Marcel Huber, is the founder and managing director of SynCraft. For over ten years now, SynCraft, the Austrian high-tech company based in Schwaz, Tyrol, has been building and installing climate-positive energy systems around the world which use forest residual wood to generate power, heat, and valuable biochar. In 2020 alone, the company commissioned as many turnkey plants as in the first ten years since its founding in 2009, including projects in Japan. It is currently completing its 26th energy system. In 2020 the company received two prestigious awards, the Energy Globe Award, and the TRIGOS Award, for its innovative technology which is the result of years of internal research and development activities.

The topic of discussion: Green energy from wood power

45% of Austrian energy consumption from renewable energy sources is based on wood as a raw material. Around 16% of Austria’s gross domestic energy consumption is covered by biomass. 

Austrian company SynCraft is employing one of the most ground-breaking technologies in this field and making a major contribution to the circular economy in a unique manner. The company, which was only founded in 2009 by prominent engineers, uses its patented technologies to generate clean, sustainable bioenergy in its wood-fired power plants and at the same time to capture CO2, which is harmful to the climate. This means that no emissions are produced and that CO2 is captured. 

At a time when fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal are becoming increasingly scarce, SynCraft relies entirely on biomass. 

A gaseous fuel is obtained from residual and damaged wood, which is converted in a generator into electricity, heat, gas and vegetable carbon. This CO2 is bound in the long term in the form of charcoal, which is then sold as a profitable by-product.

In addition to traditional wood chips, SynCraft will be next focusing on the utilization of waste wood through pyrolysis (carbonization) as well as the generation of heat and vegetable carbon. Vegetable carbon barely decomposes biologically or chemically: its use is versatile, and it remains stable over several centuries, from soil substrate to manure additive to building materials such as concrete. Vegetable carbon is therefore an effective carbon sink and could remove 250 Gt (250,000,000,000 t) of CO2 from the atmosphere by the end of the century if deployed rapidly. This is around one-third of the amount required to keep to the 1.5°C climate target.

In this article, we learn more about green energy from wood power from Marcel Huber, Managing Partner at SynCraft in Schwaz, Tyrol in Austria.