Nexus Development Capital, a Greenville, South Carolina-based provider of catalytic capital for sustainable infrastructure project developers, has announced a $5 million investment in biochar producer Standard Biocarbon, based in Enfield, Maine.
The funding will allow Standard Biocarbon to scale operations to meet growing demand for carbon capture and biochar. The company says it will commence production of biochar in the first quarter of 2024 and it expects to produce an estimated 16,000 cubic yards of biochar and to capture an estimated 3,000 tons of carbon per year.
Standard Biocarbon was founded by veteran sustainability entrepreneurs Fred Horton and Tom Horton in 2020 to develop a scalable commercial biochar manufacturing capacity in North America.
Biochar, a charcoal-like material produced by heating organic matter to an extremely high temperature in a low-oxygen environment, can store carbon for up to thousands of years, according to the news release. By putting biocha back into the earth, the carbon is permanently removed. According to recent research by the International Biochar Initiative, based in New York state, biochar has the potential to capture up to 3 billion metric tons of CO2 annually, reducing global emissions by up to 6 percent.
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In addition to multiple agricultural applications, biochar can be used in hazardous waste remediation, stormwater management and in low-carbon cement, pavement and polymers.
RELATED: Demand for biochar on the rise
“Biochar is one of the most cost-effective and commercially ready approaches for removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Scaling these types of carbon removal facilities is now one of our biggest opportunities,” says Joshua Kaufman, CEO of Nexus Development Capital. “We see Standard Biocarbon as one of the first to bring these in-demand carbon sequestration solutions online to meet the huge appetite across multiple sectors.”
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Nexus Development Capital’s investment in Standard Biocarbon follows its recent investment in Switch Maritime, Jackson, Wyoming, the operator of the U.S.’ first hydrogen ferry.