Arigna Biochar Fuels
Burning solid fossil fuels like bituminous coal, anthracite and petroleum coke for resi-dential heating in Ireland emits extremely high quantities of CO2. Using the briquettes made out of olive stones could reduce the CO2 emissions in this sector by 75%.
Arigna Fuels produce an olive stone based torrefied home heating product for the domestic heat market as well as an olive stone biochar for use within the agricultural, horticultural and other markets.
In addition Arigna Fuels produce a high carbon product which is suitable for agriculture and horticulture and will eventually store carbon permanently in the ground.
Challenge Tackled
– Reduce the quantity of fossil fuels burnt
– Improve air quality
– Provide additional income to rural areas
– Increase soil carbon
Target group, beneficiaries or clients
– Domestic households, Harvest Flame Farms, horticultural enterprises and the agriculture sector more generally
Solution
Thermal conversion of biomass (olive stones) into both biochar and Harvest Flame
Innovation
Arigna Fuels brings a sustainable alternative to burning solid fossil fuels in residential heating to the market.
Unique Selling Point
Results showed that Harvest Flame can in fact be considered a sustainable alternative to domestic heating fuels in Ireland, with the lowest emissions of 27.65 g CO2 / MJ over its lifetime. Substituting these domestic fuels for Harvest Flame, can reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 75%.
Impact
If Arigna Fuels can substitute 100% biochar made from olive stones for their current smokeless fuels, they can reduce CO2 emissions by >3.2 tonnes from every tonne of fossil coal replaced. This also prevents all the upstream emissions/ pollution from extraction/ transport and processing.
Feasibility/Transferability
Harvest Flame as a commercial product is offered to customers since 2019.