biochar, a green charcoal to save the planet?

A new production has emerged in the middle of the Landes forest in Lacanau (Gironde): a solution to trap carbon. Biochar, a vegetable charcoal, is a challenge for the future in the fight against climate change. This much finer charcoal is produced from burnt forests. Each ton of biochar sequesters the equivalent of 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

Replace cement

The transformation takes place by pyrolysis. The wood or any other agricultural residue is collected, put in the oven and heated to a very high temperature, without oxygen. The gases emitted are used to generate electricity. Remains of conventional charcoal and biochar, recovered and then cooled for 24 hours. The production is mainly used in construction. For the first time in France on a construction site near Lyon (Rhône), biochar, much less energy-consuming than cement, is used as a replacement. “We have a cement which is a carbon sink, whose net carbon balance is negative”explains Laurent Legay, markets and supply director at Vicat.

Agriculture is also taking hold of biochar, as in Brazil where several investors have bet more than 10 million euros on a young French company, which has just inaugurated one of the largest biochar production sites in the world.