a

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Circular Carbon
Reference Project (“Very large”)

• Customer: Circular Carbon GmbH (GER)

(general contractor)
• Equipment: ETIA/VOW (carbonisation unit)
• Commissioning: end 2021
• Feedstock: Cocoa shells
• Energy utilization: up to 2.500 kWth steam
for an industrial company
• Biochar production: up to 3.000 t/a

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Bioenergie Frauenfeld
Reference Project (“Very large”)

• Customer: Bioenergie Frauenfeld (CH)

• Equipment: 4 x SynCraft CW1800x2-1000
• Commissioning: in process
• Feedstock: Forest residues, wood chips
• Energy utilization:
– up to 45 GWh/a renewable heat for the local
district heating network and a sugar factory
– 30 GWh/a electricity (8.000 households)

• Biochar production: 4.000 t/a Biochar

up to 12.000 t CO2e

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Carbonex
Reference Project (“Industrial”)

• Customer: CARBONEX, SAS

Gyé-sur-Saine (France)
• Equipment: Carbonex, 2 carbonization units
• Commissioning: 2012/2019,
since 2020 EBC
• Feedstock: Forest energy wood
• Energy utilization: 5 MWel renew. electricity
• Production: 30.000 t/a total charcoal,
a small fraction is Biochar

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 Biochar/PyCCS – Scaling to climate relevance

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Options for negative emissions (NET6)
Six options currently considered promising, four of them being mainly technical/industrial

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 Biochar/PyCCS
plays a vital role in the
portfolio of NETs

Hansjörg Lerchenmüller
in a discussion with DG-CLIMA, February 2022

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Synergies between different NETs
It is about synergies, not about competition

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1 megaton of carbon removal is within reach
Extrapolation of the current growth rates
Amount of CO2 captured in biochar in EU

Growth rate of biochar production capacity

1,0 Mt 100%
• 2022 growth rate > 85% is logged-in
0,9 Mt with projects under construction or
0,8 Mt 80%
under contract

0,7 Mt • Continuing for 4 more years with 80%

growth will bring PyCCS to
0,6 Mt 60%
1 megaton by 2026 in Europe alone
0,5 Mt

0,4 Mt 40%

0,3 Mt

0,2 Mt 20%

0,1 Mt

0,0 Mt 0%
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

www.biochar-industry.com/market-overview/ © EBI 2022

40 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.
10 megaton of carbon removal by 2030
Extrapolation of the current growth rates
Amount of CO2 captured in biochar in EU

Growth rate of biochar production capacity

12 Mt 100% • … and there is also no reasons why
growth rates of 80% could not be
10 Mt
80%
maintained until 2030
• With that, PyCCS will sequester just
8 Mt
over 10 megatons by 2030 in Europe
60%
(2x of the Commission’s current target
6 Mt
for all industrial sinks)
40%
4 Mt

20%
2 Mt

0 Mt 0%
2017 2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 2029

www.biochar-industry.com/market-overview/ © EBI 2022

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100 megaton of carbon removal by 2034
Extrapolation of the current growth rates
Amount of CO2 captured in biochar in EU

Growth rate of biochar production capacity

250 Mt 100% • … and there is even no reasons why
growth rates of 80% could not be
200 Mt 80%
maintained even beyond 2030
• With that PyCCS will sequester just
over 100 megatons by 2034 in Europe
150 Mt 60%

• Under this growth scenario, we will

exceed the EBI target of 255 Mt in
100 Mt 40%
2036; from then on, growth will have to
slow down, as the limited availability of
50 Mt 20% biomass will not allow for further
exponential growth
0 Mt 0%
2017 2020 2023 2026 2029 2032 2035

www.biochar-industry.com/market-overview/ © EBI 2022

42 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.
 Biochar/PyCCS
will likely
continue to dominate NETs
in terms of volume
for at least a decade
Hansjörg Lerchenmüller
in a discussion with DG-CLIMA, February 2022

43 © 2022 European Biochar Industry Consortium. All rights reserved.