What we do?
InterEarth is a Climate Change Mitigation Technology Company
We are an Internationally-Owned, Australian-Domiciled, Private Company
Our Vision
To provide the world’s best, nature-based, direct-from-the-atmosphere CO2 sequestration.
Our Mission
To accelerate and maximise the production of Premium Quality CDR from our Dry Stack biomass sequestration technology.
Net Zero NOW
Development Strategy
InterEarth is targeting CDR sales to corporations and individuals that have decided to achieve Net Zero, as quickly as possible, and;
Those that have calculated their carbon footprint, developed a Net Zero acceleration plan and budget and are keen to publicise their Net Zero achievements.
Net Zero Now will be best achieved by a combination of a reduction in CO2 emissions and in the purchase of Premium Quality CDR
Business Overview
Photosynthesis utilises UV energy from sunlight to convert atmospheric CO2 into organic molecules that are converted into long chain polymers that form the framework structure of the plant. Woody biomass is dominated by cellulose, hemi-cellulose and ligand molecules which under prescribed conditions are very resistant to decomposition.
Biomass decomposition returns captured CO2 to the atmosphere directly or as CO2 or CH4. Biomass decomposition pathways are well studied; dry, dark, well-ventilated, rot-, fungus-, mould, termite-free, fire-proof conditions are known to inhibit decomposition; the establishment and maintenance of which is at the core of our proprietary Dry Stack technology.
Dry Stack Technology
InterEarth’s business is essentially harvesting, transporting and stacking appropriate dried biomass within our Dry Stack above ground storage chamber and ensuring that biomass-inert conditions are established and maintained.
Our target biomass is woody Above Ground Biomass (AGB: trunks, branches, tops, leaves and twigs) harvested from plantation grown native Australian Eucalyptus and Acacia trees. These species are adapted to dryland conditions and have high biomass (CO2 capture) production rates from low value land which positively contributes to our cost-effective CDR. The selected species woody biomass also have high C:N ratio, high crystalline cellulose and aromatic tannin contents all of which positively contribute to decomposition recalcitrance .
All stored dried biomass is weighed and sampled and analysed for moisture and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) at the point of deposition into the Dry Stack, and regularly (every 30 days) after Dry Stack closure. Biomass captured CO2 is measured (biomass weight x TOC) and not estimated or modelled; allowing for accurate, verifiable and reliable CDR calculations.
Dry Stack exhaust gases and adjacent atmosphere are continuously analysed for CO, CO2, O2, CH4, relative humidity and temperature. Biomass TOC and exhaust gas data demonstrates that Dry Stack conditions are inert, the dried biomass does not decompose and CO2 re-emission to the atmosphere is zero.
We establish a Future Fund for each collection of Dry Stacks to ensure sufficient funding is quarantined to meet the needs of our 100 year sampling, monitoring, and repair and rehabilitation work programme.
We utilise a range of custom-built, modified, and off-the-shelf industrial-scale woody biomass harvesting, and material handling machinery (see InterEarth Webpage “Biomass Harvesting and Material handling Update) and minimise the distance from the tree plantation site to the Dry Stack. Both of which are essential to achieve production efficiencies and cost-effective CDR.
We have two sources of Dry Stack biomass, which described below:
We plant a selection of 13 different species of high production, dryland-adapted, Australian Eucalyptus and Acacia trees on our own land. Plantation layout is optimised with accessways for tree husbandry including Supplementary Watering to increase seedling survival and early growth rates and subsequent AGB harvest and removal.
All planted tree species have been selected for their vigorous coppicing (ability to regrow after harvesting of AGB) characteristics. Our plan is to harvest AGB around 4 years after planting and then every 2 years, with all harvested AGB dried and stored in a nearby Dry Stack.
Grow-Your-Own Biomass
Above: Plantation layout of 6 rows of trees, with a 4.5m accessway. Photo taken during planting season ‘24
Given that the tree roots are already established, AGB production rates are higher for coppiced trees than newly planted or unharvested trees. Public domain research and internal modelling indicate at least double total AGB yields over 25 years, from our harvest-coppice-harvest rotation vs the traditional plant and no harvest system. We are developing a prototype mechanised continuous, multi-row tree harvester to optimise the AGB harvesting and material transport (Biomass Harvester Update coming soon). Increased biomass yield and AGB harvesting efficiencies contributes to cost effective CDR.
