New West Liberty start-up captures carbon with biochar

Charred biomass becomes soil additive

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West Liberty is about to be on the cutting edge of a new agricultural industry.

At the Dec. 3 meeting, council members heard a presentation by William Cowell de Gruchy, founder and CEO of Liferaft Carbon Capture, which will be coming to the West Liberty Industrial Park District.

WELEAD director Ken Brooks introduced Cowell to the council, and said he was excited about the prospect of the new business.

The project had been codenamed Project Scarecrow on city documents to protect the confidentiality of the company before the details were finalized.

Liferaft makes biochar, which is a substance made from burning organic material generated by biomass, including agricultural and forestry waste. That can include cornstalks and manure. Cowell said biochar is essentially pure carbon and creates a sort of honeycomb when completed. Similar in structure to charcoal, biochar can be added to soils to increase aeration and water content, reduce soil emissions and acidity, and has been shown to increase soil fertility and productivity and help with water runoff issues.

“It would be wrong to call it a fertilizer,” said Cowell. “It works in concert with fertilizer. When you apply it to the soil, mixed in the soil with manure or other fertilizers, what it does is, those little tiny honeycombs there provide a home for microbial life.

“It’s a way of restoring soil health without having to do anything unnatural at all.”

Cowell said that farmers have seen about a 25 percent yield increase when combined with the use of conventional fertilizers. He also said that biochar is gaining more awareness, with opportunities for grants from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks has also introduced legislation for more research into the effects of biochar.

“We make this. And we want to make it in West Liberty,” said Cowell.

Cowell said the materials needed to make biochar are in abundance in the West Liberty area, and they would work with partner farmers to collect agricultural waste to make the product. He said other materials, such as tree trimmings or storm damaged wood could also be used in production.

The proposed facility, which Cowell described as essentially as a large metal pole barn with a silo, would be constructed on Freedom Street, although the company is finalizing engineering plans that may include three additional area facilities. Cowell said the company also planned to work with local contractors to build the facility, including All-American Concrete, Greiner Buildings, Dave Schmidt and McClure Engineering. They will also be seeking local trades workers, including electricians and plumbers. Cowell said, other than the biochar machinery, the company wanted to keep as much of the labor as local as possible.

Cowell said the West Liberty biochar facility would be the largest in the United States and potentially in North America.

In terms of the future economic impact, Cowell said there would be approximately 20 direct jobs created per machine, with approximately 15 indirect jobs for collecting biomass supply, including truck drivers. He said the facility would run three shifts, operating 24/7 as much as possible, because the machines are not really meant to cycle up and down. The company hopes to start advertising for the positions in January, with an eye towards the first facility being operational by March of 2025.

“This is a very interesting and growing industry,” said Cowell. “It’s really synergistic with farming and the local community. This is something that can bring soil health and utilize waste products, but it’s also something that’s got global interest. It’s only really just being understood, both in terms of the impact on the soil and the ecosystem, but also for the economic benefits that it can bring.”

Cowell said he also planned to work with Brooks to reach out to area universities to bring graduate students to the site and teach about biochar creation and hopefully lead to more research into its effects and uses.

He said Liferaft should not compete or take business away from existing local fertilizer companies, because they are very different products often used in tandem. 

Council member Dana Dominguez asked Cowell why the company specifically chose West Liberty.

Cowell described the company’s journey to West Liberty as a “long and winding road,” but explained that he had started to work with someone in a neighboring community on a potential partnership. While that endeavor didn’t come to fruition, in the process, he got to know the area and WELEAD in particular.

“And then, just sort of the stars started to align,” he said. “There was a site that had space for us that actively seemed like it wanted us to be there, a town where we could then come in and do good for the community, not just be another thing tagged on to another industrial site somewhere nondescript where nobody’s going to notice or care about us. It’s really important. Our name is Liferaft. We’re supposed to be a life raft for the farmers that we work with, the communities that we’re in, the planet that we all live on. And that’s what we’re hoping to be here.”

Cowell said that the company hoped to be an active part of the community and support local causes. He also said he wanted to create a path for people to have a worthwhile career, including those with non-traditional career journeys.

“I guess, our view is, we don’t what to charge in and tell you what we think you want. We want you to tell us what you want and then work with you.”

“One of the buildings close to the WELEAD office has a saying on it: ‘You belong here,’” said mayor Mark Smith. “You belong here,” he told Cowell.

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