Work is being conducted through ASE Industries to develop this technology and then design application specific plants for the conversion of biomass/wastes into biocarbon/biochar.  All biomass if not converted will eventually give its energy and carbon back to the atmosphere in the form of methane and carbon dioxide.

Hydrothermal carbonization can convert all types biomass into biocarbon, and has the ability to make an impact on greenhouse gas emissions in the near term. The application of small plants allows for distribution to match the wide spread nature of biomass and gets rid of the prohibitive cost of transporting low energy density biomass.  Job creation will be as spread out as the biomass is itself. The use of biocarbon as a coal replacement for electrical power generation will allow time for centralized biocarbon to liquid fuels and synthetic gas plants to be built.  This will allow increases in both the number of biocarbon plants in operation and the manufacturing capacity to build these plants.  We are surrounded by biomass sources.  Substantial biomass exists even within cities.  The City of Los Angeles alone collects more than 1,800 tons of yard waste per day.

This approach may not be as dazzling a technology as genetically altered microbes that eat biomass and convert it to gasoline, but it is practical and available in the near term.  The science has been done and the engineering is not overly complex.  Simple, low cost hydrothermal biomass to carbon plants can be produced in the near future.