John Reese brings the boundless energy of a born salesman and a passion for every project he does. As general manager of EnviraPAC Monticello, his focus is on a business venture that superheats sustainable forestry management residuals to create a highly carbonized product called biochar.

The EnviraPAC Monticello project is unique in its large scale, variety of potential uses for biochar, and ability to create consistency in the quality of the biochar it produces. It is an industrially focused company that makes a renewably engineered biochar carbon powder to provide alternatives to fossil fuel-based carbon.

So, what exactly is this magic material? According to the International Biochar Institute, biochar is created by heating biomass with little or no oxygen to drive off volatile gasses, leaving carbon behind. The process creates a highly porous charcoal and can produce clean energy in the form of gas or oil. When used in farm applications, biochar can improve water quality by helping soils retain nutrients and water, and more nutrients stay in the soil.

One of the ‘Coolest Things Made in Arkansas’

Located in southern Arkansas, EnviraPAC draws on the forestry background of Monticello, using soft yellow pine residuals from local lumber production as the biomass for its pyrolysis process.

“We bring in the chips from the sawmill across the street and put it into our process,” Reese said. “We’re interested in a consistent, quality product. We’re not using recycled wood or construction waste that can contain contaminants.”

The wood chips are dried in a kiln and heated to over 600 degrees Celsius in a process called pyrolysis. Chemicals and gasses in the wood are volatilized, leaving hunks of bone-dry charcoal that contain over 90% carbon.

“We recycle our wood gas, so once we get our process up, it’s self-sustaining as long as we keep feeding it chips,” Reese said, adding that this “continuous process” of recycled energy is unique in the industry and got them named one of the “Exceptional 8 in the Coolest Things Made in Arkansas” contest in 2022.

It also helps to ensure the quality of the biochar they create. EnviraPAC’s biochar product is certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and International Biochar Institute and is listed with the Organic Materials Review Institute.

Once the biochar comes off the carbonizing unit, it can be packed as-is or ground into granules or fine powder. Reese says the smallest grind provides the most surface area and better strength properties for industrial use. While the larger chunks go to agricultural applications like fertilizer, powdered biochar has practical benefits in hydroponics, machinery, metallurgy, textiles, chemicals, plastics, pigments and coatings.

 ‘You Have to Have the Cake’

Reese has traveled extensively through Arkansas, spreading the gospel of biochar to farmers. Ag producers can get financial incentives for using biochar through a USDA-led program.

“Farmers need to know they can get subsidized,” he said. “I figured at least I can make sure the local people know it’s available, the conservation districts, crop advisors, anybody advising the producers.”

To make this advice even more timely, farmers who use those subsidies could get a boon as Congress considers a new Farm Bill and, with it, the inclusion of the Biochar Research Network Act. That bipartisan legislation would allow more funding for biochar research and applications.

Reese has also looked to Congress as he works to inform and educate—his mission extends from Arkansas farms to the U.S. House of Representatives. His Monticello plant has hosted Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman, the current chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources and a proponent of biochar. Reese said many officials didn’t even know there was a biochar plant in Monticello, and he was more than happy to inform them.

Reese says EnviraPAC is also using their sales team to break into markets with clients looking to replace fossil fuel/black carbon sources with sustainable products like biochar.

One recent market breakthrough is using powdered biochar in commercial and industrial paint. Reese said they experimented with using biochar as a black pigment replacement, but the formula “wasn’t black enough.” So, the sales team returned to their formulation data and noticed that biochar produced a flat or matte effect that could be desirable in certain coatings.

“It’s hard developing a market, technologies and applications for a new product. It may not work everywhere, but when it gets to the right place, something happens,” Reese said. “You need to pivot to the nook or cranny where you’re gonna be successful.”

He admits the endeavor isn’t entirely altruistic, as he’s in the business of making money. But it can be a winning investment. This venture is backed by Generate Capital, which focuses on sustainable infrastructure investments in renewable technologies to fight carbon emissions.

Decarbonization and climate initiatives are gaining steam. Government funding can help push emerging technologies forward. Couple that funding with entities like EnviraPAC that produce a consistent, quality-controlled product, and the possibilities are immense.

