Description
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Oregon Biochar produces a high-quality, high-carbon and high surface area biochar (Rogue Biochar) from local forestry biomass available in the NorthWest USA. Our production facility is a carbon-neutral biomass plant located in Jackson County, Oregon. Our feedstocks include low-value biomasses recovered from farms and orchards, woody biomass and burnt material from forest fires as well as secondary and tertiary wood residues from the region.
Our biochar has an 83% fixed carbon content and a 0.08 H/C and 0.05 O/C molar ratios as well as a high surface area allowing it to compete and displace fossil and unsustainably produced activated carbons in key application such as water filtration. About 80% of our production is sold in agriculture, where its soil water and nutrient retention, structure and microbial benefits provide farmers with an added-value solution to diverse issues, such as low-water availability, drought, nutrient run-off, poor soil and compaction. About 15% of our production is used in stormwater management applications, preventing nutrient and pollutant run offs to water bodies, while the rest is applied in industrial water filtration for AC replacement.
Oregon Biochar’s goal is to drawdown carbon, mitigate climate change, decrease water pollution and regenerate severely degraded lands. But we can’t do it alone. Part of the solution, our solution, to these complex goals is biochar.
Examples of usage
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- Our biochar is used in regenerative agriculture as a fertilizer carrier and slow-release agent that allows a reduction in fertilizer usage and as a soil amendment to enhance soil health
- It is also used in soil remediation and stormwater management where it intercept contaminants and run-offs
- Additionally, it can replace some activated carbons in water treatment systems
Co-benefits
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- Our production generates a valuable product from fire hazard biomass and forest fire burnt wood. By taking on such biomass to make biochar, we can effectively contribute to move forest fire fuel away from critical zones therefore decreasing the fire risk in our region.
- The use of biochar in soils increases of water holding capacities of soils, especially in arid climates and regions affected by droughts in the NorthWest USA. It also increase the nutrient holding capacity of soils and allows for a reduction of external fertilizer use. Our biochar can replace part of the peat and 100% of vermiculite used in potting soils.
- The displacement of polluting products like fossil activated carbon, mined fertilizers and other unsustainably produced amendments indirectly decreases the amount of energy utilized and the GHG emitted during the mining and production of these products.
- We provide high-quality employment in the green sector at our plant and indirectly through our providers and customers.
Economic acceleration impact
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- With the revenue from CORCs, our first goal is to make our biochar more accessible to various markets and types of buyers. We intend to leverage CORCs to decrease our biochar prices and increase the usage of biochar in agricultural applications that could historically not afford biochar.
- Our second goal is to update some equipments causing bottleneck in our production and increase our capacity to produce high quality powdered biochar for usages in degraded land remediation and agriculture.
- Our third and long-term goal is to purchase and retrofit an additional 6 plants across the US to produce more biochar, sequester more carbon, provide more green jobs and decrease the carbon-intensity of the agricultural sector.
All of these goals share a common purpose: Rolling out more biochar, growing the industry and sequestering more carbon in North American ground.
Audit Information
Compliance to Puro.earth methodology requirements is done by an independent assessor. Their auditor visits the production facility, validates the accuracy of data, including the carbon net-negativity evidence presented in a Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) or Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) report, and issues an audit statement.
Facility ID
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: 643002406801000220
Independently verified by
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: Energy Link Services