$10M Biochar plant opens in Waverly

Restoration Bioproducts’ executives and employees gathered with state and local officials Wednesday to celebrate the opening of the company’s Sussex County biochar production facility.

Through a thermal decomposition process known as pyrolysis, the facility heats waste wood to high temperatures in an environment without oxygen to transform the material into syngas — a combustible gas that can be used for fuel —  and biochar, a charcoal-like substance commonly used to improve soil health, as an animal food additive, and as an odor absorber.