21.02.2024 | News
The new EUR 2 million loan from Nefco will accelerate the continued roll-out of MASH Makes’ biomass pyrolysis technology and help leverage equity investment. MASH’s solution provides significant environmental benefits by reversing soil degradation, producing carbon sinks and replacing fossil fuels.
MASH Makes, a biofuel and carbon removal technology company from Denmark, has received a new, additional loan of EUR 2 million from Nefco – the Nordic Green Bank. The loan will be used to construct MASH Makes’ second commercial pyrolysis facility near Udupi, Karnataka, India, adjacent to the site of its first project financed by Nefco in 2022. This second loan increases the total Nefco financing received to EUR 3.75 million.
“This project has excellent environmental benefits and a high replication potential, which are key criteria when identifying potential projects for Nefco financing. As a result of our first project, MASH Makes is now producing and selling biochar, biofuel and carbon credits. With the new loan, we can help the company leverage additional equity and accelerate the scale-up of its solution, which can alleviate many environmental issues,” says Søren Berg Rasmussen, Investment Manager, Nefco.
MASH Makes’ pyrolysis technology produces both carbon-negative biofuels and biochar from agricultural residues, in this case cashew nut shells, an abundant waste material in the project location. The bio-oil is refined into biofuels such as biodiesel, reducing the fossil fuel footprint for hard-to-abate sectors such as shipping. The biochar presents a solution to soil degradation: when applied to arid or degraded soil, biochar improves the organic content of soil and its ability to retain water, which can transform agricultural productivity while reducing the need for harmful inputs, like chemical fertilisers, and improve biodiversity. Biochar production is also an effective way of sequestering carbon from the atmosphere into the terrestrial system and is rapidly becoming a key technology for carbon dioxide removal in global efforts to slow down global warming.
The potential for transforming degraded soil while removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and mitigating climate change is significant. According to the United Nations, 12 million hectares of agricultural soils are lost globally through soil degradation every year (due to poor agricultural management, for example) and 20% of land is globally degraded, amounting to more than 18 million km2. In India alone, the percentage of degraded land is 30-50%. Soil degradation may lead to desertification, and these effects are expected to worsen due to climate change.
“Nefco has been instrumental in our early scale-up, providing us with essential debt capital for our first two production sites, setting MASH Makes on a trajectory to become a leading biochar carbon removal company and top provider of genuinely sustainable bio-oil,” says MASH Makes CEO Jakob Andersen. “This second site will cater to existing demand for MASH Makes’ carbon removal certificates and growing interest in sustainable fuel in challenging sectors like shipping. It will also help us to prepare for expected future demand for both products. To meet future needs, we plan to increase our commercial footprint tenfold over the next two years.”
For more information, please contact:
Søren Berg Rasmussen, Investment Manager, Nefco
soren.rasmussen@nefco.int, +358 10 618 0674
Jakob Bejbro Andersen, CEO, MASH Makes A/S
jakob@MASH-biotech.com, +45 20765529
About MASH Makes A/S
MASH Makes A/S was established in 2015 by Jakob Bejbro Andersen, Krishna Hara Chakravarty, Thomas Howard, Simon Strøm and Jon Skovgaard-Petersen as a spin-off from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). MASH Makes’ world-class pyrolysis and gasification technology converts agricultural waste into carbon negative energy commodities. In parallel, MASH’s technology produces biochar, which can be used in soils to support biomass growth and in construction, actively removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and producing high-quality carbon dioxide removal credits. The company currently employs 11 people in Denmark and 49 at its subsidiary in India, commissioning and operating the production facility in Udupi, Karnataka. It aims to increase its commercial operations in the region from two to 30 sites by 2027. www.MASHmakes.com