10. March 2022
Henriette zu Doha
Biochar | Bioenergy | Biomass | CDR | EBC | net-zero | Uncategorized

Flag­ship project: Climate-neutral district heating in Basel

Swiss energy service provider IWB produces rege­ne­ra­tive heat and CO2-absor­bing biochar from green waste.

The Basel based IWB has realized the first climate-neutral district heating project in Switz­er­land. Using our newly deve­loped PX1500, IWB is now feeding an annual heating capa­city of around 1.5 giga­watt hours into the district heating network. That covers the energy needs of about 170 Basel house­holds. IWB uses only regional, untreated biomass such as wood and green waste from a maximum radius of 40 kilo­me­ters. In the PYREG plant, this high-quality biomass is carbo­nized into biochar at 500 to 700 degrees Celsius in the absence of oxygen. In this biochar, CO2 is safely bound. Subse­quently dispersed into the earth it ends up in a perma­nent carbon sink.

IWB sells premium biochar and closes the loop

Through the advanced tempe­ra­ture-controlled Pyreg carbo­niza­tion, IWB produces a premium biochar certi­fied as the inter­na­tio­nally accepted “EBC-AgroBio“. That biochar complies with the requi­re­ments for EU-wide use as a soil condi­tioner – even in organic farming. IWB sells the biochar – ca. 550 metric tons per year – to both, agri­cul­tural enter­prises, and private custo­mers. By doing so, IWB is also setting new stan­dards for circular economy in the muni­cipal sector.

A flag­ship project

“IWB is a pioneer in climate protec­tion and living proof of the enormous climate protec­tion value that lies in CO2-nega­tive district heating,” says Helmut Gerber, CTO and founder of PYREG GmbH, adding, “We are convinced that flag­ship projects like this one in Switz­er­land will follow world­wide. They are important as we have no more time to lose on the way to achie­ving the Paris climate protec­tion goals.”
“With this, our first biochar plant IWB empha­sizes our leading role as a service provider for rene­wable energy. Decar­bo­ni­zing the heat supply is one of our most important tasks, and not just in Basel. We carry this mission throug­hout Switz­er­land. The plant is a show­case project in terms of decar­bo­niza­tion and energy effi­ci­ency. Also, our custo­mers gain from the ecolo­gical bene­fits of the biochar,” says Dr. Arthur Janssen, Head of Stra­tegy & Inno­va­tion at IWB.

0 Comments

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. PYREG wins the prestigious Watt d'Or award from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. - PYREG GmbH - […] an inte­grated hot-water circuit, a concept that has already been adopted on a larger scale by the Basel IWB…

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

DAS KÖNNTE SIE AUCH INTERESSIEREN

PYREG is a CDR Inno­vator sponsor

PYREG is a CDR Inno­vator sponsor

We’re proud to be a sponsor of the Carbonfuture Carbon Removal Summit 2024 and are thrilled to contribute to the conversation on innovation in CDR at this exclusive event. PYREG will be part of the CDR Innovation Showcase, where we’ll present our...

What exactly are carbon removal credits and how do they work?

What exactly are carbon removal credits and how do they work?

WHAT ARE CARBON CREDITS? A carbon credit is a tradeable unit representing the avoidance, reduction or removal of one metric ton of CO2e from the atmosphere. Organizations and individuals can use these credits to oset their greenhouse gas...