PRESS RELEASE

The pyrolysis plant in Vrå can capture and displace 42,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually.
The plant is already in operation and supplies biochar for carbon storage and green
energy to the local biogas plant. Today’s inauguration marks an important step forward towards the national and international deployment of pyrolysis as a climate
technology.

On October 7th, the SkyClean pyrolysis plant will open in Vrå in North Jutland. SkyClean is a
pyrolysis technology that uses residues from agriculture to produce green energy and biochar for capture and storage of CO₂. At full capacity, the plant in Vrå can reduce Denmark’s emissions by 42,000 tons of CO₂ per year.

A win for both agriculture and local communities
SkyClean pyrolysis can use many types of residual biomass from agriculture, including
straw, grass, deep litter and residual fibres from biogas plants. The technology can also treat
wood chips from forestry, garden/park waste, food scraps, etc. The technology provides biochar for capturing and storing carbon from the atmosphere and green energy to replace fossil energy.

For the Stiesdal Group’s CEO, Jacob Nørgaard Andersen, the prospects are great, both locally and globally:

“Denmark is a pioneer in pyrolysis, and we can see that the world market is ready to start
CO₂ capture and storage with biochar.”

“At the same time, pyrolysis presents an opportunity for local success stories, as it is a relatively simple technology that can create and sustain jobs in rural areas. Agriculture supplies green carbon to local pyrolysis plants in the form of residual crops, and in return, they receive the carbon back in the form of biochar to spread on their fields. Biochar is an inexpensive and efficient method of CO₂ storage, making agriculture part of the climate solution rather than part of the problem. Additionally, numerous local jobs will be created in biomass supply, plant operations, and biochar distribution,” says Jacob Nørgaard Andersen.

Valuable reuse of residual biomass
The SkyClean plant in Vrå utilises residual fibres from the nearby biogas plant Agri Energy
Vrå and supplies two main products, namely biochar and green energy.

Capture and storage of CO₂ with biochar: The biochar produced at the plant can store
carbon for a very long time. The actual storage can be done by spreading the biochar on agricultural land. At Danish soil temperatures, more than 90 percent of the carbon in SkyClean biochar will still be in the soil after 100 years. If the residual biomass were instead left in the field, the carbon in the biomass would quickly be converted to CO₂ and again released into the atmosphere.

Climate-neutral green energy: At the plant in Vrå, the pyrolysis gas is used for heat in the
biogas plant. The pyrolysis gas can also be used in industrial processes or converted into
green fuels such as bio-oil and aviation fuel. Common to all utilisations is that green energy
replaces fossil energy sources.

Pyrolysis is an important element of Denmark’s climate policy
In a recent government lead broad agreement, Denmark has set aside a pool of DKK 10 billion for carbon storage with biochar distributed over the years 2027-2045. The money is only
paid out upon demonstrated and approved storage of carbon.

“This is exactly the kind of framework conditions that we and our colleagues in the pyrolysis
industry need when we want to kick-start the expansion of pyrolysis in Denmark. We are
very pleased with the approach chosen by the government and contributing parties, where
work is now starting to prepare for a pyrolysis roll-out from 2027. On the other hand, the climate does not wait for us, as is clear from recent events both in Denmark and around the
world, so we also need to get started, says Peder Nickelsen, CEO of Stiesdal SkyClean.

Funding from the Danish Energy Agency
Part of the funds to build the new SkyClean plant in Vrå comes from a grant in 2022 of DKK
124 million from the Danish Energy Agency’s pyrolysis pool. Funding for this pool comes
from the European Union’s NextGenerationEU initiative. The grant went to the SkyClean
Scale-up project, which, in addition to Stiesdal SkyClean, has participation from 14 partners
from business and research.