BluSky Carbon Inc, a carbon removal company, has officially begun biochar production at its Arkansas facility, marking the start of operations under a recently announced $105 million, ten-year supply agreement. The facility features the first Vulcan Heavy system, one of three units required to fully meet the agreement’s demands. Once all units are operational, they are expected to yield a combined annual output of approximately 40,000 tons of biochar.
The production process will leverage byproducts such as bio-oil and syngas, potentially lowering costs by generating some of the energy needed to power the Vulcan systems. Additionally, this energy surplus may support BluSky’s related carbon removal technologies, including the Medusa Carbon mineralisation process and Kronos Direct Air Carbon Capture technology.
Located at 110 Industrial Park Drive in Warren, Arkansas, the 50,000 sq/ft “AR1” production plant is situated on an 8.54-acre site within a region rich in sustainable timber resources. Local softwood wood chip production, primarily yellow pine, provides a plentiful, sustainable biomass feedstock for BluSky’s Vulcan Heavy pyrolysis systems.
BluSky CEO Will Hessert said, “We intend to grow the project by showcasing the potential opportunities which we believe will attract local, regional and even global interest. Beyond the immediate goals, we intend to use AR1 as a research facility to test novel technologies we hope to unveil in the months ahead.”