🔥 CharLoop
Mill-scale rice-husk pyrolysis yields durable biochar credits, heat, and gas-independence
How CharLoop closes the loop
Rice husk → Pyrolysis → Biochar → Clean energy → Soil & industry
A gas-starved economy — and the mill's own fuel rotting beside it
New industrial gas connections have been frozen since 2009: 1,800+ factories wait, ~550 have paid and still get nothing, and supply (2.7 Bcfd) trails demand (3.8). Meanwhile the rice mill keeps buying parboiling fuel while its low-value husk rots or burns right beside it, and the residue's carbon is lost. This is not a field-burning story (Bangladesh feeds straw to cattle) — the pile is already concentrated at the mill.
Decentralised operator-run nodes, not a central plant
Put a small portable pyrolysis unit at the mill, run by a trained operator micro-entrepreneur (on a pay-as-you-go lease — the Takachar & Husk-Power lesson: low-CAPEX nodes, more local helpers). It makes biochar (biofertilizer) + heat for the mill + carbon credits. We supply the unit, training, carbon-MRV and the offtake; the operator earns; the mill gets cheaper fuel and a disposal fix; the carbon is locked in soil.
Break-even on heat — the carbon credit is the engine
Per mill-sited unit / month — a two-bucket model (like CleanCredit & ShaktiLoop):
How it makes money — and what it needs to close
Needs a carbon pre-purchase LOI (Puro.earth · Riverse) at ≥ ~$100/t with verified additionality, plus a host rice mill wanting the heat. With the gas crisis the host-mill side is now easy — sell energy-independence first; carbon is upside.
a carbon buyer (+ the host mill)
carbon credits → · biochar (biofertilizer) · process heat to mill · tipping
the carbon credit (non-carbon ≈ break-even)
carbon buyers buy verified soil-locked removal; the mill gets cheaper parboiling fuel + disposal
−60k/unit without carbon; +1,032k/unit at ~$130/t CO₂ (gated)
Without carbon: −60k/unit. At ~$130/t CO₂: +1,032k/unit — but gated on certification + a buyer. With the gas crisis, the mill's heat (energy-independence) clears it even before carbon.
a carbon pre-purchase LOI + a host mill (Puro.earth / Riverse; rice millers)
Mill-scale rice-husk pyrolysis yields durable biochar credits, heat, and gas-independence
Takachar won the 2021 Earthshot Prize on the same husk-pyrolysis
Tk35,000cr of factories idle for gas · 7.5–9 Mt rice husk/yr
The situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh's industrial backbone is starving for energy: roughly Tk35,000 crore of private investment sits idle across economic zones, and nearly 400 gas-dependent factories cannot run at full capacity for want of gas 5. Domestic fields are drying up — supply has fallen toward 2,500 mmcfd against demand near 3.8 bcfd — leaving the country dependent on costly LNG that industries pay Tk30 for while imports cost around Tk100 per unit 5. Yet the same country is the world's third-largest rice producer, milling about 39 million tonnes a year and generating roughly 7.5–9 million tonnes of rice husk, a residue that is 22% of paddy weight and concentrated at the mill gate 2. Today most of that husk is simply burned for crude parboiling steam or dumped, wasting both its energy and its carbon value 4.
Our pitch
CharLoop installs small, portable pyrolysis units at rice mills that convert this concentrated husk into process heat first — replacing scarce, expensive gas with on-site energy independence the mill already feeds itself 4. The same reaction yields biochar, a soil amendment whose fused-aromatic carbon resists decomposition for centuries (IPCC-recognized 100–1,000-year permanence) and lifts crop yields by roughly 10–16% on average 16. That biochar is also a durable carbon-removal credit: biochar already accounts for over 90% of CDR tonnes delivered, certifiable under Puro.earth's audited CORC methodology at steady 2025 prices of about $125–$145 per tonne CO₂ 893. The model is proven — MIT spinoff Takachar won the 2021 Earthshot Prize deploying near-identical portable husk pyrolysis, cutting open-burn smoke up to 98% and raising farmer income 30–50% 7. CharLoop's honest wedge is energy first, carbon as upside: the heat savings justify the unit even before a single credit sells 45.
Built so the operator never fails
HelperChain doesn't hand out a loan and walk away. Every operator gets the full rail — inputs, training, finance, supervision, and a guaranteed buy-back of what they produce. We carry the risk so an ordinary person can succeed.
The tools, inputs and hands-on training to start — turning rice husk into a working operation. No prior capital or expertise required.
Pay-as-you-go, riba-free finance makes a poor person a funded operator — with no debt if a cycle fails. The network carries the downside, not the operator.
Ongoing follow-up and quality assurance — the factor peer-reviewed evidence shows decides whether ventures survive (p<0.001). The operator is never left alone.
We commit to purchase the output at a fair, pre-agreed price — so there is always a market. The operator just produces; we guarantee the offtake. This is what removes the fear of failure.
A thin margin funds the next operator — so help compounds and the network grows stronger with every person it lifts.
Sources (9)
- 1.Schmidt et al. (2024). Biochar is a long-lived form of carbon removal. Biochar (Springer Nature). link
- 2.Rice production in Bangladesh (2024). Overview & husk volumes. Wikipedia. link
- 3.CDR.fyi (2025). Biochar Carbon Removal Market Snapshot 2025: Prices, Volume & Trends. link
- 4.Ahiduzzaman, M. & Islam, A.K.M.S. (2009). Rice husk energy technologies in Bangladesh. Agricultural Engineering International. link
- 5.The Business Standard (2025). Tk35,000cr stuck, factories idle — all for want of gas connections. link
- 6.Schmidt, H.-P. et al. (2021). Biochar in agriculture – a systematic review of 26 global meta-analyses. GCB Bioenergy (Wiley). link
- 7.The Earthshot Prize (2021). Takachar – Clean Our Air Winner 2021. link
- 8.CDR.fyi (2025). Biochar Carbon Removal Market Snapshot 2025: Prices, Volume & Trends. link
- 9.Puro.earth (2024). Biochar — Carbon Removal Methodology and CORC Certification. link