Environmental Impact

Adopting Pyroligneous Acid (PA) in U.S. Agriculture

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VGrid’s mission is to reverse climate change.

VGrid’s proprietary Bioserver® transforms agricultural and forestry waste into sustainable and reliable electricity. This process also produces high-quality biochar and pyroligneous acid (PA). When biochar is integrated into soil, it net removes nearly three times its weight in atmospheric CO2, which is crucial in combating climate change. Furthermore, PA and biochar improve the long-term productivity of soil, while significantly increasing crop yields while reducing water and fertilizer use.

Annual Production Capacity ─ Single Bioserver®

Waste Biomass

1,500,000 lbs

Annual feedstock; 24/7/365 operations with 85% uptime. (200 lbs/hour per Bioserver)

Sustainable Electricity

750,000 kWh

Annual production; 24/7/365 operations with 85% uptime. (100 kWh/hour per Bioserver)

Premium Biochar

300,000 lbs

Annual production; 24/7/365 operations with 85% uptime. (40 lbs/hour per Bioserver)

Pyroligneous Acid

52,000 gal

Annual production: 24/7/365 operations with 85% uptime. (7 gal/hour per Bioserver)

Climate Impact of PA Use in U.S. Farming.

There are approximately 900,000,000 acres of farmland in the United States¹. With an estimate of 5.0 gallons of PA applied per acre², the total annual potential of PA in U.S. agriculture is 4.5 billion gallons. Based on the production data for a single Bioserver, 86,538 Bioservers are needed to produce this quantity of pyroligneous acid.

(1) U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. (2024, March). Farms and Farmland: 2022 Census of Agriculture Highlights (ACH22-3).

(2) Estimated annual application rate based on Persist PAF. Validated across multiple crop and nursery trials and customer use.

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Agricultural fields
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Impact of 86,538 Bioservers.

(corresponding to 4.5 billion gallons of PA production)

Annual Metric Tons of CO2 Removed Removal Method Removal Description References
34.3 Biochar 2.94 CORCs (CO2 Removal Certificates) generated per metric ton of biochar. 86,538 Bioservers create 11.7 million metric tons of biochar annually, durably removing over 34 million mt of CO2. Based on Puro.Earth 2022-2023 certification of VGrid Energy Systems. Contact VGrid for audit statement and documentation.
23.6 Electricity (fossil fuel offset) 0.81 pounds of CO2 emitted per kWh of fossil-fuel generated electricity. 64,260 gigawatts of electricity are created by 86,538 Bioservers, offsetting 23.6 million mt of fossil fuel-related GHG emissions. U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2024, Dec. 11). How much carbon dioxide is produced per kilowatthour of U.S. electricity generation? U.S. Department of Energy. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=74&t=11
11.7 Fertilizer Reduction 2.6 metric tons of CO2 are emitted per metric ton of fertilizer produced. With a 22% reduction by using PAF, 86,538 Bioservers can reduce annual fertilizer use by ~4.5 million metric tons, corresponding to 7.6 million mt of avoided GHG emissions. Kelbel, G. (2024, Mar. 4). Understand your synthetic fertilizer emissions for carbon regulations. CarbonChain. https://www.carbonchain.com/blog/understand-your-synthetic-fertilizer-emissions
5.0 Irrigation Water Reduction Each acre-foot of irrigation water requires 730 kWh of electricity. With U.S. agriculture using 81 million acre-feet annually, a 23% savings from biochar produced by 86,538 Bioservers would conserve over 18.6 million acre-feet, reducing electricity usage by 13,600 GWh. (See CO2 emissions data above for fossil fuel offset). Sowby, R. B., & Dicataldo, E. (2022). The energy footprint of U.S. irrigation: A first estimate from open data. Energy Nexus, 6, 100066. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nexus.2022.100066
2.0 Biomass Related (new plantings) In addition to processing waste biomass, 86,538 Bioservers will also require planting of specific feedstocks to support operations. VGrid estimates 2.8 million acres of new plantings, such as C4 miscanthus grass, which will remove an additional 0.71 metric tons of CO2 per acre. Jones, M. B., Zimmermann, J., & Clifton-Brown, J. (2016). Long-term yields and soil carbon sequestration from Miscanthus: A review. In S. Barth, D. Murphy-Bokern, O. Kalinina, G. Taylor, & M. Jones (Eds.), Perennial biomass crops for a resource-constrained world (pp. 65–82). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44530-4_4
76.6 TOTAL mtCO2e Total estimated CO2 removal from 86,538 Bioservers in operation (annual metric tons).

Additional impacts. The numbers …

64 million tons of biomass is needed annually to operate 86,538 Bioservers. While VGrid is focused on processing waste from agriculture, forestry, and municipalities, high-CO2-absorbing feedstocks, including bamboo and miscanthus, can also be grown to support feedstock requirements.

12 million tons of high quality biochar produced annually by 86,538 Bioservers (refer to production data above).

64,250 gigawatts of sustainable biomass electricity produced annually by 86,538 Bioservers (refer to production data above).

6 trillion gallons of irrigation water saved, based on a 23% improvement in moisture retention in soils amended with Persist biochar. According to the USDA’s 2023 Irrigation and Water Management Survey, 81 million acre-feet of irrigation water are used in U.S. agriculture annually ─ a 23% reduction represents approximately 6 trillion gallons.

(source: Rocky Mountain PBS. (2024, November 12). At an experimental farm in Fruita, researchers are fighting drought with pistachio shells).

Recent crop trials by VGrid have shown that improving nutrient uptake efficiency by 22% could reduce annual nitrogen fertilizer use by approximately 5 million U.S. tons. This 22% improvement represents a blended average based on VGrid’s pepper production trials, where nutrient efficiency increases ranged from 4% to 42%. Leaf tissue analysis specifically confirmed a 22% improvement in nitrogen uptake. Given that 22.6 million U.S. tons of fertilizer are applied annually in the United States, this reduction offers substantial environmental and economic advantages.

(source: Statista Research Department. (2024, December 2). U.S. fertilizer consumption by nutrient. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1330021/fertilizer-consumption-by-nutrient-us/)

Creating 60,000 new rural jobs, based on VGrid internal data. Three people are required to operate a five Bioserver array. This figure includes additional jobs required for processing biochar and PA.

Persist by VGrid

info@vgridenergy.com
+1 (805) 482-9040
513 Calle San Pablo, Camarillo, CA 93012

 

Persist® premium biochar, Karrikaid®, and PAF liquid plant enhancer are manufactured by VGrid, a California-based biomass energy producer