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Biochar Production and Technology logoBiochar Production and Technology
 LUISA E MARIN DE BLOCK
LUISA E MARIN DE BLOCK
24 December 2025 at 8:36 am

Scaling artisanal biochar production

Buyers say they like industrial biochar based carbon removal. Their behavior proves it. Large offtakes. Long contracts. Faster decisions.

So why do artisanal biochar projects struggle to reach the same level of demand?

The common explanations miss the point. This is not about permanence. It is not about climate impact. It is not even about scale.

It is about assurance.

Buyers do not purchase carbon. They purchase confidence. Confidence in systems, data, and risk management.

Industrial projects deliver this by design. One site. One process. One control framework. One audit trail. Uncertainty stays contained. Evidence stays clean.

Artisanal projects send a different signal. Many producers. Variable practices. Fragmented data. Verification driven by people rather than systems. Each step increases perceived risk. That risk lands on procurement teams, auditors, and boards.

This is not a rejection of rural or distributed models. Buyers handle complex supply chains every day. The issue is unmanaged complexity.

Storytelling, SDGs, and goodwill help alignment. They do not close deals.

The shift required is operational, not rhetorical. Industrial discipline wrapped around rural reality. Standardized equipment and procedures. Batch level evidence tied to place and time. Risk based quality control. Clear chain of custody from biomass to biochar to use. Independent field assurance. Aggregation into auditable lots. Conservative accounting with uncertainty stated upfront.

The structure mirrors an industrial facility. The footprint stays distributed.

Once this discipline is in place, buyer behavior changes. The question stops being about artisanal origin. It becomes about supply growth.

At that point, artisanal biochar shows its strengths. Proximity to biomass. Lower transport emissions. Avoided open burning. Strong livelihood and soil outcomes.

The future of biochar carbon removal is not industrial versus artisanal. It is assured versus informal.

Industrial grade assurance applied to artisanal systems is what unlocks scale, buyers, and lasting climate impact.

Credit: Naved Ahmad. Adapted from a LinkedIn post.

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  • Fabio Pellegrini

    16 February 2026 at 5:35 am

    Hello Luisa,
    thank you for your post.
    My company developed and produce small scale microCHP with biochar production, many of our customers use self produced biochar in their farms, but sell it is almost impossible for them.

    Our units are extremely small, probably much smaller of what in the article are called “artisanal”, but maybe the concept is the same.

    From my point of view the limit in small scale biochar production are regulations.
    Analisys and certifications need the same process (and cost) both if you are a large or a small producer. So small means expensive and not competitive.

    In my opinion it would need a different way to make biochar and carbon credits certifications for small scale plants.

    • LUISA E MARIN DE BLOCK

      16 February 2026 at 7:13 pm

      Hi Fabio, thanks for your comment. It makes absolute sense to consider different rates for artisanal producers from the registries and characterization labs. Not only the percentages in carbon credit issuance.

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