Engineer develops portable Eco-Burner to convert crop residue into biochar

B Mohan Venkat Sai Krishna, a Design Thinking lecturer at KG Reddy College of Engineering and Technology and NITI Aayog Community Innovator Fellow, developed the Eco-Burner after speaking with farmers in Telangana villages including Dornal, Chilkur and Nanajipur. Farmers said processing and transporting crop waste was expensive, making burning the quickest option.

The Eco-Burner uses controlled thermal conversion to limit oxygen and heat, converting agricultural residue into biochar — a carbon-rich material useful as soil amendment — rather than allowing complete combustion to ash. Krishna refined the design through three prototypes, improving airflow and reducing smoke output.

To reach farmers across dispersed fields, Krishna developed a community model mounting the Eco-Burner on a trolley attachable to a two-wheeler for transport between farms, making the technology accessible and affordable.