For much of its modern history, biochar lived in a clear and relatively stable space. A soil-focused material. Designed to improve structure, biology, water retention, and resilience. Success was measured in field performance. Carbon benefits were acknowledged, but rarely the primary driver.

That framing dominated for years.

Over the past decade, however, a second trajectory has been forming alongside it, and in recent years it has accelerated. Biochar has moved well beyond soils and into industrial systems that operate under very different rules.

Today, biochar is being developed for use in asphalt, concrete, cement, plasterboard, aggregates, industrial absorbents, and energy and thermal applications. These uses demand specifications, validation, modeling, permanence claims, and extensive documentation. Performance is defined less by biological response and more by consistency, chemistry, and process control.

Both trajectories are legitimate. They are optimized for different outcomes.

What has not changed is biochar itself. Nor have the trade-offs.

Experience has shown, repeatedly, that biochar performing exceptionally well in one application does not automatically succeed in another. Producing at scale is not the same as producing consistently. Materials suited to soils do not necessarily meet the requirements of industrial systems.

Underlying all applications is a principle as old as biochar production itself. The quality of the input determines the quality of the output. Inconsistent or low-grade feedstocks rarely yield premium, reliable biochar, regardless of how strong the surrounding framework appears.

Tension tends to emerge when expectations collapse these realities into a single material. High volume. Tight specifications. Low cost. Broad applicability. All at once.

Biochar is versatile, but it is not universal.

The soil-focused world learned this through decades of practice. The industrial world often encounters it later, when pilot projects meet operational constraints.

As biochar continues to move into industrial markets, success increasingly depends on understanding both trajectories and the limits that come with each. Feedstock quality, logistics, market fit, and application-specific design matter as much as ambition.

The shift underway is not about replacing one use with another. It is about recognizing that biochar now operates across multiple domains, each with its own rules, expectations, and constraints.

Seeing biochar clearly today requires stepping back far enough to understand how those domains evolved, and where their boundaries still hold.

Source: Adapted from reflections by Sue Rawlings, Managing Director, Carbon Gold Ltd.