Thai Carbon

Thai Carbon is among the world’s most innovative producers of “engineering quality” biochar manufactured “at tonnage scale”. It has licensed and imported a U.S. developed, patented, pollution-free, slow pyrolysis system developed over 10 years by Biochar now in U.S. Colorado. In April 2023, Thai Carbon commissioned its pilot production facility (1 ton per week) in Thailand with a clear path to scaling to over 1000 tons per year capacity as a demonstration and production facility.

Biochar is a form of charcoal made by heating biomass in a low oxygen atmosphere that decomposes the cellulose, hemi-cellulose and lignan hydrocarbon polymers that comprise the majority of the biomass and breaks them into smaller hydrocarbon chains that are released as syngas, volatile liquids, and char from the biomass. In the Thai Carbon process, all the syngas and volatile liquid are decomposed to harmless emissions resulting in a 100 percent focus on the biochar quality.

The char produced is a very porous black styrofoam-like material that retains the cellular vascular structure of the original plant but now rendered into almost pure carbon copy. This produced biochar should not be burned as fuel, but instead it can used for a variety of high-value-add materials engineering applications including soil amendment, water filtration, animal feed, composite materials, energy storage electrodes, catalytic substrates, and a feedstock for graphene production among other applications. High quality biochar is a direct replacement for fossil fuel based activated carbons.

After utilization in one of the above applications, biochar is also an important means of sequestering significant amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere into the earth for long-term removal (>1000 years). For every 1 ton of Thai Carbon biochar sequestered, approximately 3 tons of CO2 is permanently removed from the atmosphere, this creates high-value tradable CO2 removal certificates (CORCs). This decarbonization solution is specifically identified as one of the near-term practical approaches for achieving global net-zero emissions by 2050 by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate.

Thai Carbon’s biochar is made using waste agriculture feedstocks native to Thailand which also creates a positive improvement in air quality because of the significant amounts of PM2.5 emissions resulting annually from agricultural wastes being burned in the field after harvest. The Thai Carbon pyrolysis conversion technology prevents this by turning these wastes into biochar and is also specifically designed with an advanced emissions control technology that meets and exceeds the most stringent emission regulations in the U.S. (California and Colorado).

The production process is optimized through a batch method as opposed to continuous operation. The batch approach offers precise, reproducible batch-to-batch control that is affordably scalable and adjustable to a variety of feedstocks. Presently, Thai Carbon is utilizing agriculture wastes including cassava waste (rhizomes), eucalyptus trimmings, bamboo offcuts and newer feedstocks like hemp stalks.

“Thai Carbon can produce an unparalleled clean, porous biochar with very high surface area, unique surface chemistries, and free from the tar and other volatile substances that typically condense during the pyrolysis process and clog the pores of other commercial biochars,” says Dr. Kent Goeking, Managing Director of Thai Carbon.

Thai Carbon is spearheading a global revolution in SE Asia, simultaneously tackling environmental pollution and food scarcity by enhancing soil fertility through a carbon-negative circular agriculture approach. Leading this transformative endeavor is Dr. Goeking, an accomplished professional with a Ph.D. in material science and an MBA with decades of consulting experience in the transformative bioeconomy space. Dr. Goeking drives Thai Carbon's mission to pioneer innovative waste-to-carbon solutions, creating a better world by seamlessly merging business acumen with a deep understanding of biochar's environmental potential.