The rising concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, currently about 420 ppm, is already causing extensive damage globally. Thus, there ´s an urgent need to deploy CO2 removal (CDR) at very large scale to help to keep the temperature rise under 2C° (1.5C° would be better). Until recently, apart from academic research into a wide portfolio of approaches, little has been done to launch the necessary exponential growth of CDR over the next few decades. The current self-regulated market relies on an unsatisfactory patchwork of thirdparty verification of the removals achieved at individual sites. The sector has been negatively influenced by a lack of regulation and high-quality standards. This has allowed low-quality carbon credits to enter the market, lowering credibility and prices to levels at which high-quality permanent removals cannot compete. The Member States need the EC to intervene to kick-start a transparent and properly regulated market for high-grade CDR delivery. The purpose of the C-SINK project is to deliver to the EC a complete package of workedup proposals to support a new or amended European legal/regulatory framework to bring high quality CDRs into the market. That package will contain pre-standards (in CEN format) covering requirements and methodologies for sampling, testing and QMS (ISO9000) upon which to build monitoring, reporting and verification systems. It will also include proposals to cover (a) environmental, social-impact and governance issues, and (b) the means of building trust in the market. This will encourage entrepreneurs to demonstrate effective and safe CDR projects and to make large investments, thus allowing the market to evolve to tackle the climate crisis. The C-SINK consortium includes organizations from 11 countries with complementary skills and expertise in the different CDR technologies, the writing of CEN and ISO standards, climate law, carbon trading, and in all of the relevant environmental and social issues

This project would build upon the success of previous Energy Catalyst & GCRF funded projects that helped identify & develop commercial applications for our containerised waste to energy technology called "Pyrochemy". To date all our projects have focused on converting agricultural harvest waste used as a Pyrochemy feedstock, to renewable electricity, low carbon heat, biochar & bio-oil for upgrading to a renewable kerosene alternative. PyroGenesys has developed a keen understanding of key stakeholders, prospective customers & their value chains, with whom we now need to engage to facilitate commercialisation of our Pyrochemy technology/products & entry into the Nigerian Energy Market. Several virtual & physical meetings have already been held with a number of prospective Nigerian B2B customers, who have expressed an interest in conducting early stage trials by supplying their waste to be used as a feedstock in our Pyrochemy prototype. Prior to the trials being conducted, customer site visits would be required to conduct Front End Engineering (FEED) studies that would determine how best to integrate a Pyrochemy installation at each location under consideration. Data gathered by the FEED study & a waste characterisation report, would be used by PyroGenesys to determine the commercial feasibility of the proposed installation which in turn would provide justification for conducting a trial using the prospective customers' waste. This approach is highly innovative in the way it combines engineering design & prototype performance data to test the commercial feasibility of a Pyrochemy installation using a specific feedstock in a particular setting. The success of this project would also provide the much requested technical & commercial case studies which our stakeholders would gladly promote, thereby facilitating market acceptance of our technology & products in Nigeria & across much of Sub Saharan Africa.

PYROCHEMY[TM] is a patented pyrolysis technology developed by PyroGenesys to convert agricultural waste to renewable electricity, process heat, biofuels and carbon removal. The novel containerised format of the PYROCHEMY[TM] system enables rapid deployment to provide reliable, affordable, renewable electricity to off-grid communities. Project partner Mobinet will facilitate access to formal banking services, microfinance and credit using their SIMPAY mobile banking platform. The SIMPAY transaction service will be trialled with the Hello Tractor booking app to enable farmers to pay for and secure mechanised farming services. Hello Tractor connects tractor owners and smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa & Asia through their Tractor booking app. The company will drive the uptake of farmer mechanisation by establishing 10x "MechHubs" across Nigeria that will serve the needs of farming communities, whilst also acting as PYROCHEMY[TM] feedstock aggregation centres/operating sites and Biofuel distribution points. Proactive engagement and facilitation of women farmers and women-owned and run businesses, and wider engagement with disadvantaged groups to ensure they are included and their specific priorities and needs are being met, will be prioritised by all partners. ATMANCorp owns/operates a 700 hectare cassava farm and flour mill in Oyo State and will supply feedstock to and host a PYROCHEMY[TM] commercial pilot along with a Micro Enterprise Park (MEP). The commercial pilot will provide biofuel to run a 250kva genset used to generate power for the factory and MEP and supply culinary-grade steam used for sterilising food processing lines in the factory. Aston University will build on their biofuel work with PyroGenesys in ECR7, to develop a continuous liquid biofuels process for producing renewable diesel and kerosene. Manufacturing methods required to scale up the process for commercial production, will be developed by ICMEA-UK. Introduction of these liquid biofuels to the Nigerian market, in the form of renewable alternatives to diesel and kerosene, will be facilitate by Hello Tractor, who will supply test fuels produced by the commercial pilot to tractors operating from MechHubs across the country. Within 5 years of project start, lessons from the commercial pilot will inform the rollout of over 100 commercial PYROCHEMY[TM] installations across Hello Tractor's network of MechHubs. Deploying Mobinet's SIMPAY payment platform will also be used to support cashless electricity purchases made using featureless mobile handsets with no internet access in farming communities served by Hello Tractor's MechHubs.

The Ethiopian Minigrid Extension and Energy Storage (EMEES) project will further develop an innovative biomass conversion technology (PyroPower) which received Energy Catalyst funding (grant 105268). The project is effectively a Feasibility Study which will assess the viability of setting up an in-country demonstration plant in Ethiopia. The project defines 3 distinct market opportunities as outputs of the technology, which address energy storage opportunities which will benefit urban and rural communities in Ethiopia. The market opportunities are: 1) direct provision and extension of electricity through biomass-powered minigrids and rechargeable lithium battery storage options; 2) provision of an upgraded bio-oil/biodiesel fuel blend which will replace fossil-derived fuels in internal combustion engines; and 3) a smokeless biochar which can be briquetted or pelletised for use in local markets, as a replacement for traditional firewood and charcoal for cleaner cooking options, or exported as a foreign exchange-earning commodity.

Awaiting Public Project Summary