WASTE NOTHING

As visionary leaders, Silk Grass Farms founders know that high-level innovation requires collaboration. In the spirit of interdependence, they reached out for guidance from the best in the field. Conversations with experts in soil, bio-waste and renewable energy uncovered a pivotal breakthrough:

Silk Grass Farms can convert post-production residues into the engine that will help power the company’s evolution from good to great. A crucial measure of realizing our vision lies in our ability to transform post-processing biomass from an obstacle into a remedy - at scale.

WASTE IS NOT WASTE UNLESS WE WASTE IT.

We do this through a process called pyrolysis, a high-heat, lowoxygen treatment that decomposes biomass into useful outputs.

By contracting with three key consulting groups, Silk Grass Farms is innovating a scalable agribusiness model for significant climate-positive impact across farm and factory operations.

TOPSOIL REGENERATION • CARBON SEQUESTRATION • RENEWABLE ENERGY

Research shows that pyrolyzing biomass in an anaerobic kiln can reduce carbon emissions by more than 50% as opposed to open burning or natural decomposition. Additionally, anaerobic pyrolysis stabilizes the biomass carbon, transforming it into useful agricultural and commercial products instead of CO2.

CARBON SEQUESTRATION

Contracted with BC Biocarbon to build a biorefinery that can pyrolyze 1-2 tons of biomass per hour.

RENEWABLE ENERGY Contracted with Alternative Energy Development Group to harness heat energy generated from biorefinery to power factory processes Contracted with GreenQuest to create a topsoil regeneration strategy using biochar, pyroligneous acid and ash from the biorefinery

TOPSOIL REGENERATION

THE SOLUTION TO INNOVATING POSITIVE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT AT SCALE CAN BE FOUND IN AN UNLIKELY HERO – OUR BIOWASTE

CARBON SEQUESTRATION

Plants provide the remarkable service of removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, converting it into solid forms of carbon (biomass). They remove CO2 at a rate and efficiency that no human technology can mimic. However, plants are not built for long-term carbon storage. Once biomass decomposes or is burned, nearly all of the carbon that the plant captured is returned to the atmosphere as CO2, creating a near net-zero flow.

Silk Grass Farms is partnering with BC Biocarbon, a Cleantech company that uses proprietary, stateof-the-art carbon refining and storage technology to complement nature’s carbon removal services. While carbon sequestration percentages vary depending on feedstock and timeframe, the fundamental concept is illustrated in the simple diagram below.

SGF co-founders Peter Kjellerup and Henry Canton discussing biochar trial

DOING THE MATH

BC Biocarbon uses technology that is able to convert biomass into biochar at an approximate 30% yield rate (10 tons biomass yields ~3 tons biochar). This process is able to sequester 3.1 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of biochar. With a capacity to pyrolyze 2 tons per hour, running on a 5-day, 24-hour shift, this leads to potential sequestration of 14.9 tons of CO2 per shift, or about 3,500 tons per year.

In order to learn about biochar and ash, we experimented first with a small kiln. By burning coconut shells and deadfall in a low oxygen environment, we have created some early forms of biochar, allowing us to try different inoculation and soil application techniques. This will help inform our practices for using biochar on a larger scale.