Description

Premier Forest Group is a leading UK timber group involved in the import, distribution, sawmilling and wholesale processing of timber and timber products. At their facility in Newport Wales, Premier Forest Group compresses wood waste into briquettes which are then fed into a custom-built biomass gasification system, producing syngas and biochar. The syngas is immediately filtered and cooled before combustion in an electricity generator. The power is used on-site and exported to the grid. The facility was the first of its kind in the UK. The biochar’s carbon content is high, at 86.5% and stable, as indicated by the H/C ratio of 0.13. Accend carried out a lifecycle assessment (LCA) of Premier Forest’s production process in December 2021. The LCA accounts for all process emissions from the production of the waste, briquetting, on-site transport, the manufacturing of the biochar on-site, and auxiliary materials. The LCA confirms that a net amount of 2.96 tons of CO2 is removed and sequestered for every 1 ton of biochar produced and sold. The biochar had previously been briquetted and sold as fuel. As a result of the financial incentives from CO2 removal certificates, Premier Forest has found new markets for the char. It is now sold to a compost supplier who mixes the biochar with compost and sells it as a garden soil improver. This project was co-developed with Javelin Global Commodities. Javelin is an international bulk commodities trader, pioneering development in alternative green commodities and supporting the decarbonisation pathways for partners in the hardest to abate sectors. The project is now verified and produces around 300 CORCs per year.