Soil applications
Vegetable carbons can find application in the agricultural context with the aim of carbon storage or soil improvement. Depending on the purpose, the physical and chemical properties of the respective vegetable carbon, compliance with limit values in accordance with international guidelines and appropriate certification are important for such an application.
Building and materials
As a filler in concrete, asphalt or plastics to reduce the CO2 footprint of the products or to specifically modify the product properties. Porosity, particle size distribution, adhesion behavior and leaching behavior of pollutants play a major role here. These properties can be modified by targeted processing. We offer various processes for this purpose.
Metallurgy
Coal from fossil sources is an important input material in industry, e.g. in the sintering plant for the production of iron ore agglomerates, in the electric arc furnace as injection or feed coal, or as alloying coal for adjusting the carbon content of the steel. To achieve CO2-neutral steel production, the replacement of fossil coals by vegetable coals plays a major role. Decisive parameters for this are the ash content, the amount of volatile components, the calorific value, the particle size and the reactivity. The selection of suitable feedstocks as well as the process parameters during the conversion of biomass to produce the vegetable carbon is therefore crucial.
Thermal utilization
Whether for combustion or gasification of the plant carbon for the generation of process heat or electricity, the calorific value, the proportion of carbon or the ash content is decisive. Together with you, we evaluate the suitability and, if necessary, optimization of the resulting carbonisates for efficient thermal utilization.
Recovery of recyclable materials
Biomass and biogenic residues partly contain valuable nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium. In the context of landfilling, these are lost for targeted application. By means of pyrolytic conversion, these nutrients can be recovered from the input materials in a targeted manner, either from the plant carbon itself or from the existing side streams (gas, oil, water), and used further in a targeted manner.
Carbonisates as CO2 sinks and substitutes for fossil coals
According to the IPCC, in order to limit average global warming to 1.5 degrees, complementary measures are needed to actively remove CO2 from the atmosphere (carbon dioxide removal). PyCCS (pyrogenic carbon capture and storage) is considered a reliable technical approach. It consists of using thermochemical processes to convert plants that have previously fixed CO2 through photosynthesis into plant carbon / carbonisates. The carbon bound in the carbonisates can be stored effectively and safely over long periods of time. Biomass carbonisates used as a substitute for fossil coals are considered climate neutral and can reduce the CO2 footprint of processes and products.