Community Benefits

As we scale up our carbon removal and fossil-free ironmaking business, we are excited about the incredible benefits the Charm process can bring to communities and ecosystems.

Improved Soil Health

One of the byproducts of the pyrolysis process is a nutrient-rich char, which can enhance soil health. At scale, Charm will operate mobile units that directly replace nutrients in the soil, and significantly increase soil carbon content for a healthy soil. We also plan to only take ~50% of the biomass on any given field, leaving behind ~50% to protect soil from rainfall and maintain a healthy soil microbiome through regenerative farming.

Economic Opportunities for Agricultural and Rural Communities

Charm only uses waste biomass that would otherwise rot or burn and emit CO₂ back into the atmosphere. When Charm purchases waste corn stover from farmers, it directly increases their profits because there is a limited market for these residues. This supports farming communities while also putting CO₂ underground permanently.

At scale, Charm will operate mobile units that follow the harvest, creating additional jobs in farming and rural communities for pyrolysis operators and maintenance technicians.

Taming Wildfires

Downed trees and other excess woody biomass are a major contributor to wildfire intensity, and there are limited commercially viable fuel reduction options in much of our nation’s forests.

Charm will work with local, state and federal officials, conservation organizations, power companies, and communities to help reduce forest fuel load by processing downed trees and other forest slash, which will help reduce the intensity and scale of wildfires, permanently store carbon, and have a big impact on air quality.

Wildfires have a disproportionate impact on disadvantaged rural communities, and improving wildfire management has the potential to prevent loss of property and loss of life in those areas.

Improving Air Quality

Charm’s solution will improve air quality in communities that suffer disproportionately from the harms of pollution.

By providing a mobile solution for excess biomass, Charm can process agricultural residues that would otherwise be burned, improving air quality for those communities and avoiding emissions. By reducing forest fuel load and preventing wildfires, Charm’s solution will have a significant impact on air quality by helping to reduce the excess biomass that is one of the key contributors to wildfires.

A Just Transition For Energy Communities

Charm’s bio-oil injection process is the literal reverse of oil extraction: Charm is putting oil back underground. Charm employs current and former oil and gas workers to transport and inject the bio-oil, giving them good-paying, long-term opportunities using their existing experience in a growing sector not tied to fossil fuel production. Charm’s technology provides a just transition for rural communities and economies.

Fixing Abandoned Wells

Across the US, there are hundreds of thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells that leak toxic chemicals into the air, contaminate groundwater, and emit methane, harming the climate. Charm can address leaking oil wells and other orphaned wells by using them for bio-oil injection and then permanently capping them.

In line with our mission, Charm seeks to work with willing environmental justice communities to use bio-oil injections to plug their wells and improve community health while permanently storing carbon underground.

Minimal Resource Use

Charm’s carbon removal technology is mobile and has a small resource footprint, meaning our process doesn’t require significant quantities of energy or water. This means that resources that communities depend on are not being depleted even when we begin operating at scale.

We're eager to scale up mobile pyrolysis to put oil back underground, decarbonize steel production, and drive all the benefits above for the communities we operate in.