Biogenic carbon and Fossil carbon

When we talk about the fight against climate change, one word keeps coming up: carbon. But behind this term there are both differences, yet often confused, realities: carbon of biogenic origin and carbon of fossil origin.

At Néolithe, we have set ourselves a mission: to reduce the carbon impact of waste treatment. To understand what’s at stake, you first need to know what we’re really talking about. Take a behind-the-scenes look at carbon with Mathieu Avesque, carbon expert at Néolithe.

Biogenic carbon is that which circulates in the living world: trees, plants, animals, bacteria, soil, atmosphere and seas. It enters a rapid cycle: absorbed by plants through photosynthesis, it finds its way into the food chain, then is released into the atmosphere when the organic matter decomposes. This cycle is played out on the scale of our lives, over a few years or decades.

But be careful, it all depends on the conditions of deterioration. Mathieu explains:

• “In the presence of oxygen, carbon degrades into CO₂. This is the case with combustion or degradation in the open air. CO2 is a greenhouse gas, meaning that it helps to increase the temperature of the atmosphere.
• In the absence of oxygen, which is the case with landfill, degradation emits both CO2 and methane (CH₄), a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than CO₂.

Fortunately, natural ecosystems – forests, oceans, soils – act as regulators and absorb some of the CO₂. But this fragile balance can quickly tip over if we overexploit resources.”

Biogenic carbon is also used as a source of energy (wood, biogas, biofuels). As long as the resource is managed sustainably, the impact remains limited: the CO₂ released is already part of the natural cycle, and will be refixed by ecosystems. However, natural CO2 capture and storage capacities are limited and our emissions are increasing at a dizzying rate. This imbalance is growing and contributing to climate change.

Fossil carbon comes from organisms that died millions of years ago, buried, transformed and stored in the form of coal, oil or natural gas. As long as it remains underground, it doesn’t bother anyone. But as soon as we extract it and burn it, we change the game: we release ‘old’ carbon into the atmosphere, which was never meant to return. As a result, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere increases, without ecosystems being able to store it, and the climate becomes unstable.

Mathieu is categorical:
“Plants and ecosystems can’t tell the difference between CO₂ from wood and CO₂ from oil. But the climate does“. Chemically, a molecule of CO₂ remains a molecule of CO₂, whatever its origin. But fossil carbon, once released, swells the atmospheric stockpile and throws the climate out of balance.

Résults :

• Enhanced greenhouse effect
• Acceleration of global warming
• Several pollution sources (air, soil, water)
• Imbalance and destruction of ecosystems

Every year, millions of tonnes of organic waste are incinerated or landfilled, releasing biogenic carbon that could be captured over the long term. At Neolithe, we have chosen to act at source, using Accelerated Fossilisation^® technology.

« Our Anthropocite^® aggregates prevent the biogenic carbon in waste from immediately returning to the atmosphere » concludes Mathieu.

Reducing the carbon impact of waste treatment means taking concrete action for the climate, by tackling the root of the problem. At Neolithe, this is more than an objective: it’s a priority.