Hyderabad-based Sow & Reap Chara and Sagar Cements have signed a 10-year agreement to set up integrated biochar and gasification units at the cement maker’s Mattampally plant in Telangana.
The goal of the project is the decarbonization of the energy-intensive calcination stage of cement production. Sow & Reap Chara will use agricultural crop residues, such as cotton crop waste, which is often burned after harvest, and process it to produce syngas and biochar. All biomass collection will be from municipalities within a radius of 20 km from the cement plant.
Syngas will be used by Sagar Cements as alternative fuel and biochar provided to farmers as manure. “This collaboration demonstrates how climate technology innovation can be seamlessly integrated into energy-intensive industries,” Sow & Reap founder and CEO Chara Suraj Teja said in a news release about the offtake agreement. The project will help the cement industry reduce emissions while creating value for local farming communities, he said.
Sow & Reap Chara intends to build 20 gasification units with 4 units installed in Phase 1 and expected to be commissioned in March. The investment in each unit would be Rs 14 crore. The gasification unit would process 15,000 tons of biomass and produce 3,750 tons of biochar annually. This would mean a reduction in CO2 emissions of around 8,000 tonnes. The carbon credits thus issued will be available to businesses and other industries that would like to offset their emissions.
With all 20 installations, “we will aim to issue approximately 160,000 carbon credits annually with a goal of nearly 1 million credits over the next five years,” he said. The model is to be replicated in all manufacturing units of Sagar Cements and its subsidiaries in the country.
Sagar Cements Joint Managing Director S. Sreekanth Reddy said, “We encourage innovative methods to reduce the carbon footprint for ourselves and the company as a whole.
Published – 23 Jan 2026 21:01 IST