“We’re trying to be high-quality and compete against petroleum products where we can,” Reese said. “We want to make a long-term product. Subsidies are icing, but you have to have the cake–you can’t just live off icing.”

Fifth-generation Arkansas farmer Jody Hardin was introduced to a potentially game-changing soil additive through a USDA Conservation Innovation Grant in 2011. That’s when Hardin began studying biochar—a charcoal-like material that can be mixed in soil to improve overall soil health.

“I had this huge, eye-opening experience,” Hardin said. “That’s when I started actually using biochar on my crops, doing workshops, and teaching farmers how to make it.”

Biochar is created by heating biomass, such as forest waste or animal manure, in a low-oxygen environment—a process known as pyrolysis. Carbon stored in this form can be added to soil to improve moisture retention, nutrient availability, and aeration and create habitat for beneficial soil microbes, all of which can potentially boost soil productivity. Biochar can also last for thousands of years in soil, so it’s increasingly being viewed as an effective means of sequestering carbon.

Now, Hardin wants to use the knowledge he’s gained to tackle some big challenges across the state by using biochar to clean up the Illinois River watershed, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and help farmers improve the quality of their soil through his innovative initiative called the Carbon Chicken Project.

Many birds with one stone

The Carbon Chicken Project, which aims to develop a market-based, carbon-negative farming ecosystem, has taken shape in Northwest Arkansas, an area with a strong poultry production industry. In fact, the state of Arkansas ranks third in the country for the number of broilers produced (1 billion in 2022). Hardin’s plan is specifically designed to address three things: The first is runoff from poultry litter from the region’s many chicken houses that deposits excess phosphorus into the Illinois River watershed. The second is an abundance of forest and sawmill waste, which releases greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere if left to decompose. Third, Hardin and other farmers are seeking new ways to increase their yields by improving soil health.

To contend with these issues, the project composts the poultry litter and combines it with biochar made from forest and sawmill waste and poultry litter. The result is a soil conditioner to help farmers build healthy soil and reduce the application of expensive fertilizers that can harm the Arkansas River watershed.

For many, this win-win-win solution would be enough. But for Hardin—an agricultural entrepreneur with an economics background—it’s a foundation for a larger vision.

“We’re trying to build this whole ecosystem around biochar that’s very extensive, but when you think about an ecosystem, it’s really a circular economy,” Hardin said. “We can sell the carbon credits, we can sell the biochar, and we can make electricity, and we can clean up a watershed, and we can sequester carbon and prevent climate change. It’s just cascading the benefits of what this product does.”

Accelerating biochar

Producers across the country are looking to Congress to realize biochar’s immense potential. With the most recent Farm Bill recently expired, the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) is asking Congress to invest in biochar research through the next Farm Bill, under the bipartisan Biochar Research Network Act. If passed, the bill will authorize the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a national-scale research program to test different biochar types in different soils and circumstances. With better research will come innovation and practical tools for farmers, ranchers, foresters, and businesses to lean into biochar as a climate solution that improves their bottom line.

On the research front, a recent USDA study showed that biochar made from poultry litter adds value and could be an attractive solution for waste disposal for the industry.

Hardin knows the impact that investment in biochar research can make, referring to his own introduction to biochar—and subsequent learning, experimentation, and research—stemmed from a grant from Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG).

“The Carbon Chicken Project would have never ever happened if it wasn’t for this CIG grant,” Hardin said. “That innovation grant really worked because we’ve created this massive environmental solution for Northwest Arkansas’s watershed using a scaled-up idea that started with that little grant.”

Next steps

Right now, Hardin is working on securing project funding while creating an 11-acre carbon innovation and demonstration farm that can serve as a research facility for the Carbon Chicken Project—and to get other agricultural partners on board.

“I’ve been doing biochar research here on my farm for a good year, and I’ve got feedstock sources, I’m building pyrolysis units, I’ve got different application rate studies already going,” he said. “I’m trying to use this as a base to organize farmers so that they can see the amazing benefits and the yield increases, and all the things that we’re doing.”

