Loblolly is Graphyte’s first Carbon Casting project and the site where the process moved from concept to commercial operation. It sits in Pine Bluff, in the middle of an Arkansas biomass hub surrounded by working timberland and rice production. The project began operating in April 2024 and has run continuously since, acting as the reference point for every project we’ve built since.
How it works here
Loblolly takes in waste biomass in the form of rice hulls from the surrounding rice mills. Left alone, that material is burned or left to decompose, and the carbon the plants captured goes back into the air. Instead, we process the biomass to ensure it is dry and inert, we ompress it into pellets and then seal the compressed biomass to ensure the biomass never decomposes, and store them underground. The carbon will remain inert for 1000’s of years, and we measure what is stored directly using our proprietary MRV system rather than estimating it.
We source the residual biomass locally. For those suppliers, residue that used to be a disposal problem is now something that drives revenue for them.
Storage
Carbon is stored about 20 miles from the processing site on roughly 70 acres in Grant County. The site is a former gravel mine where the ground is already disturbed, with no obvious second use. Graphyte received its permit to store carbon there from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality in July 2024. The storage cells are lined and monitored, and runoff, soil, and air are tested on an ongoing basis. When a cell is filled it’s capped and restored, and the land is handed to the community for a new use.
Track record
Loblolly is an operating commercial facility, not a pilot. Graphyte went from final investment decision to revenue in under eleven months, issued its first verified credits through the Isometric registry in October 2024, and delivered them to American Airlines. The project has been reviewed by independent third parties, including an ex-ante rating from BeZero Carbon. It currently removes about 50,000 tCO₂e per year and has the capacity to expand to 300,000 tCO₂e per year.
In the community
Loblolly runs on local labor. The project employs a local team hired entirely from central and southern Arkansas, pays above the going rate for comparable work in the area. Graphyte works with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, a local HBCU, to source and train workers, and partners with minority- and women-owned local businesses and contractors. Beyond jobs, the project diverts biomass that was previously burned in the area, which reduces the particulate pollution that has long affected Pine Bluff, and it has invested directly in the community, from the Ward 3 park to the local Boys & Girls Club.