This Is CDR: Takachar, CDR via Modular Torrefaction of Waste Biomass – Kevin Kung, Co-Founder

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This week on This Is CDR, we are pleased to welcome Takachar Co-Founder and CTO Kevin Kung to tell us about the company’s Earthshot Prize-winning modular distributed thermochemical process for converting waste biomass to biochar and other valuable materials.

Kevin Kung is the co-founder and CTO of Takachar. From 2012 to 2017, Kevin built Takachar’s initial technology as part of his Ph.D. research in the field of biofuels and renewable energy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with the support of the Tata Trusts. Prior to that, Kevin had six years of experience conducting engineering design in resource-constrained settings, including borehole restoration in Uganda, interlocking stabilized construction materials in Ghana, and renewable energy systems in Kenya and India. In 2015, Kevin co-founded a company (Safi Organics) in Kenya that produces carbon-negative, high-yield biochar fertilizer from crop residues, improving smallholder farmers’ harvest yields by 30 percent. He helped grow the company to 25 full-time employees and 5,500 customers.