Biochar plant to create 102 jobs to Alexandria
Robins Carbon announced Wednesday (Nov. 4, 2026) it will invest in a $16.3 million project to establish a biochar manufacturing facility at England Airpark in Alexandria.
The 130-year-old family-owned company is wood products business that will extend its endeavors into a new market with this project that anticipates creating 102 jobs, according to Louisiana Economic Development (LED).
"Robinson Carbon is expected to create 42 direct new jobs," according to an LED press release. "Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will result in an additional 60 new indirect jobs ... in the Central Region."
"Louisiana has long been a leader in turning our natural resources into products used around the world," LED Secretary Susan B. Bourgeois said in a press release. "For more than 130 years, the Robinson family has been part of that history, and we are grateful for their continued commitment to Louisiana. Their latest investment reflects how innovation is creating new possibilities across the sectors that whave powered our economy for generations, strengthening our competitiveness while extending Louisiana's foundational industries into new products and markets."
According to the press release, the new facility will operate two rotary drum "purolysis reactors" that will convert 100,000 metric tons of Southern Yellow Pine residuatls annually into 16,500 metric tons of biochar. Materials will be sourced from nearby mills and produce biochar to customer specifications for agricultura, horticultural and pollution remediation applications.
A pilot reactor in New Albany, Indiana has been relocated to its manufacturing site in Alexandria and will be used to train new employees ahead of full-scale production, the press release said. "Once certified under the Puro Standard, the facility is also expected to generate approximately 40,000 CO2 Removal Certificats each year, each representing one metric ton of carbon dioxide removed."
"My great-great-grandfather founded our company in New Orleans in 1893 selling Louisiana longleaf pine," Robinson Carbon CEO Garner Robinson said in the press release. "Since then, the products have changed many times over, but our passion for wood products hasn't. Biochar is an exciting opportunity to make something truly new out of wood, and we look forward to planting new roots in Central Louisiana."
