Carboneyes

For every tonne of sugar produced, three tonnes of bagasse is generated.

Mills use what they can for cogeneration. The surplus is left in heaps around the mill, or burnt.

As the heaps decompose they release carbon as CO2 and methane, along with acid leachate that pollutes local waterways.

We install pyrolysis units at the mill. Intercepting the carbon before it's released back into the atmosphere

Sugarcane pulls CO2 out of the air through photosynthesis and holds it as fibre. Most of Africa's cane grows on smallholder plots where soil is acidic and low in organic carbon.

Crushing the cane for its juice leaves bagasse. The mill uses what it needs for cogeneration. The surplus is left in open heaps, where it decomposes and returns the carbon to the air within months.

We intercept the carbon. Heating the surplus bagasse without oxygen drives off the volatile fraction and rearranges what remains into condensed aromatic carbon.

The result is biochar, a structure soil microbes cannot readily break down.

The biochar goes back to the smallholders who grew the cane. It raises pH on acidic soils, increases water and nutrient retention, increasing yields for soil that has lost its organic carbon.

Sugarcane is an important source of employment in rural sub-Sahran Africa.

It covers large areas, and sugar makes up a meaningful share of daily energy intake. These areas are threatened by soil degradation, increasing costs of synthetic fertilisers and increased frequency of climate events.

^‍Biochar raises pH of acidic soils, holds water and nutrients where roots can reach them and returns stable carbon to the soil. Growers spend less on fertiliser, the land copes better with drought, and yields increase.

See our co-benefits

A repeatable, scalable solution for sugar mills, local communities and the planet.

The carbon is locked away permanently and the biochar goes back to the smallholders who grew the cane, where it raises pH and yields on the soils it came from.

For buyers

See carbon differently.

For every tonne of sugar produced, three tonnes of bagasse is generated.

We install pyrolysis units at the mill. Intercepting the carbon before it's released back into the atmosphere

Sugarcane is an important source of employment in rural sub-Sahran Africa.

A repeatable, scalable solution for sugar mills, local communities and the planet.