PyroNam plans to build 50 plants by 2030

…creating over 1 000 jobs

Pyrogenic Carbon Capture and Storage Namibia (PyroNam) plans to set up 50 plants by 2030.

The company currently has a plant at Otjiwarongo that employs 20 people and has the potential to create over 1 000 jobs with the establishment of new plants.

According to PyroNam biochar manager Eck Volkmann, the company will need significant funding to establish this as one plant can cost up to N$6 million to set up.

This is because the equipment needed has to be imported. However, Namibia and South Africa have the capacity to manufacture 90% of the technology needed, says Vollkmann.

“We are currently using locally sourced steel for our operations,” he says.

PyroNam is one of the projects that were facilitated by the Namibia Investment and Promotion Development Board (NIPDB).

The company was established in 2022 and operates in two industries: producing biochar from bush biomass, and carbon capture and storage.

To make biochar, the company sources bush biomass from local commercial, communal and resettlement farmers.

“PyroNam leverages problematic encroaching acacia species that take over whole farms in Namibia,” says Volkmann.

The process involves cutting down unwanted bushes and heating them without oxygen to produce a charcoal-like substance known as biochar.

According to Volkmann, biochar will be beneficial to farmers, especially as the country is facing drought, as it increases the water holding capacity of the soil and reduces the amount of fertiliser needed.

However, he adds that the market for biochar in the country is currently very small.

“Hence, while contributing to the development of the national market, PyroNam will sell biochar to farmers and donate it for trials and market development,” says Volkmann.

He says the company has faced challenges when it comes to skills as there are not many people with the required skill set or qualifications.

“We are currently doing on-the-job training because the highest qualification that most of the people that are employed here have is Grade 12,” says Volkmann.

PyroNam managing director Henrike Geldmacher says the process of setting up a plant in Namibia was made easy by NIPDB.

According to Geldmacher, NIPDB assisted with her work visa application and has helped by making investors understand the country’s investment environment.

“The investment board has gone as far as going with us to government offices whenever we needed things like permits, easing the process of doing business in Namibia,” says Geldmacher.

She says the country sold its first carbon credits to three companies in Europe last month.

Geldmacher says PyroNam is contributing to Namibia’s commitment to the Paris Agreement on climate change which was signed at the UN Climate Change Conference, known as Cop21.

“The pilot plant has an input capacity of up to 3 500 tonnes of dried bush biomass per year and an output capacity of approximately 1 100 tonnes of biochar per year,” says Geldmacher.

The company currently has a plant at Waltershagen, Otjiwarongo and is planning on setting up another one at Waterberg.

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