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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11MYNO Carbon is developing a Washington biochar business that aims to turn waste biomass into carbon-rich products, useful heat or steam, and carbon-removal credits. Its original Kettle Falls proposal was abandoned after the company found it infeasible; the first facility is now planned for Port Angeles. Washington’s 2025 carbon-removal study described MYNO as working to finance that plant, so its planned output and earlier projections should not be confused with verified operating results.
Who is MYNO Carbon?
MYNO Carbon Corp. was founded in 2020 by Thor Kallestad and other engineers with experience in petroleum, oilfield work, mining, and large infrastructure projects. The company is based in Bainbridge Island, Washington. Kallestad has described becoming a parent as part of what prompted him to redirect his career toward climate work. GeekWire’s 2023 profile reported the founders’ backgrounds and the company’s early plans.
That experience has a practical connection to a capital-intensive climate project: industrial facilities require engineering, feedstock logistics, permitting, construction, and reliable operations. It does not, by itself, establish that a particular facility will be built or that its carbon claims will be achieved.
What is the “ancient” carbon-trapping technology?
The technology is biochar, not a newly discovered carbon-capture machine. Biochar is a charcoal-like material made by heating organic matter in a low-oxygen environment, a process called pyrolysis. The process turns some of the biomass carbon into a relatively stable solid. If that material is placed in soil or incorporated into durable products, some of the carbon may remain stored rather than quickly returning to the atmosphere.
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The historical reference is Amazonian terra preta, unusually dark, fertile soils associated with charcoal-rich material. Modern biochar production is an industrial process with its own feedstock, emissions, product-quality, and accounting requirements. It is also different from direct-air capture: plants first absorb carbon dioxide as they grow, and the biomass pathway seeks to retain a portion of that carbon in biochar rather than extract CO₂ directly from ambient air. MYNO’s explanation of the approach is at its biochar overview.
How MYNO’s proposed system is meant to work
- Gather biomass. MYNO identifies timber waste, forest residues, sawmill material, and agricultural waste as potential feedstocks.
- Convert it through pyrolysis. Biomass is heated with limited oxygen. The process produces a carbon-rich solid and also generates heat and gases that may be used within the facility or as useful energy.
- Market the biochar. The solid product is intended for agricultural, remediation, infrastructure, and other industrial uses.
- Use or sell useful heat or steam. The company’s facility concept includes renewable energy or industrial steam as a coproduct, depending on the project design and available customers.
- Measure carbon storage. Carbon-removal credits would require a methodology and monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) to account for the net removal and the fate of the biochar.
MYNO describes three intended revenue streams: biochar products, energy or steam, and carbon-removal credits. That mix could reduce reliance on any one market, but each stream has different buyers, technical requirements, and commercial risks.
What happened to the Kettle Falls proposal?
In 2023, MYNO proposed a facility beside Avista Utilities’ Kettle Falls Generating Station in northeastern Washington. The figures below were design and impact targets for that proposal, not measured plant performance:
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| Original Kettle Falls proposal | Historical target |
|---|---|
| Timber-waste feedstock | About 183,000 tons per year, as reported in 2023 |
| Biochar output | About 40,000 tons per year, as proposed in 2023 |
| Steam power at Avista | About 18 megawatts, as proposed in 2023 |
| Carbon-removal impact | Roughly 100,000 metric tons of CO₂-equivalent per year, a MYNO projection reported in 2023 |
| Intended startup | Around mid-2025, the schedule reported in 2023 |
Avista’s 2023 clean-energy implementation update said negotiations had begun but the contract was not moving forward at that time. More decisively, Washington’s 2024 legislative report says MYNO determined in late 2023 that Kettle Falls was no longer feasible. The Kettle Falls plant is therefore historical context, not the company’s active first-facility plan. See Avista’s update and the Washington legislative report.
What is planned for Port Angeles?
After the Kettle Falls plan ended, MYNO shifted its focus to the Olympic Peninsula and identified Port Angeles as the site for its first facility. The company announced a $20.4 million USDA Fertilizer Production Expansion Program award in October 2024. It said the proposed facility would use sustainably sourced waste biomass to produce approximately 20,000 dry tons of renewable carbon products for agricultural and remediation uses. Those are announced project plans and funding support—not proof of completed construction, an operating plant, or delivered output. The company’s grant announcement describes the award and target.
