The Indo-Danish carbon removal and renewable energy technology company Mash Makes is on a mission to decarbonize heavy industries with its biofuel derived from waste.
As Renewable Energy Magazine reported, the company has partnered with global shipping leader Norden to test the performance of its clean fuel in the shipping industry, a major contributor to carbon pollution.
According to the magazine, the biofuel produced by Mash Makes is carbon-negative and could play a crucial role in slashing pollution across large industries as production is scaled up.
Other exciting developments have been made in the shipping industry. The world's largest battery-electric container ship was launched in China, and the Norwegian chemicals manufacturer Yara announced a project to build the first clean ammonia-powered container ship.
Renewable Energy Magazine reports that the shipping industry burns through more than 330 million tons of oil annually, which accounts for over 3% of total carbon dioxide pollution each year. Decarbonizing this industry is critical to meeting climate goals and ensuring communities avoid the worst impacts of extreme weather.
Mash Makes' biofuel has already proved successful in initial testing, showing promise for the future of shipping.
"These results confirm the quality of Mash Makes' biofuel as a viable new sustainable fuel for shipping. We're excited to be part of this journey together with Mash Makes' and provide new sustainable fuel options that will support decarbonization in shipping and other critical industries," Henrik Røjel, Norden's head of decarbonization and climate solutions, told the magazine.
Launched in 2015, according to the company's LinkedIn, Mash Makes began as a project focused on creating technology that could transform waste products into energy, such as biofuel, hydrogen, and electricity, with biochar as a main byproduct of the process, per the company.
Biochar is a charcoal-like product created by heating organic waste such as biomass to high temperatures, per Regeneration International. Along with helping to improve soil health, biochar can potentially remove vast amounts of carbon pollution from the atmosphere that would have been released as agricultural waste breaks down.
Renewable Energy Magazine reported that Mash Makes' biochar boosted crop yields by 21% in a recent three-season field trial. The company's first plant in Karnataka, India, can process up to 23,700 tons of farm waste annually, and it plans to open larger plants with greater capacity in Vietnam and other locations in India.
In addition to the environmental benefits, the technology also benefits rural communities by providing employment opportunities and food security. The machines that convert farm waste into energy can be set up easily anywhere with a flat surface, making it simple to scale up the technology. Rural farmers can then reuse agricultural waste while avoiding harmful pollution from burning fields to remove crop residue, as the company explained.
"We've seen positive results in crop yields across multiple seasons, leading to significantly higher returns for farmers. By using Mash Makes' biochar, farmers can also reduce their reliance on fossil fuel-based inputs that harm the climate," Irfan Shaikh, head of agriculture at the nonprofit organization Manavlok, told Renewable Energy Magazine.
The magazine stated that Mash Makes was announced as a Top 20 finalist for the XPRIZE Carbon Removal contest and will go on to compete for the $50 million grand prize. The company aims to remove at least one gigatonne (over 1.1 billion tons) of carbon from the atmosphere by 2040.
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