Ag residue and carbon removal

Catalyst · 25 Sept 2025 · 35m

What this episode covers

Peter Reinhardt, co-founder and CEO of Charm Industrial, explains why centralized biomass projects fail due to prohibitive logistics costs and low energy density, advocating instead for on-field mobile pyrolysis to convert agricultural residue like corn stover into dense bio-oil. He details how this densification strategy solves the volume-to-weight transport problem, making carbon removal economically viable compared to traditional uses like ethanol or electricity. Reinhardt also discusses the evolution of the carbon removal market, emphasizing the need for extreme transparency and co-benefits to build trust with a diverse buyer base beyond major tech companies.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies: Charm Industrial, Segment, Twilio, Pacific BioEnergy, Microsoft, Stripe, Shopify, Google, Facebook
Also: Hugoton

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

Hardware to Save a Planet9 Jun 2022 · 37m
Putting Oil Back Where It Belongs with Peter Reinhardt, CEO & Co-Founder of Charm Industrial
Peter Reinhardt, CEO and Co-Founder of Charm Industrial, explains how his company converts waste biomass into bio-oil for permanent underground carbon sequestration. He details the hardware challenges of building mobile pyrolyzers to process fluffy biomass like corn stover and the geological engineering required for safe injection wells. Reinhardt also discusses the evolution of the carbon removal market, noting that while tech companies are early adopters, policy-driven markets will be essential for scaling to the hundreds of millions of tons needed.
Energy & climate tech Materials & manufacturing processes
7 chapters
Hardware to Save a Planet16 Feb 2023 · 44m
Mitigating Wildfire Risk to Reduce CO2 Emissions with Bret Richmond, Director of Engineering at C6 Forest to Farm
Bret Richmond, Director of Engineering at C6 Forest to Farm, explains how the company mitigates wildfire risk and sequesters carbon by converting forest biomass into biochar. He details the engineering challenges of their pilot plant, including the decision to use continuous-feed pyrolysis reactors and off-the-shelf sawmill equipment to process logs into biochar for agricultural soil enrichment. Richmond discusses the system's mass and energy balances, the strategic placement of facilities to minimize transport emissions, and the company's current stage of fundraising and system design.
Energy & climate tech Mechanical engineering
6 chapters
Hardware to Save a Planet12 Apr 2024 · 49m
50th Episode Special: Checking in with early guests Accelerate Wind, Charm Industrial, and Heirloom
Erika Boeing of Accelerate Wind details the validation of their rooftop wind spoiler technology through real-world testing at Windward Engineering, explaining why full-scale outdoor testing was chosen over wind tunnels for accuracy. Peter Reinhardt of Charm Industrial discusses the parallel development of mobile pyrolysis units and underground injection processes, highlighting large offtake agreements with Frontier and JP Morgan to fuel growth in carbon removal. Noah McQueen of Heirloom describes the opening of North America's first commercial direct air capture facility in Tracy, California, and the strategic partnership with Lilac to integrate electric kiln technology for efficient CO2 separation.
Prototyping & iteration Scaling production
10 chapters
Hardware to Save a Planet29 Aug 2024 · 42m
Advancing Soil Carbon Measurement for Sustainable Food Systems with Chris Tolles of Yard Stick
Chris Tolles, Co-Founder and CEO of Yard Stick, explains how his company uses spectroscopy to reduce soil carbon measurement costs by 90%, enabling scalable carbon removal and improved agricultural economics. Tolles details the hardware challenges of integrating commercial spectrometers into durable, handheld field instruments and the critical need for extensive calibration libraries across diverse soil types. He argues that affordable measurement unlocks the economic viability of nature-based solutions for major emitters, contrasting the low cost of soil carbon with the high expense of engineered solutions like Direct Air Capture (DAC).
Materials & manufacturing processes Pricing, margins & unit economics
8 chapters
Hardware to Save a Planet21 Nov 2024 · 41m
Fostering a Circular Carbon Economy with Direct Air Capture: Insights from Rob van Straten of Skytree
Rob van Straten, CEO of Skytree, explains how the company pivoted from an automotive CO2 scrubber concept to building modular Direct Air Capture (DAC) systems for vertical farms and large-scale carbon removal parks. He details Skytree’s strategy of mass-producing transportable units to drive down costs and enable rapid iteration, contrasting this with the site-based approach of competitors like Climeworks. Van Straten discusses the technical challenges of sorbent lifetime, the shift to vacuum-based temperature swing adsorption, and the importance of integrating waste heat to minimize the carbon footprint of the capture process.
Energy & climate tech Scaling production
5 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Catalyst. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.

Ag residue and carbon removal

What this episode covers

Most relevant to

Topics

Mentioned

Related episodes from other shows

Putting Oil Back Where It Belongs with Peter Reinhardt, CEO & Co-Founder of Charm Industrial

Mitigating Wildfire Risk to Reduce CO2 Emissions with Bret Richmond, Director of Engineering at C6 Forest to Farm

50th Episode Special: Checking in with early guests Accelerate Wind, Charm Industrial, and Heirloom

Advancing Soil Carbon Measurement for Sustainable Food Systems with Chris Tolles of Yard Stick

Fostering a Circular Carbon Economy with Direct Air Capture: Insights from Rob van Straten of Skytree