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Viroment Equity

45Q Carbon Tax Credits

Paul Koenig

Published on Mar 13, 2021

What business is Viroment in?  We are asked this all the time.

Until 3 weeks ago we assumed we were in the real estate business with these 15-yr NNN cash flowing leases.  

Or could it be the real-time manure processing business and creation of pellets business literally making truck loads of extra cash flow increasing the bottom line margins by several fold.

What if I told you Viroment facilities are able to be metered, recorded and validated for greenhouse gas emission reductions?

Recently, Viroment found out we are likely eligible to secure and sell carbon tax credits. 

The carbon footprint is massive for agriculture.  We knew liquid manure was easy to smell but what  really is that smell?  

Those “farm” smells you are enjoying on those country drives are greenhouse gas emissions as a result of liquified storage pits and lagoons gassing off.  In other words, these storage pits and lagoons are open air ANAEROBIC DIGESTER loaded with VOLATILE ACIDS and VOLATILE SOLIDS in an environment loaded with BACTERIA and WATER.


The only part of the equation that is left is TIME.

Viroment’s real-time manure processing reduces the time off-gassing by up to 97% when compared to existing traditional facilities.

All Viroment facilities moving forward will be filled with metering equipment to measure the volatile acids and solids leading into our unique real-time manure processing room.  

The first step in the process actually kills all the BACTERIA, viruses and pathogens subtracting the equation of one very key component.  

During the second stage WATER is removed resulting in a dry pellet containing those VOLATILE ACIDS and VOLATILE SOLIDS (including those dead bacteria) 

The only thing left to do is sequester those pellets by air-injection beneath the dirt surface on nearby farm land resulting in the end of the TIME component in the equation.

Now for the details...

Metering the incoming and outgoing liquid for the volatile solids will be tracked by a Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) License professional.  The LCA firm works in conjunction with the CPA firm specializing in  45Q carbon credits.  These carbon credits will be given serial numbers for each metric ton. 

The interesting thing about 45Q carbon credits is that they are the only IRS tax credit that is transferable, or better said, able to be marketed to third parties.

So what are the next steps?

Viroment is in the process of having one of the top-tier environmental tax attorney firms in the world validate the process with an opinion.  The opinion is useful in selling the future credits to be earned to third parties.  In other words, with the professional opinion the credits are significantly more valuable to buyers.  

As luck would have it we already have an interested party For any and all future carbon credits produced. It just so happens to be our bank providing the loans. They are the fifth largest bank in the world and want to consider a partnership immediately.

It is our estimation that we will have nearly 200,000 metric tons of carbon credits per facility per year. That’s 1.6 million metric tons in total for the eight facilities. 

In closing, remember that we are in the process validating all of this with written documentation by third-party professionals.  We’ve received verbal confirmation that we’re on track and eligible.  In fact, the only thing that we were missing was that we were not counting for a double dip with those same credits for the California carbon credit program.  

This is what we know right now. We have meetings with the tax accounting firm early this week and over the next couple of weeks we will work our best validate the process and validation for earning and selling the carbon credits.

What business is Viroment in?

Viroment is in the business of data collection.

