HLL have posted more details on their Linkedin page:
**Beyond Carbon Zero – Hot Lime Labs secures funding for biochar project from MPI**
“We are thrilled to announce project funding of $707k from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures Fund as part of a $1.77m project. This project aims to demonstrate a circular economy model that can transform large commercial greenhouses into carbon-negative hubs, by converting green waste into char (aka biochar).
Underpinning this project is Hot Lime’s core product which turns waste biomass into CO2, to boost productivity in greenhouses. Char is a byproduct of the Hot Lime process, and when made well it can be buried and lock up carbon in the ground for hundreds of years while having absorption properties similar to activated carbon.
As part of this project, we will optimise Hot Lime char for use as a filter to help clean up wastewater, with an initial focus on grabbing onto nitrates – while also ensuring it is also suitable for long-term carbon burial. We will test this at an initial site near Taupo with the long-term vision of being able to roll it out across the country as we roll out other Hot Lime systems.
Hot Lime Chief Growth Officer Tijs Robinson says “High-tech greenhouses are incredibly efficient environments to grow fruits and vegetables. With this project, we are looking at how we not only use our system to let growers access renewable CO2 and move closer to carbon zero but also to capture some of the carbon from green waste and get greenhouses past carbon zero and become carbon negative”.
We are thankful for the support of MPI’s SFF Futures fund, and our shareholders, who are making this work possible.”
Check out the MPI SSF Futures projects: horticulture for the full list of projects. I could see biochar research opportunities in almost all of these funded projects.