Due to their abundant, low moisture content AGB, and relatively thick forest litter layer, Eucalyptus / Acacia plantations are susceptible to fire destruction, a risk exacerbated by Climate Change. If a living plantation burns, the CO2 contained in the biomass is returned to the atmosphere and any modelled CDR is eliminated. Eucalyptus life-of-forest (30-50 years) fire insurance does not exist.
InterEarth harvest-coppice-harvest rotation removes the AGB fuel load and safely stores it for +100 years in a fire-proof Dry Stack, eliminating risk of biomass destruction. The 100 year duration (period that sequestered CO2 is removed from the atmosphere) of our Dry Stacked biomass allows for our classification as Premium Quality CDR, attracting a price premium.
Grow-your-own biomass is our preferred feedstock source as the vertical integration provides us with end-to-end control of the supply chain and legal ownership of the Dry Stack site. It does however require a relatively large up front capital expenditure in land purchase, and plantation establishment and husbandry, and around 4 years for the first AGB harvest, CDR production and revenues.
Day of Planting
2 Months
6 Months
Third Party Biomass
In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s the Australian government provided lucrative investment and tax benefits (“Managed Investment Schemes”) for new tree plantations, resulting in a rapid increase in Eucalyptus plantings with little to no consideration of the distance to, or existence of, a future tree processing facility or port.
Today, the great majority of these plantations are “stranded assets” and have little-to-no commercial value. As a result many plantation owners are clearing the plantations, windrowing the felled trees, in-field burning the biomass and returning the land to agricultural use. In our home state of Western Australia (WA) alone, around 141 000ha of plantations have been cleared and burnt in the past 14 years, returning around 22 000 000 t CO2 to the atmosphere.
Above: New Australian Tree Plantings over time
Source: Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - ABARES - Australian Plantations 2021 - 22
For plantation owners that have standing trees we would like to harvest the Above Ground Biomass allowing for the trees to coppice and to enter our harvest-coppice-harvest rotation cycle.
Given that we do not own the land, these sources of Third Party Biomass require us to lease the Dry Stack site from the plantation landowner. We enter into a 100 year lease over the Dry Stack site and place a caveat over the title, which legally protects the Dry Stack biomass in our favour, and allows us to access, sample and monitor the site.
A message to plantation owners that have already cleared trees:
“If you have cleared and windrowed plantation trees, please do not burn them. We may be able to purchase the cleared biomass, giving you a windfall financial return and saving the atmosphere at the same time.”
Further Reading on land requirements:
CDR Generation and Certification
During 2022, InterEarth promoted the concept of woody biomass preservation for carbon sequestration to Puro.Earth. We worked under a Confidentiality Agreement with Puro.Earth to develop the framework of Terrestrial Storage of Biomass (TSB) methodology. Puro.Earth developed TSB measurement, verification, validation, auditing and CDR (CORC) approval criteria and processes independently.
TSB was publicly released as a Puro.Earth Methodology in November 2023.
Under the Puro methodology, successful CORC Production Facility Registration allows for site and CORC production document auditing. An unqualified audit results in CORC approvals.
We completed our Demonstration Dry Stack in February 2024, and exhaust gas monitoring was operational from April 2024. We submitted our application for CORC Production Facility Registration in September 2024, with re-submissions in November 2024 and January 2025. We anticipate Production Facility Registration and auditing will be complete by late February 2025, with first CORC approvals soon thereafter.
All InterEarth CDR offered to the market is in the form of Puro.earth CORCs.
Intellectual Property
InterEarth is a Climate Change mitigation technology company. We are committed to developing and operationalising new and improved technologies to optimise biomass-based carbon sequestration. We have committed considerable time and resources to research and development to achieve our objectives. Like many innovators we attempt to protect our confidential information, intellectual property and competitive advantage wherever possible.
Where applicable we formalise this protection through the Australian and international patenting process. We are open for discussions on access to our IP.
Our Patent Attorneys are at Wray and Associates Perth and Melbourne Offices.
InterEarth invented the Dry Stack Biomass Carbon sequestration technology and lodged an Australian Provisional Patent 5th May 2023 which allowed for the filing of an International PCT on 6th May 2024.
InterEarth has also lodged patent applications for a number of key technologies utilised by our business including:
· Carbon sequestration via woody biomass storage in dry and wet conditions,
· A multi-row continuous tree harvester machine,
· An improved mobile tree watering system and machine,
· An improved tree planter