Biochar

In coal-fired power plants, cashew nut shell (CNS) biochar is fully compatible with existing pulverized coal boilers and circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers, enabling co-firing or dedicated firing with coal without large-scale retrofitting of existing units. It serves as a low-cost pathway for power plants to fulfill renewable energy accommodation obligations and carbon reduction targets.

• Fuel Properties Highly Matched with Coal:
  The cashew nut shell (CNS) biochar delivers a higher heating value (HHV) which is comparable to bituminous coal and far outperforms common biomass fuels.  It features combustion stability highly consistent with coal, ensuring stable support for unit power load. Its products fully comply with the EU standard for solid biofuels, qualifying for direct use as industrial fuel.Natural lubricity: Enhances fuel lubrication, protecting pumps and injectors.
• Flexible Co-firing Compatibility:
  cashew nut shell (CNS) biochar can be blended with coal, wood chips and other solid fuels in arbitrary ratios for co-combustion. Currently, commercial applications have achieved a stable blending ratio of 10%-30%, and pilot projects have verified the feasibility of up to 50% blending, without compromising boiler combustion efficiency or output. Multiple biomass power plants and retrofitted coal-fired power plants overseas have successfully applied this fuel, verifying its long-term operational stability.
• Remarkable Environmental & Cost Advantages:
  cashew nut shell (CNS) biochar has ultra-low inherent impurities: far lower than conventional steam coal. This can reduce emissions of pollutants including SO₂, NOₓ and HCl, greatly easing the operational pressure of desulfurization and denitrification equipment and cutting environmental operation costs.

Meanwhile, as a renewable fuel derived from agricultural waste, its carbon emission fits the "carbon neutral" cycle. Each ton of cashew nut shell (CNS) biochar consumed can reduce approximately 2.6 tons of fossil CO₂ emissions, helping power plants meet carbon quota targets and avoid carbon tariff costs.

In steel and non-ferrous smelting industries, cashew nut shell (CNS) biochar can replace metallurgical coke and pulverized coal simultaneously, acting as both fuel and reductant for full-process procedures including coking, sintering, blast furnace and electric arc furnace operations, serving as a core pathway for smelting industry decarbonization.

Coke/Coal Substitution for Steel Industry​

In steel production, cashew nut shell (CNS) biochar can replace 5%-50% of coke/pulverized coal , covering multiple procedures: coking coal blending, iron ore sintering, blast furnace injection and electric arc furnace steelmaking:

• In blast furnace processes, biochar has better reduction reactivity than traditional coke, which can effectively reduce the blast furnace coke ratio.
• Meanwhile, its ultra-low sulfur and phosphorus impurities avoid harmful elements introduced by traditional coal, improving the purity of steel products.

Clean Reductant for Non-Ferrous Smelting​

In non-ferrous metal smelting such as nickel and copper, cashew nut shell (CNS) biochar can replace traditional coal as fuel and reductant for submerged arc furnaces, which is especially suitable for smelting refractory ores such as lateritic nickel ore. With its high fixed carbon and low ash content, it can effectively improve smelting efficiency and reduce smelting slag output. Research data shows that after adopting CNS biochar to replace coal, the full-process carbon emission of nickel smelting can be reduced by more than 25%, while reducing acid gas emissions such as SO₂, lowering the environmental pressure of smelters.

Compliance & Carbon Asset Value

For export-oriented smelting enterprises, using cashew nut shell (CNS) biochar to replace coal can effectively reduce product carbon footprint, helping enterprises cope with trade barriers such as the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Meanwhile, it can generate tradable carbon emission reductions, creating additional carbon asset benefits for enterprises.

Compared with other biomass chars, cashew nut shell (CNS) biochar has more prominent advantages for industrial applications:

• Higher Energy Density: Its raw material has high lignin content, and the energy density after pyrolysis is improved more significantly than ordinary woody biomass.
• Ultra-Low Impurity Content: The ash content is far lower than agricultural wastes such as straw and rice husk, avoiding problems such as boiler slagging and excessive smelting slag.
• Circular Economy Attribute: The raw material is waste by-product from cashew processing, which does not occupy arable land or compete with food crops, truly realizing high-value utilization of agricultural waste and aligning with the global circular economy development trend.