The Charm Underground - 2024 Year in Review

The Charm Underground is a monthly series sharing our progress & learnings as we scale carbon removal to gigatonne scale. If you’d like to get The Charm Underground  in your inbox, subscribe below. 

I'd just gotten home from a day in the field when I got a call from our injection operations manager: frigid Kansas winter temperatures had chilled and phase separated bio-oil sitting in storage tanks. All bets were off as to whether we could warm it up and re-homogenize, or if we were going to have a 20 tonne block of solid carbon.

As we wrap up 2024, I’m full of gratitude for the challenges the Charm team and partners have tackled this year. From growing our Kansas injection operation to rapidly building out our Colorado pyrolysis plant to be one of the largest carbon removal facilities in the country, we’re heading into the new year with quickly growing capacity to deliver climate impact. 

And we’re committed to building Charm in America. We’re bringing back American manufacturing capability that this country was built on. With those capabilities come new jobs and economic opportunities for the decades to come. 

I’m so grateful for everyone in the Charm community that rises every day to meet these challenges. That’s dozens of new Charmers who joined the team this year across 5 states. The Charm team shows up in the frigid cold and pouring rain to build a better future for their families. I’m grateful for the policymakers helping build momentum for carbon removal and the economic opportunities that the industry can create. And I’m grateful for our thousands of customers, who share in our ambitions to make our planet, communities, and country healthier. 

This post looks back at some of the highlights from our year of growth. We’ve left the varnish aside, instead focusing on the gritty problems we’ve faced as we build a new American industry.

Happy Holidays,

Peter Reinhardt 

Charm 2024 in Numbers

• Ramping Production: Processed 2500+ metric tonnes of bio-oil. That’s the equivalent of 6.5 fully loaded 747s (though this bio-oil never flew!) 

• Injecting bio-oil back underground: This year we completed at least 1 injection per week, and at peak, we were injecting every other day!

• Engaging local communities: Participated in and hosted over 25 community outreach events, including 10+ Charm Miniforge tours and two public outreach meetings.

• Leading with Transparency: Over 10,000 new visitors learned about carbon removal through our ledger & community benefits resources

• Growing the Charm team: Grew the Charm team more than 100% with new employees, working across 5 states from California to Colorado to Kansas to DC.

Pyrolyzer Commissioning and Rapid Iterations on Carbon Removal Operations 

As you might imagine, building an entire production & supply chain of carbon-rich bio-oil from scratch comes with its challenges. This year we iterated on multiple versions of our machines and made major strides in improving the robustness and reliability of our operational fleet of pyrolyzers. 

In total, we’ve commissioned 8 pyrolyzers for production and transitioned to 24/7 operations. We graduated from testing prototypes, to hitting >50% uptime on a single pyrolyzer, to consistently achieving >50% uptime across the fleet.

One of our favorite problems we had to solve to increase uptime: we found that the pyrolyzer reactor would clog up after continuous operations due to biomass buildup which would require us to shut down our pyrolyzer, cool it down, and clean out the buildup. To solve this problem, one of our clever engineers, Jake, designed a new tool we lovingly call the “Dog Skritcher” which continuously clears out buildup while the pyrolyzers are operating to prevent clogs and keep us running longer between turnarounds. Think of it like a metal backscratcher that you can jiggle to reduce or remove buildup. We’re now in the process of upgrading our fleet to use the Roboskritcher, which automates the skritchers. 

We also made significant progress in developing and testing new systems that will enable us to move down the cost curve via higher throughput and improved carbon conversion efficiency.  In particular, we’ve been able to commission a 10x scaled pyrolyzer with some preliminary data showing throughput at 11 TPD.  Next year will be filled with pushing the envelope on higher throughput with our newly designed and commissioned equipment.

Charm Delivers First-Ever Isometric Verified Carbon Removals to Stripe, Shopify & JP Morgan Chase

This year, we averaged over 1 injection batch per week (!!), injecting carbon-rich bio-oil deep underground where it will be permanently sequestered. Some weeks we had no injections due to unforeseen issues that needed trouble shooting, other weeks we had multiple injections.  Learning by doing is what it takes to scale CDR - here’s an example:   

Surely, you too, have been in this situation…you’ve got a truckload full of bio-oil pumping underground to be stored for thousands of years when, suddenly, you start to see your flow rate dip. You check your hose system, you check your pumps – everything seems to be in order but the pressure is dropping. Suddenly you’re waiting around for hours for the bio-oil to slowly ooze down the hole.

But we wanna go fast! Well, this year we learned that we can increase the consistency and speed of our injections by optimizing the material of the hose.  “Short, Fat & Insanely Slippery” is what we’re looking for. By selecting a more slippery and shorter hose we were able to reduce the number of parts required for an injection, including entirely removing a pump which was often our point of failure. 

In July, we announced the delivery of Charm’s first Isometric verified carbon dioxide removal credits from Charm (equivalent to 105.06 tonnes) to our customers, Stripe, Shopify and JP Morgan Chase. It’s a big moment for Charm and the entire CDR sector, reflecting our joint commitment to exceptional quality and scientific rigor.

Learn more about our partnership with Isometric featured here in the Wall Street Journal, and learn why this delivery signifies a major inflection point in voluntary carbon markets here.

Charm Partners with the National Forest Foundation and U.S. Forest Service to Improve Forest Resilience in the Inyo National Forest

In August, we announced a pilot project with the National Forest Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service where Charm held an operational demonstration in the Inyo National Forest. 

With the shared goal of promoting forest resiliency in areas at risk of catastrophic wildfire, Charm demonstrated our mobile pyrolysis technology as a tool to process biomass from wildfire mitigation projects, reducing fuel for fires and keeping that carbon from rereleasing into the atmosphere.

Read more about our Heatmap feature here for a deep dive into our operations.

Wildfire Prevention with Altitude Forestry

This year, Charm also formed a partnership with Altitude Forestry, a small business with a big mission. Altitude Forestry focuses on forest thinning & restoration, wildfire mitigation, and creating defensible spaces for rural homeowners. Charm comes in after Altitude’s work is done to take that excess woody biomass, convert it into bio-oil, and ensure that it doesn’t fuel future wildfires.

Learn more about how Altitude and Charm play a role in helping to address wildfire mitigation and reduce risks for  Colorado communities here or read more on our Wildfire Co-Benefits page!

Growing the Team & Working with Communities

In late 2022, we opened up a second location in Fort Lupton, Colorado, just outside of Denver, called the Charm Miniforge. The site is responsible for production of Charm bio-oil and biochar, biomass processing engineering, injection engineering and testing, and operations engineering for our fleet of pyrolyzers. 

This year, we grew the team with dozens of new Operators  people across Pyrolyzer Operations, Injection Operations and Engineering roles to accelerate deliveries from Charm-produced bio-oil (check out our open roles!) 

We also love to work with and learn from the communities we operate in. By engaging early and often in our home communities and potential new locations, we can be sure Charm’s operations and investments align with community values. This year, we participated in and hosted over 25 community events, including 10+ Charm Miniforge tours and two public outreach meetings. From Habitat for Humanity builds to decorating a float for the Fort Lupton Trapper Days Parade, we know we’re only successful if the communities we work in are thriving.

🚀Give the Gift of Charm

Looking for a last minute gift or donation to round out the year? Consider giving the gift of climate removal, through the Commons App, Wren subscription, or a tax-deductible giving via Terraset. 

And that’s a wrap for this year! Wishing everyone a relaxing holiday break.