INTERVIEW: Australian 'weed invasion' biochar sees steady interest

Quantum Commodity Intelligence – A giant Australian biochar project fighting a weed infestation that was once declared "beyond eradication" by the state government has already secured plenty of buying interest for its credits after first revealing its plans online, its owner told Quantum.

Entrepreneur Richard Paterson has worked on the project for 13 years and after several unfruitful attempts to find a business model to combat the infestation, in May 2022 created Biomass Projects to make it a reality.

"It's a pretty good story," he told Quantum in an interview this week.

The company's first project is set on 225,000 hectares in the Pilbara, a dry and thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia, and will use a biochar pyrolysis plant with capacity to treat 10.5 million tonnes of biomass over 20 years.

"The property is overrun with Australia's largest mesquite infestation, recognised by government as a weed of national significance, posing a severe threat to the local ecosystem," says Biomass Projects, which plans to use the weed as feedstock and incorporate the biochar back into the soil.

Paterson said the weed in question started growing in the Australian bush in the 1930s after a dead tree crossed with a specie imported from the Americas, subsequently spreading to hundreds of thousands of hectares as animals scattered seeds through defecation.

"It's a real parasite," he said.

"It's got a spike on it four inches long. It rips your skin open, it goes through your boots, it punctures every tyre, it'll take your eye out pretty quick as well."

The weed is also responsible for sucking a lot of water from the region's underground water table.

Technology isn't the issue

Paterson, who has worked in the farming business for more than three decades, said he has built enough local knowledge to identify key areas of biomass presence.

In total, 300,000 hectares of land is thought to be contaminated in the Pilbara.

"The technology is not the issue, it's the biomass resource and understanding where it is and how to get it to market," he said.

"We've got a pretty good handle on where we've got some biomass resources. We work very closely with the traditional owners, the Indigenous groups across Australia as well, because for us, they're a strategic partner. So they're involved in equity in all the projects."

Biomass Projects will rely on 14 modular biochar units to treat the largest weed infestation in an area of 150,000 hectares, giving it enough flexibility if one or several of the units malfunctions.

It has repurposed technology for producing charcoal with improved gas burning and tar handling systems that can meet the Puro certification standard.

"There's a second, smaller infestation which we'll probably get to in about year ten," Paterson said.

"We don't know whether we'll just transport it up, it's about 40 kilometers away, or we'll build some more units down there."

Long-term plans

Paterson said carbon credits from the project have been in high demand already.

The company has just listed 4.7 million carbon credits on Finnish registry Puro.earth for delivery between 2024 and 2035 at an average price of €135 ($147) a tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent.

This makes it one of the most competitive offers for biochar carbon credits.

"The compliance market here is about €96-98. €125 was a good starting point. We knew we had to get close to, if not make, that compliance market as close as we could, that's how we're going to get scale," 

"The inquiries we've got for the CORC market alone is significantly more than we've got available."

Biomass Projects has also said it is looking into other funding opportunities to ensure the long-term survival of the project.

This could include the Nature Repair Market, a scheme created by the Australian government to help protect the natural environment.

"We've got a 20-year project but the seed from this weed is viable for 47 years in the soil. So we've got to set this up so the traditional owners have the ability to sell environmental credits longer term to make sure that this weed, once we eliminate it, doesn't come back."

The project also has the opportunity to sell some of the biochar material produced to the steel industry to decarbonise processes, he said.