Farm Automation by Applied Carbon Transforms Crop Residue into Biochar for CO2 Sequestration

Pouring carbon into our atmosphere facilitates the quickening of global warming, while removing it proves to be a substantial challenge. Various startups are venturing into large-scale industrial solutions to extract this pollutant directly from the air, projects that can spiral into the hundreds of millions in terms of cost.

This has led some innovators to ponder: why not let plants do the heavy lifting?

For Jason Aramburu and Morgan Williams, embracing the natural capability of plants seemed like a no-brainer. Unlike others who incinerate plant debris for energy, then capture the carbon, this duo leans on a method with roots stretching back centuries, transforming agricultural waste into a charcoal-like material called biochar. This process not only has the capacity to sequester close to 2 billion metric tons of carbon annually but also enhances agricultural yields by enriching soil.

“We deeply believe in biochar as a methodology for carbon dioxide extraction,” Aramburu shared with TechCrunch. Yet, the dilemma of scalability loomed large during a casual conversation in an Oakland, Calif., bar. “The challenge was how to exponentially grow this solution?”

The tradition of biochar is deeply seeded in history, with over two millennia of use in South America to enrich the soils of the Amazon basin. Evidence of biochar-enriched soils still exists today, affecting approximately 10% of the region. Historically, the creation process was confined to the place of use due to its labor-intensive nature.

One of the primary hurdles in biochar’s path to widespread adoption is the logistical nightmare of sourcing enough agricultural waste, transporting it to processing facilities, and then distributing the finished biochar. These steps are not only costly but can significantly diminish the net environmental benefit.

“The logistics of moving this material is a formidable barrier,” Aramburu commented.

This led Aramburu and Williams to a revolutionary approach: instead of transporting waste to the biochar processing plant, why not bring the plant to the waste? This insight was pivotal in founding Applied Carbon, with Aramburu taking the helm as CEO and Williams as COO.

“Agricultural machinery has evolved to efficiently harvest and collect crop residue,” Aramburu observed. “It suddenly clicked that mimicking this operational method was the optimal strategy for managing agricultural residue.”

The inventive solution features a tractor-pulled device, apt for a steampunk enthusiast’s dream, which chops, dries using heat from a pyrolysis reactor, and then converts the crop residue into biochar and syngas. The biochar is subsequently mixed into the soil, enriching it.

According to Aramburu, this innovation not only makes biochar production more economically viable but also significantly improves its carbon footprint.

Over its four-year journey, Applied Carbon has developed five prototypes, with the latest design primarily targeting corn residue but adaptable to various crops. While the current machine manages an acre an hour, speeding up this process is a goal for future development.

The company’s recent Series A funding of $21.5 million is poised to transition these prototypes towards early production stages.

Applied Carbon is in the process of constructing these machines in Houston, planning to roll them out across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. This initiative supports the generation of carbon offsets, some of which have been pre-purchased by corporations like Microsoft.

While the startup is currently operating the machines, the long-term vision includes leasing or selling the equipment to farmers and assisting them in trading the resultant carbon credits.

“Achieving a gigaton-scale impact would necessitate thousands of these operations, which isn’t feasible,” Aramburu stated. “Our ambition is to emulate a business model akin to John Deere’s rather than manage a vast fleet.”

Applied Carbon disclosed to TechCrunch that the funding round was spearheaded by TO VC, with contributions from a variety of investors including Anglo American, Autodesk Foundation, Congruent Ventures, the Grantham Foundation, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Overture.vc, S2G Ventures, Susquehanna Foundation, Telus Pollinator Fund for Good, the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, and Wireframe Ventures.