GREEN GOLDBuild with us ↗SOURCES & CONTEXT
Selected public research and context behind our work.
The University of Cambridge’s 2024 industrial-systems case study describes 23 million tonnes of rice straw burned annually in northern India. We use a rounded regional scale of over 20 million tonnes; our programme targets 5 million tonnes of annual straw diversion within a decade.
University of Cambridge / IfM · rice-straw burningWe cite Delhi’s 8.2-year potential average life-expectancy gain from permanently lowering all-source 2023 particulate pollution to WHO guidance. This is a population-level estimate, not an individual prognosis or a benefit attributable entirely to preventing straw burning.
AQLI 2025 · India fact sheetISRO’s 2018 to 2019 assessment records 97.85 million hectares, or 29.77% of India’s land area, affected by degradation and desertification. We round this to 30%. Separately, a Punjab field study reports mean soil organic carbon of 0.36 ± 0.23%, supporting the below-0.5% figure for the sampled farmland.
MoEFCC / ISRO · land degradationPunjab soil study · 2025We use the Ministry of Jal Shakti’s 2025 assessment: irrigation accounts for 215 of 247 billion cubic metres of annual groundwater extraction, or 87%. The World Bank describes India’s groundwater use as greater than that of the United States and China combined. Rice cultivation is a major source of irrigation demand.
Ministry of Jal Shakti · groundwater, 2025 assessmentWorld Bank · groundwater useWe’re testing biochar as a soil input, drawing on published evidence of changes in porosity, nutrient retention and plant-available water. Results depend on the biochar, soil and farming practice. Our own trials will establish irrigation savings and agricultural performance. Soil water retention is not evidence of aquifer recharge.
Liu et al. · biochar particle shape, pores and water retentionGüereña et al. · nitrogen retention in a field experimentFischer et al. · biochar and water availability in rice fieldsOur maps identify proposed project anchors and an illustrative wider network. Survey of India provides the national-boundary reference and island outlines. Mainland state geometry is attributed to DataMeet under CC BY 4.0. The GG Drishti preview uses Esri World Imagery with illustrative screening layers. Neither map represents a confirmed site or a validated site assessment.
Survey of India: official boundary referenceDST geospatial guidelinesDataMeet: mainland state-boundary sourceMainland source licence: CC BY 4.0Esri World Imagery · basemap attribution and contributorsWe are developing our carbon removal pathway around additionality, lifecycle accounting, traceability and independent verification. Isometric’s framework sets the requirements for eligible measured carbon and storage conditions, including its conditional 1,000-year pathway. We have not issued carbon credits.
Isometric · biochar carbon-removal frameworkOur adjacent work considers rice methane, native soil-carbon change and durable storage of captured biogenic CO₂. Each pathway needs its own baseline, monitoring and verification, with no double-counting of biochar carbon removals.
IRRI · alternate wetting and dryingIEA · India bioenergy market contextWe compare 3 tonnes of rice straw with 1.5 tonnes of woody biomass per target tonne of net carbon removal, giving a 2× physical-residue ratio. This feedstock-specific comparison is an estimate, not an operating result. Moisture, carbon content, conversion yield, storage eligibility and lifecycle emissions determine the realised ratio. Our separate 5-million-tonne network ambition targets 1.5 million tonnes of annual carbon removal, approximately 3.33 tonnes of straw per tonne removed; it is a different scale assumption.
We are using published rice-straw silica research to guide selective recovery, purification and reagent recycling. Feedstock composition, recovery yield and each customer’s specification shape our qualification work.
Reddy et al., 2022 · silica extraction from rice strawWe use this manufacturer’s technical-grade precipitated-silica reference to understand industrial applications. Grade, purity and customer qualification determine the material’s destination and realised value.
Technical-grade precipitated silica · manufacturer referenceEvonik · precipitated silica in tyre compoundsEvonik · silica grades for coating formulationsWe distinguish three material functions: silicon-carbon composites for lithium-ion anodes, hard carbon for sodium-ion anodes, and activated porous carbon for supercapacitor electrodes. Rice-husk-derived silicon is a research precedent; our rice straw needs its own recovery and qualification work. Our schematics show conceptual structures and charge movement, not measured Green Gold materials or performance.
Jung et al. · rice-husk-derived silicon anodesOak Ridge National Laboratory · hard-carbon sodium-ion anodesStora Enso · renewable hard-carbon anodesOak Ridge National Laboratory · porous carbon for supercapacitorsHard-carbon pores and sodium-storage researchLiu et al. · Si–C expansion-space architectureEren et al. · material-dependent sodium-storage mechanismsMagasinski et al. · silicon–carbon frameworks and expansion spaceWang et al. · porous carbon and double-layer storageWe use the IEA’s 2025 base case to frame growing electricity demand: global data-centre consumption reaches around 945 TWh in 2030, roughly double 2024 levels. This is energy-system context, not a forecast of demand for our materials.
IEA · Energy and AIResearch context: hybrid battery/supercapacitor storage for AI data centresWe are drawing on published carbonisation and extraction research to develop activated-carbon and nano-silica routes from rice straw. Our qualification programme is connecting recovery, purity and processing economics with application performance.
Rice-straw activated carbon and nano-silica researchWe are using published paddy-straw research to guide liquid characterisation and separation trials, connecting recovered chemical families with potential industrial uses.
Paddy-straw liquid-fraction researchOur 2036 planning case estimates annual gross merchandise value across the network’s core materials and carbon removal. Delivery depends on commissioning, qualified output, sales and independently verified net carbon removal. It excludes costs, partner allocations and potential technology, software and service income at platform level.
We’re comparing three separate uses of 5 million dry tonnes of rice straw per year. The Si-C case assumes 7% recovered silica, 46.744% silicon by mass in pure SiO₂, 70% downstream silicon recovery and 40% silicon in the finished composite: approximately 286,000 tonnes/year. It also requires approximately 172,000 tonnes of usable carbon from the same straw; this joint route is unverified. Hard carbon uses an assumed 13% finished yield; porous carbon uses 9%. Published straw studies inform these assumptions but do not establish Green Gold yields or commercial qualification. Assumed prices of $10, $3 and $4 per kg give annual gross sales of $2.86bn, $1.95bn and $1.80bn respectively. Prices are sensitivity inputs, not quotes. All output is assumed to qualify and sell. The cases are mutually exclusive and exclude costs, other product sales and carbon credits.
Rice-straw carbon and silica studyRice-straw hard-carbon synthesis disclosure40% silicon composite research precedentWe’re assessing wider development regions through agricultural residues, local industrial demand and viable collection radii. Research pathways in Hong Kong and Amsterdam support our materials and carbon-market work. Profile affiliations describe individual experience, without implying institutional endorsement. The SDG 17 icon identifies our focus on partnerships for the goals, not UN affiliation.
United Nations · SDG communications materialsRegional haze has multiple causes. We focus on the agricultural-residue opportunity within those wider challenges, including Southeast Asia’s cross-border haze and the seasonal Black Cloud in Egypt.
ASEAN · transboundary haze frameworkWorld Bank · rice straw and Egypt’s Black Cloud