'Big potential' in tree brash to biochar research work

'GROUNDBREAKING COLLABORATION' BETWEEN COLLEGE AND BIONERG

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BRANCHING out in partnership with a carbon removals producer has created a sustainable method of maximising woodland usage and improving soil quality at a leading college.

Coleg Cambria Llysfasi and Llangollen-based BionerG have embarked on a “groundbreaking collaboration” to explore whether tree brash can become a critical resource for carbon removal in Wales.

The college has supplied the ‘brash’ - typically discarded branches and foliage resulting from forestry operations and stormy weather - which BionerG is processing using a cutting-edge approach involving branch logging followed by drying in their specialized pyrolysis units at the ECKO (Ecology Carbon Knowledge Outreach) Centre in Denbighshire, a facility dedicated to biochar production and environmental education.

Biochar is a type of charcoal produced through a process called pyrolysis, where organic matter like biomass is heated at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen.

This process creates a carbon-rich, porous material that can be used as a soil amendment, acting as a sponge for water and nutrients, improving soil structure, and sequestering carbon.