The Concept – Reverse Coal

" The food production system is broken and requires a radical whole system approach to fix it. "

James Brown ceo

Our Approach

The Lapwing Estate has developed a new model for “Rethinking peatlands”, which both sequesters and abates significant quantities of carbon, and also produces food with measurable positive environmental and social impact

Reverse Coal is a radical and transformative whole systems approach that transitions from traditional organic farming on degraded lowland peat, towards climate resilient, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) with a broad array of interlinked societal, environmental and economic benefits

Carbon Capture & Abatement

The premise of Reverse Coal is to utilise photosynthesis to remove CO2 from the atmosphere via production of short rotation coppice willow (SRCW) on rewetted peatland.

This simultaneously clean the water of chemicals and abate landscape soil emissions from agriculturally drained lowland peat – which accounts for 3% of total UK GHG emission, and sequesters carbon from the atmosphere through the SRCW

Carbon Processing

Biomass is harvested and chipped directly from the field. The wood chip is then actively dried to achieve a low moisture content.
Once at optimal condition the woodchip is then fed into a high temperature pyrolysis plant which breaks down the biomass through thermal decomposition (Pyrolysis is the heating of material without oxygen)

The three products generated are:

Biochar + Electricity + Heat

Higher Temperature allows a more thorough chemical breakdown of the feed reducing tars and improving yield and emissions.

Find out more about how we ensure the carbon we store in the biochar doesn’t get back into the atmosphere.

Controlled Environment Agriculture

The high grade heat and power from the pyrolysis plant will be used to power controlled environment agriculture for more sustainable food production. This tackles the common criticism from most biomass projects which is the displacement of food production for bioenergy.

By continuing to produce food, this land use change does not result in offshoring food production and increasing GHG emissions. Instead we can improve food security and substitute commodity grain and arable crops that would have been grown on the land lost to biomass crops, for high health fruit and vegetables.

In addition, the power system used to produce CEA food’s will be close to net zero and substituting for foods typically imported from global sources and grown under glass using fossil fuel heating systems

Progress

Our production facility is operational producing high quality biochar. Check out some of our photos along the journey bringing Reverse Coal to life!

The Lapwing Estate

The Lapwing Estate has been historically drained for agricultural activities. We are proposing to stop draining the land which will raise the water table back up (rewetting not flooding).

This will return the Estate to the landscape it was over 400 years ago. There are positive net gains to be had in terms of biodiversity and water/flood-plain management

We're on a mission to scale

To create a real impact and cut greenhouse gas emissions, this approach needs to be at scale. We are targeting 2030 to create a 1 megatonne contribution to Net Zero

Our Wider Vision

The Lapwing Reverse Coal vision is for a holistic system change. The approach was borne out of responsibility to address agriculture emissions on The Lapwing Estate whilst not disrupting food production. This has remained the key driver for Lapwing and the group have continued researching and investigating new opportunities to enhance the impact of the Reverse Coal concept.

Throughout Phase 2 of Reverse Coal, The Lapwing Estate has become a vibrant hub of innovation with numerous research projects hatching from the core team and academic partners. One of the most valuable outcomes from the Reverse Coal project has been the team and connections made, growing UK capabilities of delivering innovative projects.

The Lapwing group has been exploring all parts of the system to identify new opportunities for co-benefits and new revenue streams. By combining innovative ideas and engaging with other industries, we have identified new opportunities for wider decarbonisation that all work towards lowering the cost of carbon removal.