{"id":547,"date":"2025-10-30T12:59:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T17:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.american.edu\/carbonremoval\/?p=547"},"modified":"2025-10-30T13:07:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T18:07:32","slug":"pallets-to-pyrolysis-a-transformational-journey-climagination-with-jason-grillo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.american.edu\/carbonremoval\/2025\/10\/30\/pallets-to-pyrolysis-a-transformational-journey-climagination-with-jason-grillo\/","title":{"rendered":"Pallets to Pyrolysis: A Transformational Journey – Climagination with Jason Grillo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Caption: Above image generated from Google Gemini AI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How an industry that \u201cmakes ship happen\u201d is poised to become a carbon removal pioneer<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cIn innovations that are based on process need, everybody in the organization always knows that the need exists. Yet usually nobody does anything about it. However when the innovation appears, it is immediately accepted as \u2018obvious\u2019 and soon becomes \u2018standard\u2019 \u201c<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

-Peter Drucker, <\/span>Innovation and Entrepreneurship<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Sometimes the solutions that we seek are just under our very noses, in seemingly innocuous places that only come into focus when you step back for a second. A case in point is exactly that for two industries: carbon removal and wooden pallets.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this post I\u2019ll take up the case of why the wooden pallet industry may be such a \u2018beachhead\u2019 for scaling biochar by mainstreaming it into important sectors, adding an innovative solution to address a key process need.<\/span><\/p>\n

Innovation in Action<\/span><\/h1>\n

On October 21 and 22, process innovation was on display for all to see at the National Wood Pallet and Container Association (<\/span>NWPCA<\/span><\/a>) fall plant tours in Houston, Texas. Truly it was a privilege to attend, with the highlight being a tour of industrial transformation through biochar at a pilot pyrolysis facility on the site of pallet remanufacturer, <\/span>48forty Solutions<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meet \u2018Audrey\u2019,\u00a0 the RAINMAKER\u2122\u00a0 pyrolyzer who came into the world just outside of Austin, Texas, as an induction-based pyrolysis machine from the environmental technology company, <\/span>LOCOAL<\/span><\/a>. She\u2019s always looking for someone to feed her 8-10mm wood chip feedstock, and her favorite musical is <\/span>Little Shop of Horrors<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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LOCOAL CEO Miles Murray presenting \u2018Audrey\u2019 the RAINMAKER\u2122 pyrolyzer to NWPCA tour attendees<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To fill in the picture further, Audrey is just getting her final checks done onsite. She can consume two tons of feedstock per hour and produce biochar, electricity from natural gas, and bio-oil, as well as wood vinegar.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So this innovation is real, and happening now on the ground level. But let\u2019s zoom out a minute to talk about why and how this moment is right for wooden pallet pyrolysis to create biochar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why Pallets? Why now?<\/span><\/h1>\n

For background, the pallet industry literally supports shipments of goods that we all depend on for daily living. Most goods that travel for mass delivery happen on the top of a wooden pallet – in the United States <\/span>1.8 billion pallet units are in circulation, 92% of which are wood<\/span><\/a>, and 500 million are manufactured each year. The estimated value of the wooden pallet industry is <\/span>$20 billion in 2025.<\/span><\/a> Over 2500 firms are listed by the US Census as \u201cWooden Container and Pallet Manufacturers\u201d\u00b9<\/span>; with a prevalence of small and mid-sized businesses. While there are several large firms, the data suggest that the industry is not highly concentrated relative to other industries.<\/span>\u00b2<\/span><\/p>\n

Sustainability is on the forefront of wooden pallet companies\u2019 minds: though 95% of wooden pallets are recyclable, the industry generates 500,000 tons of landfill wood waste in the form of unusable, unrecyclable pallets<\/span>.\u00b3 While <\/span>a 2020 study<\/span><\/a> concluded that wooden pallets have a (marginally) better carbon footprint relative to plastic pallets, the wooden pallet industry sees a need to innovate for sustainability. To that end the NWPCA achieved UL certification for <\/span>a wooden pallet Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)<\/span><\/a> in July 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n

In that light, how to dispose of unusable wooden pallets is a key consideration. Some companies sell ground-up wood waste wood as mulch or use in fiberboard and boiler fuel. However, the economics of the market for these end uses may not be favorable depending on the recycling site dynamics – with over 2500 companies in various geographies, there is significant variability as to how viable those end-use markets are to any individual company. Sending large quantities of wood waste outright to a landfill requires paying a tipping fee as well, making that a less attractive option from a financial and climate perspective.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With these trends in mind, additional revenue streams or opportunities to derive value from supply chain waste can confer a competitive advantage to pallet companies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Enter biochar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why Biochar? Why now?<\/span><\/h1>\n

Biochar is having a moment as a high-growth field, and efforts are afoot to accelerate biochar carbon removal through industrial integration, with many sessions dedicated to that prospect at the US Biochar Initiative <\/span>2025 North American Biochar Conference.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The biochar production industry is growing rapidly worldwide, with deliveries of biochar carbon credits <\/span>doubling each year from 2022 to 2024.<\/span><\/a> As a consequence, <\/span>biochar has<\/span>\u00a0become by far the <\/span>most commonly delivering carbon removal method<\/span><\/a> according to CDR.FYI.4<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

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Biochar pyrolysis equipment manufacturers are benefiting from credit delivery growth, and are expanding their offerings to service more industrial biochar producing clients. With this future in mind, the market value of industrial scale equipment manufacturers is forecasted to grow at an <\/span>over 11% combined annual growth rate<\/span><\/a> from 2024 to 2028.<\/span><\/p>\n

Integrating into existing industries by finding innovative use cases has been a key question for the biochar industry for many years (see <\/span>this 2021 AirMiners event<\/span><\/a> on exactly that topic). The difference now is that instead of biochar entrepreneurs looking at innovative use-cases for its end products, the industry could advance by creating innovative pathways to embed the practice of biochar production into existing verticals for developing projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

Achieving an adequate return on investment for <\/span>intra<\/span><\/i>preneurs and their companies is the key step.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Business Case\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n

In short, biochar has the opportunity to turn a waste from a cost to a more substantial revenue generator.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pyrolysis that creates biochar from wood waste can rely on multiple revenue streams:<\/span><\/p>\n