As the world grapples with mounting environmental challenges and income disparity, startups are seeking to address niche markets and deliver innovative, sustainable solutions that generate real value for end users. Takachar is focused on harnessing the power of pyrolysis to transform agricultural and forestry residues into valuable resources. With a mission to relieve the pressing waste disposal needs of rural communities, Takachar offers a valuable solution to both local farmers and the global ecosystem, thereby advancing climate justice on behalf of rural, underserved communities. By converting waste biomass into biofuels, charcoal, and other valuable organic products, Takachar not only reduces environmental pollution but also unlocks economic opportunities and promotes sustainable practices.
DIGITIMES Asia spoke with Kevin Kung, co-founder, president, and CTO of Takachar, about his company's product and sense of purpose, as well as some of the challenges in bringing new technologies to markets where few have sought to tread before.
Residual matter: an old problem redeveloped as a new opportunity
Waste biomass, also known as agricultural or forest residues, comprise matter from farms or woodlands that are generally regarded as having no market value. Examples can include nut shells, corn husks, wheat chaff, and tree bark. Lacking better methods of waste biomass disposal, rural communities around the world turn to open burning for their agricultural and forestry residues, resulting in pollution and wasted economic opportunities. Takachar estimates that the real value of those waste products – from coconut shells to rice husks and tree branches – represents around US$120 billion dollars per year.
Takachar envisions this vast mass of organic waste as a lucrative opportunity rather than a problem. With a novel thermochemical process at the core, they have designed and patented small-scale, low-cost, portable equipment capable of transforming waste biomass into fuel, fertilizer, and specialty chemicals. This process is not only economically viable but also helps in reducing pollution.
Takachar's machine, a self-contained moving bed reactor called the MiniTorr, is designed to be towed by a tractor or hauled by a pickup truck, able to be operated and maintained simply and safely with some basic training and common tools. The MiniTorr empowers small, rural communities to convert their agricultural and forestry waste into useful and commercially viable organic products such as fuel and soil additives.
"The machine itself was designed to be pretty simple," said Kung. That simplicity, however, was its own engineering challenge. "It's difficult to design something that works in rural areas often without electricity or running water. It's meant to be maintained and repaired locally with off-the-shelf parts." Operating a unit is similarly uncomplicated, with only some basic training required thanks to the MiniTorr's control system and safety features. "If you have different inputs today, or because it rained today and the input material is wet, or you want a different output today, then our control system knows how to handle that so the farmer or local end user doesn't have to become a chemical engineering expert to make that work."
Takachar prioritizes safety in operating the MiniTorr. Kung emphasized that "the equipment training is more so on the operation and safety side." They equip users with the necessary skills to handle heavy loads safely and minimize exposure to high temperatures within the thermochemical reactor. By providing a safe and user-friendly system, Takachar empowers farmers and local communities to utilize their technology effectively.
At the time of the interview, Takachar currently deploys five MiniTorrs: one in British Columbia, one in California, and three in India. In the South Indian coconut-growing belt to which several MiniTorrs are deployed, Takachar's technology finds relevance as it converts discarded coconut shells into activated carbon precursors. Local growers benefit from cleaner and more environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional production methods, allowing them to participate in the activated carbon supply chain and improve their material conditions.
You can do good and do well: a plan for sustainable growth
MiniTorrs that have already been deployed have demonstrated their value in turning waste into saleable goods. When asked about the next steps in growing the business, Kung is quick to lay out Takachar's strategy. "We'd be targeting the same supply chain, the hardware OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), who can produce and sell this as a complementary product to their clientele through the existing dealership network." By collaborating with OEMs, Takachar aims to scale their operations without the limitations of individual ownership and operation.
While there already exist some processes for disposing of or converting waste biomass, those solutions are out of reach of most rural agricultural communities. "A lot of the current conversion process is such that you find a long term offtake with a mill or a centralized place where you can get a 20 year contract for the conversion, and you would then invest or do a project development around that, which often will cost at least a few million dollars in terms of capital, equipment, and so forth. That is one viable business model, especially if you have a point source on biomass. But those technologies tend to exclude a lot of the rural biomass because they are fundamentally incompatible," explains Kung. "So where we play is really at those more remote and hard to access regions where it does not make sense for a lot of those large scale technologies to deploy. That's how we think of ourselves."
Trash to treasure
"A lot of the value is derived from upgrading the residue into something that's higher value," explains Kevin Kung. Takachar's model creates value through upgrading residues into higher-value products like soil amendments. These outputs not only offer economic benefits, attracting investors and buyers but also contribute to a cleaner and greener environment, making their technology more sustainable and impactful. "There's also the carbon credit piece, because a lot of our outputs are carbon negative or carbon mitigating, which means that you can take it out to the carbon market and fetch additional revenue from prospective carbon credit buyers. So that is another value being created."
Takachar's journey goes beyond their current deployments. "We have growing interest in North America, especially in the forestry side of things," says Kung. Takachar is exploring opportunities in Kenya and East Asia, including Taiwan, where Kevin was raised during his early childhood. Kung remembers the smell of rice stalk stubble being burnt after the harvest. "That stays with me as a nostalgic memory," he says, "but when I visit Taiwan now and take the high speed train through central or southern Taiwan, I still see that today." He highlights the significance of community-centric design, ensuring Takachar's technology resonates with users and fosters lasting impacts within communities.
"I think when it comes to biomass," continues Kung, "one big challenge is that it's highly context dependent. The coconut value chain is different from the rice value chain, which is different from forestry. So traditionally, it has made things very difficult to scale. And I think for us, especially as a decentralized fleet, to scale, we need to master our operations with regard to these different contexts. And not only respect, but also design and co-design with those local communities with respect to local needs, which are often very different."
Takachar's journey is a testament to the power of sustainable technology in combatting climate change and driving positive change in rural communities. With their MiniTorr machine, the startup is blazing a trail for a greener, cleaner future, transforming waste biomass into valuable resources while creating economic opportunities and reducing pollution. Through a combination of innovation, partnerships, and human-centric design, Takachar is a bright example of how environmental technology can pave the path towards a more sustainable and prosperous world.