If you live in Missoula, Montana, you’ve probably seen the blue e-bikes transporting food scraps around town. The nonprofit Soil Cycle began when Missoula resident and backyard gardener, Caitlyn Lewis, saw a nexus between reducing organic waste to divert valuable materials from landfills and improving her neighborhood gardens’ growing potential by making biochar.

“I think about food a lot because I love to eat and value the effort and beauty of the growing process. Wasted food is a big issue, and I think we should honor our food enough to return it to its natural cycle,” Lewis said.

Six years later, Soil Cycle has gone from Lewis picking up scraps from a few clients to six bikers transporting upwards of 60,000 pounds of compost per year. With a bigger staff and a new executive director, they also educate the community, create quality natural fertilizers, and take compost to a new level, all while remaining human-powered.

Turning a Concept into a Product

A small local houseplant business contacted Soil Cycle because they wanted a soil amendment that could hold nutrients and water while having a fluffy texture for potted succulents. After doing some research, Lewis learned about biochar and found a partner in Bad Goat Forest Products. This Missoula-based company builds live edge furniture, timber frame, and log shelters using wood sourced from local forest restoration and urban tree removal projects.

Mark Vander Meer, the founder of Bad Goat Forest Products, has been practicing and stewarding long-term sustainable forest management in Montana. Soil Cycle team members use the discarded wood shavings from Bad Goat in their 900-degree kiln.

The result is a fine, charred mixture, called biochar, a type of charcoal produced for use in soil by heating biomass in limited oxygen.

Biochar is a very porous, high-carbon form of charcoal that, when mixed into soil, increases airflow, water retention, and nutrient-holding capacity. Its unique structure provides the perfect home for beneficial bacteria, which protects and defends plant roots. Using biochar in the soil allows for continual nutrient and mineral exchange to feed plants and, over time, supports a biologically active carbon storage system, which could help capture the excess carbon in our atmosphere.  Biochar provides the most durable form of soil carbon. When  produced at high temperatures, it lasts for hundreds to thousands of years in soil.

“We are excited to showcase the potential of biochar because when added to soil, it is one of nature’s many miracles,” said Lewis. “Storing carbon in our soil is also a powerful tool against climate change. It is cost-effective, highly efficient, and designed to work with nature. This unique structure provides the perfect home for beneficial bacteria, which protects and defends plant roots.”

Soil Cycle blends its particular biochar mix with worm castings, Montana volcanic minerals, Azomite, kelp meal, raw sugar, and sand. These materials support plants in homes and gardens to improve overall plant growth, yield, resilience, and nutrient-holding abilities while improving soil moisture retention.

“Our partnership with Bad Goat Lumber has shown us how a waste product – both from wood products and food scraps – can become a rich and valuable source of nutrients when placed under pressure – the diamonds of the soil. This partnership has allowed us to create a product that we couldn’t otherwise by using their facility and biochar-making setup,” said Lewis.

Their Biochar Blend is sold in several nurseries around Missoula and is most popular for house plants. Even though they work with biochar on a small scale, the Soil Cycle team sees potential for backyard gardeners and urban farmers so everyone can experience using it and see its potential application on a larger scale.

Accelerating Biochar

To replicate partnerships like Soil Cycle and Bad Goat Lumber’s and scale up biochar production for use in agriculture and forestry, the country needs a coordinated research program to inform farmers, ranchers, foresters, and gardeners on which types of biochar will work in their conditions. Congress is crafting the 2023 Farm Bill, which presents a big opportunity to ensure the promise of biochar is realized.

The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) is asking Congress to invest in biochar research through the Farm Bill, specifically under the Biochar Research Network Act. It will authorize the USDA to establish a national-scale research program to test different biochar types in different soils and circumstances. With better research will come innovation and practical tools for Montana farmers, ranchers, gardeners and foresters to improve soil health and productivity, as they help solve climate change by storing carbon in soil.

The continued evolution of biochar has entrepreneurs like Lewis thinking big.

“We know it will take time to educate our customers (and future customers) about the incredible benefits biochar can give their soil. Even though biochar has been used for centuries, it is still new to most people,” Lewis said.