obtain activated biochar from reb, tree pruning and pomace for soil improvement and become energy autarkic
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Viticulture and fruit growing increasingly require climate-resilient soils that store water and nutrients well and promote plant growth and nutrient supply through active soil life. At the same time, many tons of vine and tree prunings, grubbing nodes and pomace accumulate annually, for which removal and disposal must be organized.
An increasing number of vineyards and orchards have already gained positive experience with the use of biochar. However, products available on the market are too expensive for many for large-scale use.
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Prunings from vines and trees are high-quality feedstock for autarkize plants. Vine and fruit growers transport them to a centrally located plant. There they are stored, dried and crushed and continuously fed to a autarkize plant.
The autarkize plant's unique process produces a high-quality biochar and a pyrolysis gas from which electricity and heat are generated with the help of a combined heat and power plant. The plant is usually located near a commercial or industrial facility or a community to meet its energy needs with carbon-neutral, locally generated energy.
The resulting biochar can be fermented together with the pomace in a further step and thus become an optimal soil conditioner and fertilizer for wine and fruit cultivation.
Additional revenues can be generated through the sale of CO2 certificates (CDR credits).
In this way, a disposal problem is turned into a regenerative energy supply, climate-resilient soils, better supplied vines, shrubs and trees, and ultimately monetary revenues.
your added value
generation of electricity and heat
The unique autarkize process enables the recovery of an energy-rich pyrolysis gas from the green waste of wine and fruit growers. Other biomasses such as pomace, municipal green waste and forest residues can also be added. The pyrolysis gas has a quality that can be converted into electricity and heat in common combined heat and power plants.
This saves costs and complexity. The generated electricity can be used on site (e.g. by a commercial enterprise) or fed into the public grid and remunerated according to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). This provides the plant operator with a secure source of income.
The heat can also be used on site by an industrial or commercial enterprise or fed into a local or district heating network. Since the autarkize plants are nevertheless very compact and transportable with a large generation capacity, they can easily be set up where there is a high energy demand.
use the produced biochar yourself or market it as a soil conditioner and fertilizer
The biochar produced in the process meets the high standards for use in agriculture, viticulture and fruit growing, as well as in horticulture and landscaping. This results in a wide range of opportunities for wine and fruit growers.
They can ferment or compost the biochar together with their pomace on site. This produces a charcoal activated with nutrients and microorganisms that can be used in their own cultivation areas to improve the soil, microbiology and nutrient supply for the plants.
Biochar not used by the company itself can just as easily be sold on to other farms, private individuals or larger substrate producers.
sale of CDR credits
Biochar from autarkize plants is not only a valuable soil improver but also a permanent carbon sink. Plants extract CO2 from the atmosphere as they grow and use the carbon to build their cells and structures. Normally, this carbon sequestered in the plant becomes CO2 again through rotting or burning. The autarkize process, however, converts a larger portion of the carbon into a stable biochar. If this carbon is then introduced into soils, for example, it can hardly be decomposed and the CO2 once bound remains permanently removed from the atmosphere.
Each autarkize plant removes several thousand tons of CO2 from the atmosphere every year. For this immensely important contribution to climate protection, producers and users of autarkize biochar can obtain certificates. The so-called Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) credits are issued in quality-assured processes and are purchased by companies and private individuals, e.g. on international stock exchanges.
The CDR certificates not only show what an important contribution to climate protection fruit and wine growing can have. They are also a good additional revenue stream and offer companies and private individuals the opportunity to compensate for their partially unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions locally in domestic cultivation areas.