Onnu signs International Distribution Agreement with Pyrolysis Firm WoodTek

Greentech firm Onnu has signed an international distribution agreement with pyrolysis pioneer WoodTek. The deal marries Onnu’s sales and marketing experience of over 20 pyrolysis projects in Europe and Africa with WoodTek’s engineering expertise. Together, the two companies have developed the PyroUnity offering project development, plant fabrication and servicing, and biochar sales into a single affordable offering.

“We’ve taken a close look at every pyrolysis vendor in the market and found that the best solution was on our own doorstep in Wales,” said Giles Welch, Onnu CEO. “WoodTek’s technology is beautifully engineered with a modular design that makes it suitable for a wide range of different feedstocks. And it’s been designed from the ground up to be easy to build and service so it minimises operational costs for our customers. I’m really excited about what our two companies can achieve together.”

Giles added, “Organisations in many sectors are perfectly placed for biomass pyrolysis to deliver commercial and environmental benefits, but do not always have the knowledge and experience required to make a project a success. Between Onnu and Woodtek, we can deliver all aspects of the planning, implementation and operations and build the carbon removal capacity that businesses, and the planet, needs.

Pyrolysis is the combustion of biomass in the absence of oxygen, a process that captures the Carbon present in the plant matter in a charcoal-like substance called biochar: this has a variety of uses including promoting plant growth and water filtration. Pyrolysis is a recognised carbon removal technology that qualifies for carbon credits and is a sustainable way of dealing with waste biomass ranging from paper sludge and poultry litter to green waste.

“If we are going to achieve our Net Zero targets then pyrolysis and biochar have a critical role to play – and we have seen huge interest in our technology,” said Mick Jones, the founder of WoodTek. “But we have to focus our resources on engineering, and we needed to work with someone that would be able to handle marketing and sales activity for us. When we started talking to Onnu, it became clear that they were the ideal partner. I’m delighted that our two companies will be working together to realise the potential of our technology.”

PyroUnity is the brand name for the end-to-end offering provided by Onnu and WoodTek. Plant fabrication and servicing will be provided by WoodTek with Onnu bringing the services necessary to ensure the viability of the project. These primarily relate to project finance – facilitating the sale of carbon credits that will cover the CapEx costs of the plant – and to the sale of the biochar.

About Onnu

Onnu’s ambition is to facilitate the transition to a Net Zero economy by realising the potential of biochar to tackle the world’s toughest decarbonisation challenges. It will achieve this by creating a pyrolysis-based Greentech industry that ensures waste biomass is processed in ways that are affordable, readily available – and acceptable to the public and the regulatory authorities. In the pursuit of that ambition, Onnu aims to build 100 pyrolysis plants over the next decade.

About WoodTek

WoodTek is a family-run business with over 30 years’ experience of operating, installing, and servicing a wide range of biomass boilers and energy from waste plants. Its research and development has focused on precision two-stage pyrolysis thermal combustion of a wide range of complex and waste fuels, whilst engineering out the many service and operational issues that have been encountered over the years. Its pilot plant produces one tonne of Biochar and removes over 2.5 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere every day.