Weyerhaeuser and Vanguard Lead Growth in Biocarbon for Metals and Renewable Energy

The fledgling and reportedly fast-growing biocarbon market is expanding with two unrelated major projects to supply alternative fuels and raw materials for the steel and pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors.

In the first, U.S.-based Vanguard Renewables has opened a new anaerobic digestion and advanced de-packaging facility in River Falls, Wisconsin. The site at Peterson Family Dairy will recycle waste from food, beverage and processing companies across the Minneapolis-St. Paul region.

The farm can process up to 275 metric tons of food and beverage waste per day and could produce enough renewable natural gas (RNG) to generate 289 billion British thermal units (Btus) of RNG energy annually.

The RNG will help power AstraZeneca's U.S. research and manufacturing facilities under a power purchase deal, supporting the company's aim to reduce emissions and advance sustainability.

Secondly, forestry processors and timberlands owner Weyerhaeuser Co. will work with biocarbon technology firm Aymium under a memorandum of understanding to produce and sell 1.5 million tons of sustainable biocarbon annually for use in metals production. The joint venture of the companies, called TerraForge Biocarbon Solutions, will build a facility near Weyerhaeuser’s lumber mill in McComb, Michigan, to convert wood fiber into biocarbon through a combustion-free process.

"It represents a major step forward in growing the scale and impact of our Climate Solutions business, and it's also a key part of our broader accelerated growth strategy through 2030,” said Devin W. Stockfish, president and chief executive officer of Weyerhaeuser. “When the McComb facility comes online in 2027, it's going to generate new demand for fiber in the region — supporting our McComb operations and local Timberlands teams — while creating more great jobs in the community."

At full scale, the platform of operating facilities is anticipated to convert over 7 million tons of wood fiber, provided by Weyerhaeuser, to deliver 1.5 million tons of metallurgical-grade biocarbon annually as a replacement for coal in iron, steel, silicon, ferro-alloys and other metals production.

Research and market forecaster Merium predicts that the biocarbon sector could grow an average of 13% annually to reach past $2 billion in revenue value by 2030.