Telangana engineer's Eco-Burner turns crop residue into biochar and cuts farm burning

In Telangana, farmers often burn cotton stalks after harvest because hauling or composting the residue is too expensive. Engineer B Mohan Venkat Sai Krishna built Eco-Burner, a portable unit that converts crop residue into biochar through controlled thermal conversion. The idea came from direct conversations with farmers in Dornal, Chilkur, and Nanajipur who wanted a cheaper alternative to open burning. The Eco-Burner limits oxygen and controls heat so biomass becomes carbon-rich biochar instead of ash. That biochar can be used as a soil amendment, keeping carbon in the ground rather than releasing it as smoke. The unit is mounted on a trolley that can be pulled by a two-wheeler, and it is designed for community groups and farmer collectives to share instead of requiring each farmer to buy one. The prototype was tested in January and later deployed in villages including Chilkur. Krishna has been collecting feedback from farmers and plans to expand the model to more villages in the Nalgonda region. He is also working on a solar dryer to help lemon farmers process produce closer to their fields when market prices are low.