Carbon Credit Agriculture
Liked by Matthieu Jacquier, Paul Kellam, Alexander Clarence McIntosh, and 18 others
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I trust each reader will recognize that anything close to this would massively increase the value / rate of return of this investment.
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Exactly Paul! It’s our mission to ensure that all the dots are connected with professional documentation.
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💥Top Contributor
Can you provide some details on what "air-injection beneath the dirt surface" means and how that is going to sequester the gas (methane?) long term?
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Grant, There are a few ways to address the very last part of the equation to disconnecting all the wires from each other that are creating greenhouse gas. We’re getting some more definition on this shortly but there’s an alternate use for the pellets that we can’t reveal to the public just yet That we believe meets Sequestration according to the LCA guidelines. The professionals have verbally told us either method is acceptable. It will take us a little bit of time to have the pros write up their expensive reports to back it up with their reputation as licensed professionals. As far as the air injection goals; it’s a normal piece of farm equipment and we would not make these into pellets but leave them in powdered form. The nitrogen that Would otherwise be converted to carbon would be directed towards crop roots corn converted to corn production. It’s a very tricky thing here as we want to be as forthcoming as possible to let you know everything that’s going on, however, with nearly 1000 investors looking at this message possibly I don’t wanna make any over-representations. It is a delicate balance.
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my investment is only $500. but i did not get an e-mail about interest or something about credits. please respond.
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Terry, are you referring to the first raise for a debt note? If so, we are working on that behind the scenes with a DocuSign document that still needs to be drafted and some other details we are pulling together.
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As a tax accountant I really enjoy getting this type of news
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Jason! I normally dread speaking with the accountant but I have to admit I am absolutely loving talking to of these accounts now!
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Cap & trade is definitely in the cards for transition into renewable energy. I feel fortunate to be involved w' a positive solution that very few ppl even consider!
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Interestingly enough, we see why so many companies are not eligible for carbon credits. Sometimes it’s size and sometimes it’s because you cannot track the equation properly. When we looked at this all the stars were already aligned with only the need to put in some relatively inexpensive metering, Hire an independent LCA and hire a high buck tax attorney firm to write it all up for sale of the credits. Right now it’s execution time! And you can sure bet that we will be sprinting to the finish line!
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Just when you thought it could not get any better.....
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Right! We were thrilled with the equation before we found out about these carbon credits!
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This is great news! Will you be adding beef facilities eventually as well?
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Dairy for sure and working on beef.
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The is Mr. Koenig. Been touting you all since I invested. Trying to get more money for the cause. Love what your doing and that you have our best interests at heart!
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Thank you. Just know that we are pushing hard to win! Winning means making a difference. We all have to be responsible and remember that you are investors and they’re absolutely has to be a win on the investment side. Rest well knowing that your investment made prior to the close of March 17 will be worth a multiple of the “today’s” investment.
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Sounds good. Are you using any of the gases to produce energy?
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Not electricity or fuel. But the product will be sold for a high-value end-use which has a higher value than electricity production or fuel.
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I really like this idea and I'm definitely considering in investing. Based on what I've read there are a lot of benefits to this business with the reduction of waste and use of pellets. I'm confused when you say that up until 3 weeks ago you assumed you were in the real estate business when there is clearly more to it. It makes me feel like your vision for the future of the business may be unclear if it has changed that quickly in the last 3 weeks. Can you provide some clarity on this? I'd love to invest but I need to feel comfortable with the investment. Thank you!
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Sure thing Ali! Our deal is a very solid real estate equation. We heard of carbon credits like anyone else but didn’t really consider them reality for a company our size or for what we do. Here is what changed: We were sizing the filtration system in the production meeting and the solids volume (within the water) just didn’t sit right with us. In other words, it was lower than what we believed reality would be. (This is a good thing because there will be more pellet revenue) So we started to consider how much of the solids gas off in a traditional facility over 6-12 months vs a Viroment facility processing fresh in real-time. We researched digestibility conversion rates, comparing a hog to human and just about every study and data set known to mankind. Not a single one of them can tell you how much fresh poop a pig makes....only the old 6-12 month degraded manure. We knew the equation really is about nitrogen to carbon coupled with accelerants like bacteria, time and temp. This started to sound so much like digesters. When we mentioned that these liquid manure storage pits and lagoons we actually anaerobic digesters our insurance agent asked if we ever considered carbon credits because they are working on a product to guarantee carbon credits for future contract sales. Then we started connecting dots and found out we can mail this equation down just by metering our system as it’s laid out. I guess I would personally answer it like this: anything that is truly sustainable doesn’t have to try to be or lead with it. Recycling is that way when it was just the green thing to do nobody hardly did it. When we have single sort cans offering to haul away all the recyclables for no cost and it’s easy to do it’s a massive winner. One more thing - carbon credits are voluntary in the business world for now EXCEPT for the Q45 Carbon Credits we are targeting. Additionally, liquid manure traditionally covers a large discard footprint resulting in this project easily exceeding the min metric tons CO2. This week we are working with a large firm that will validate the process which could result in a $25,000 report. This report will increase the value for future sales of the carbon credits to third parties. I can tell you right now that even if we knew the 45Q credits existed 6 months ago there is no way we were going to spend $25k on this type of report. Viroment may have to pay for it ourselves outside the raise because it was not disclosed as an approved expense possibly. All said, we take it one step at a time. If we knew about the CC we also would have priced the round far higher. We will close on Wednesday at 11pm and when we re-launch we will be a quite a bit higher valuation (which will still be a great deal with several “X” left for the future investors to enjoy)