Robinson Carbon plans $16.3M Louisiana biochar plant

By Elena Vasquez

Robinson Carbon is investing $16.3 million in a planned biochar facility at England Park in Alexandria, Louisiana, with commercial production scheduled for the second quarter of 2027.

The project sits within Robinson Carbon, the carbon products division of Robinson Lumber Company. In its project announcement, the company said construction work would begin in the month of the announcement. The commercial plant is not yet operating; the site already holds a pilot reactor relocated from the company’s New Albany, Indiana, manufacturing operations.

What will the Alexandria plant process?

Robinson Carbon’s stated design calls for:

• Feedstock: approximately 100,000 metric tons of wood residuals a year.
• Output: 16,500 metric tons of biochar a year at stated capacity.
• Equipment: two rotary drum pyrolysis reactors for commercial production.
• Removal credentials: approximately 40,000 carbon dioxide removal certificates a year, contingent on certification under the Puro Standard.

At full stated capacity, the mass balance would produce roughly one ton of biochar for every six tons of wood residuals consumed. The figures put a concrete scale on the commercial system rather than the pilot.

Robinson Carbon says it is partnering with nearby mills to supply raw material. The company expects the project to create a new market for wood residues generated by Louisiana sawmills. The two commercial reactors will use rotary drum pyrolysis to turn Southern yellow pine residuals into biochar.

What is already built?

Robinson Carbon has already installed a pilot reactor at the Alexandria site after relocating it from its manufacturing operations in New Albany, Indiana. The company will use the pilot to train employees before commercial biochar production starts.

The company disclosed no capacity figure for that pilot, so it should not count toward the 100,000-metric-ton commercial system. Robinson Carbon scheduled commercial production for the second quarter of 2027, with construction expected to begin in the announcement month. Until then, the site’s disclosed equipment consists of the training pilot, not either commercial reactor.

What will Louisiana contribute?

Louisiana has offered Robinson Carbon a $550,000 performance-based grant for site and infrastructure improvements as part of an incentives package. The award supports the physical plant rather than purchases of biochar, while its performance basis ties public support to project delivery.

Robinson Carbon also is expected to participate in the state’s High Impact Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs. The announced grant and expected tax-program participation sit alongside the company’s $16.3 million capital commitment.

How firm are the carbon-removal claims?

Robinson Carbon expects the Alexandria operations to generate approximately 40,000 carbon dioxide removal certificates each year, but only once the project receives certification under the Puro Standard. The certificate estimate is therefore conditional rather than an issuance schedule attached automatically to startup.

Until certification arrives, the number functions as a development target tied to the operating plan, not a claim that 40,000 units already exist.

For carbon-removal buyers, the practical distinction is between 16,500 metric tons of physical biochar and a future credential flow. The announcement establishes no equivalence between certificate units and biochar tonnage, so the two figures should not be treated as interchangeable.

How does the plant fit Louisiana’s carbon-removal push?

The project lands in a broader Louisiana carbon-removal push this month. Days earlier, Newlab, Shell GameChanger and Louisiana Innovation launched a statewide open call intended to back:

• direct air capture;
• enhanced rock weathering;
• marine carbon dioxide removal;
• biomass-based approaches; and
• innovations in sensing, measurement, reporting and verification.

The Alexandria plant gives that statewide effort a concrete biomass-based example: a site with an installed pilot and a scheduled commercial line. Its financing also links the private $16.3 million project to Louisiana’s site-improvement grant and expected participation in the state’s tax programs.

For Louisiana sawmills, the planned plant opens a new outlet for residues. For carbon-removal developers and buyers, it adds planned commercial biochar capacity in a state actively seeking multiple removal pathways.

The next test is whether construction begins as announced; Puro certification will then determine whether the projected 40,000 annual certificates can follow commercial production in the second quarter of 2027.