Pyrolizer

Overview

Applied Carbon has developed a mobile, in-field agricultural robot called a pyrolizer that picks up crop waste left after harvesting and converts it into carbon-rich biochar in a single pass. The resulting product is deposited back onto the field, simultaneously increasing soil health, improving crop yields, reducing fertilizer needs, and providing a carbon removal and storage solution that lasts millions of years. The machine picks up field residues such as corn, rice, and cotton, chops it up and blows it into a processor that prepares the material for the reactor. The reactor heats the biomass to 1,000ºF in a limited-oxygen environment creating biochar and syngas, a gaseous substance. A fraction of the syngas burns to generate the heat to sustain the pyrolysis reaction. The excess syngas moves through a cyclone to remove fine particles, then enters a thermal oxidizer to destroy exhaust, until it releases as clean heat. The resulting biochar is drenched with water and spread onto the field with minimal soil disturbance.