SOLER exceeds 10.000 tonnes of biocarbon delivered and successfully used by metallurgical industries, enabling emission reductions of 30.000 tonnes of CO2
Silicon, steel, and ferroalloys are vital to our economies, but their production using coal is a significant source of CO2 emissions. SOLER offers a sustainable alternative with its renewable biocarbon, enabling metallurgical industries to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and manage costs as carbon prices rise. Working alongside a variety of metallurgical partners, SOLER has successfully delivered over 10.000 tonnes of biocarbon, cutting more than 30.000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Located in France, SOLER transforms low-value biomass sourced from sustainable forest management practices, and recovery efforts following forest fires, contributing to the sustainable management and use of forests. To ensure responsible production, SOLER adheres to the European Union’s biomass sustainability criteria and undergoes regular ESG audits by the Earthworm Foundation.
A green industrial transition is key for a sustainable economy
Europe’s metallurgical industries produce silicon, which is critical for manufacturing photovoltaic panels, microchips, and batteries, as well as ferroalloys and steel. Those three materials are essential for building machinery, and the renewable energy infrastructure needed to achieve climate neutrality. However, even with the use of recycling, renewable electricity, and hydrogen, their production requires carbon as a feedstock. So far, these industries have depended on metallurgical coal and coke. Due to their importance to our economy, coking coal has been classified as a critical raw material, although its mining, transport, and use are major sources of fossil CO2 emissions that are incompatible with global climate neutrality targets. Moreover, Europe’s dependency on imports from distant markets with volatile supply and prices is a source of vulnerability.
SOLER’s sustainably produced biocarbon as a renewable alternative
As Europe’s leading producer of renewable carbon, the SOLER Group offers sustainably produced biocarbon in industrial quantities with high quality. SOLER’s biocarbon is designed with physical and chemical characteristics that facilitate the substitution of metallurgical coal or coke in diverse metallurgical processes.
In addition to meeting technical requirements, SOLER’s biocarbon is certified with the Sustainable Biomass Program according to the biomass sustainability requirements of Europe’s Renewable Energy Directive. It is thus rated a zero-emissions feedstock under the European Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). Based on its sustainable sourcing, certified by the PEFC label and audited by SBP certification and the Earthworm Foundation, SOLER complies with the EU Regulation on deforestation-free supply chains (EUDR).
With local and sustainable production, SOLER’s biocarbon allows the substitution of imported coal, as well as its processing and use in Europe, thus reducing GHG emissions and environmental impacts associated with production, transport, processing, and use. SOLER’s biocarbon contributes then to the independence and resilience of Europe’s industry.
A proven solution
With over 10,000 tonnes of biocarbon delivered and successfully used by different metallurgical industries, the SOLER Group has demonstrated its technical and economic viability, as well as the related environmental benefits. In the silicon industry, the use of biocarbon increases process efficiency and reduces direct GHG emissions by a factor of 10 (from 5 to 0.5 tonnes of CO2 tonnes per ton of silicon). When producing ferroalloys, such as manganese and chromium, increasing the substitution of fossil coal with biocarbon can achieve equally low GHG emission levels. Biocarbon is also a strategy to support climate-friendly recycling of steel in electro-arc or cupola furnaces, which otherwise depend on using high-quality anthracite coal. As imports of this product from Russia are sanctioned, such fossil coal is scarce and expensive.
A competitive alternative thanks to SOLER’s advanced technological process
As a pioneer and technological benchmark in the production of responsible charcoal for barbecue, with a production capacity of 50,000 tonnes, the SOLER Group is now supplying biocarbon to industries. The innovative pyrolysis process, developed, implemented, and operated by the SOLER Group for over 11 years on an industrial scale, efficiently transforms sustainably sourced local biomass into renewable carbon and biogenic gases. This combination, with an energetic valorisation of the gases generated in the process, achieves high economic and environmental efficiency.
The high efficiency, maturity, and versatility of SOLER’s technology allow the swift development of new capacities to produce and deliver the growing volumes of renewable carbon needed by the industry.
There is a need, and SOLER has the capacity to scale
To achieve climate neutrality, the European industry will need a minimum of 5 million tonnes of biocarbon per year. SOLER’s production capacity of 50,000 tonnes is a fraction of this demand. However, its existing installations demonstrate that sustainable and cost-competitive production is possible and can swiftly be scaled to support Europe’s objectives of ensuring the competitiveness, climate neutrality, and sustainability of its industry.
Through its plans to develop new production sites in France and abroad, the SOLER Group is positioned to address growing biocarbon demand and support the metallurgical industry in its path toward sustainable climate neutrality.
Promoting Climate-Smart Forestry and Carbon Management
By positioning its biocarbon production as a cornerstone for developing sustainable metallurgical industry, SOLER introduces an innovative approach to transform low-value biomass from improved forest management practices and the reclamation of salvage wood from forest fires or pest infestations. Providing an industrial application for this biomass offers an alternative to its natural decay or energy use, maximizing both its environmental and economic value. This approach supports better forest management and enhances the resilience and capacity of forests to sequester and store carbon.
Through its production of nature-based carbon from sustainably managed forests, the SOLER Group is leading the way toward new sustainable value chains that benefit both the environment and industry. With its climate-smart solutions, SOLER provides practical alternatives for reducing the carbon footprint across various economic sectors while actively protecting and enhancing forest resources.
