A company which developed a pyrolysis-based biofuel processing technology has won the World Environment Day Award of the United Nations Association of Australia.  The company is BEST Energies, Inc., an integrated bioenergy solutions provider based in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Their process for biofuel production involves the slow pyrolysis (i.e., heating in the absence of oxygen) of biomass, that produces a liquid biofuel and a solid residue (char).  The liquid biofuel can be used for transport applications, and the solid “biochar” or “Agrichar” has been successfully used as a soil amender.  The attractive feature of the technology is the potential production of a “carbon negative biofuel”.  A “carbon negative biofuel” means that the difference between the CO2 emitted during biofuel production and use is less than the CO2 sequestered during biomass growth.  Since the biomass is heated in the absence of oxygen, no carbon dioxide is produced.  The application of biochar to agricultural soils has been shown to “improve soil health indicators and increase crop yields and productivity”.  Long term sequestration of the carbon in the char is reported to occur in the soil.  The company has an integrated pilot plant facility in New South Wales, Australia..