MYNO previously said the Port Angeles project was in engineering design and gave a staged-operations target spanning 2025–2026. That was an earlier projection, not a current schedule. Washington’s 2025 carbon-dioxide-removal study described MYNO as working to finance its first biochar production facility in Port Angeles. The available project status therefore remains development and financing rather than a verified commercial operation. The state study provides the later status; the company’s Port Angeles announcement records its earlier timeline.
What products and customers is MYNO targeting?
MYNO markets three biochar product families on its website. These are target applications and company product descriptions; the available material does not establish broad, at-scale availability or public pricing.
| Product family | Intended users or application |
|---|---|
| MYNO Carbon Pure Biochar | Environmental remediation |
| MYNO Carbon Boost Biochar | Agriculture and agribusiness |
| MYNO Carbon Core Biochar | Builders, architects, and industrial materials |
The company also identifies fertilizer ingredients, micronized biochar for liquid-fertilizer applications, soil and water remediation materials, and industrial uses as potential markets. Buyers evaluating biochar should ask about feedstock, particle size, contaminant testing, application guidance, and evidence for the specific use. MYNO’s product descriptions appear on its company website.
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Biochar is not automatically carbon-negative. The net result depends on what would have happened to the biomass otherwise, emissions from collection and processing, and how much carbon remains stored in the final product. A credible accounting system must consider, among other factors:
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- Whether the feedstock is genuinely waste or displaces another useful material or energy source.
- How biomass is harvested, collected, preprocessed, and transported, including effects on forest soils, nutrients, biodiversity, or habitat.
- Energy use and emissions during pyrolysis, including methane and other process emissions.
- How the biochar is used, its stability, and whether storage can be documented over time.
- Leakage, substitution, and the baseline fate of the biomass.
- Independent measurement and verification before carbon credits are issued.
MYNO says it uses lifecycle carbon assessment and a biochar carbon-removal methodology. That company description is not the same as evidence that credits have been independently issued for the Port Angeles facility. A buyer should distinguish avoided emissions—for example, emissions that might otherwise occur under a particular waste-management scenario—from carbon actually removed and stored.
There are also local operating questions. The 2023 reporting on the original proposal noted that pyrolysis produces emissions and that MYNO was working with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Washington State University on carbon-capture technology to reduce the facility’s impact. For Port Angeles, meaningful evaluation depends on the plant’s actual design, applicable permits, emissions controls, biomass handling, truck movements, noise, odors, and management of ash or char residues. A grant or partnership is not a substitute for permits or evidence of performance.
Biochar itself is not a uniform commodity. Feedstock, heating conditions, particle size, ash and mineral content, pH, porosity, and possible contaminants can affect product quality and agronomic results. Soil, climate, crop, and application rate also matter. Claims about yields, drought tolerance, or fertilizer savings should be assessed for the relevant conditions rather than assumed for every use.
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How biochar compares with other carbon-removal approaches
| Approach | How it differs from MYNO’s proposed model |
|---|---|
| Direct-air capture | Uses equipment and energy to capture CO₂ from ambient air; it does not depend on biomass as the carbon source. |
| Geologic carbon storage | Stores captured CO₂ underground and requires transport, injection infrastructure, monitoring, and suitable geology. |
| Enhanced rock weathering | Uses crushed minerals to accelerate CO₂ uptake, with mining, transport, and measurement challenges. |
| Forestation and improved forest management | Store carbon in trees and soils, with exposure to fire, drought, pests, and land-use reversal. |
| Other biomass-carbon pathways | Include biomass burial, durable biomass products, and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage; the storage pathway and system design differ. |
MYNO’s proposed distinction is to combine waste-biomass management, solid carbon products, useful energy, and credits in one project. That integration may create more than one source of value, while also requiring the company to solve several market, permitting, and verification challenges at once.
What milestones would show the project is advancing?
For residents, customers, investors, and carbon buyers, the clearest evidence will be project and operating milestones rather than headline capacity targets. Relevant indicators include:
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- Financing closed and construction begun.
- Required land-use, environmental, and air-quality approvals obtained.
- Reliable feedstock agreements and transparent sourcing criteria.
- Commissioning completed, with actual production and emissions data reported.
- Independent product testing and customer evidence for intended applications.
- A named carbon methodology, independent verification, and credits issued against measured results.
- Repeat customers and delivered products, rather than announced product categories alone.
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