Startup Mantra: Converting agrowaste into energy through innovative means
HAB Biomass mobile unit transforms agrowaste into biomass briquettes providing sustainable solution to waste management and energy production challenges
Pune: The disposal of agricultural waste through burning poses a significant environmental challenge, contributing to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, industries and power generation sectors rely heavily on coal and firewood for combustion, exacerbating environmental degradation and resource depletion. Krunal Japtap, a young mechanical engineer from Pune, along with his mother Sheetal Jagtap, felt the urgent need for sustainable alternatives that would mitigate environmental impact while meeting energy demands.
Krunal founded HAB Biomass, a startup aimed at converting agrowaste into energy through innovative means. HAB Biomass offers a mobile unit designed to efficiently transform agrowaste into biomass briquettes, providing a sustainable solution to both waste management and energy production challenges. By harnessing agricultural residues and converting them into clean energy sources, HAB Biomass strives to reduce dependence on traditional fossil fuels, mitigate environmental pollution, and promote sustainable development.
Rural connection
Hailing from village Markal, about 30 kilometres from Pune city, Krunal studied at Priyadarshini High School in Bhosari and chose to pursue mechanical engineering at MIT Academy of Engineering, Alandi.
Krunal said, “I come from a modest family background and hence the first skill I developed during my school and college days was to reach out to the teacher or the best person in that subject domain and get all doubts cleared. Getting placed for a job through college was a big deal for me, but life had some other plans. I was unhappy with the job profile which the edu-tech company offered me at Mumbai. After discussing the issue with family members, professors, and teachers, they supported me in my decision to quit the job. Startup was not a craze then, and it was a very tough decision for me to start business without any kind of prior experience.”
“Since I was close to natural resources since my childhood, I noticed that a lot of buildings are coming up in rural places. With these new buildings, the number of old cow sheds were reducing. Hence, I decided to visit all existing cow sheds and enquire with the owners about what they did with the manure. I also visited the agricultural commissioner’s office where I met the officer who informed me about the vermicompost projects. I decided to start with a traditional business of vermicompost which converts infertile land into fertile one. While I started selling this vermicompost to farmers, one of my early mentors advised me to reach out to farmer organisations and work on the packaging aspect of the product. This value addition helped me sell the same product at 5x price. With these early entrepreneurial lessons, I then diversified my market by including balcony or terrace gardening segment. I started pitching premium packaging to this segment and nurseries in cities like Pune, Mumbai. We also started exporting vermicompost to countries like Qatar and were among very few companies which did so,” Krunal said.
Supply chain understanding
Drawing lessons from his first venture, Krunal also did his MBA externally and got information about online marketplaces and their business models. “The vermicompost business was doing well, but I started thinking about its scalability. Can I do that business in Mumbai, New York, or Delhi? The answer was in negative, and hence I started from ground zero again. Talking with farmers, observing, and understanding the local market, going to big cities like Mumbai and understanding business models there helped me gain insights. While traveling in rural and urban areas I came across a problem. Farmers were burning post-harvest agricultural waste and some farm labourers also used to get injured as burning the residue is an uncontrolled activity. The fires also caused losses to neighbourhood farmers,” Krunal said.
“I started looking for solutions and noticed that some people were making disposable plates and cups from the residue. Some companies were making pellets and briquettes, however, they were not profitable due to logistical issues. I understood the supply chain issues faced by the players. The agrowaste was high in volume but low in weight. Companies were paying for 10-tonne capacity trucks, but only 2-tonne material could be accommodated in the vehicle. Farmers were not involved in this process and were unaware of these problems,” he said.
Empowering farmers
Krunal thought of a solution which will empower farmers, help them earn from agricultural waste, create local employment especially for female farm labourers, cut down environmental pollution, and benefit industries by reducing logistical costs and procure good quality biofuels. Using his mechanical engineering knowledge, Krunal decided to make a machine and approached some experts in Denmark who were working in bio-coal and biomass pellets. Meanwhile, just before Covid-19 pandemic struck, India was also going through a coal crisis. Industrial coal supply was being cutoff and that gave an impetus to Krunal’s second venture of making biomass pellets and briquettes.
Krunal said, “I felt appreciated when I got selected for a Stanford programme and later when I won the AYEL (Dr Ambedkar Young Entrepreneur League) National Award in Delhi. I realised that this field is something that holds value. This validation also helped me explore and realise that the problems faced by farmers is similar across all regions of India. That is when I also learned about the carbon credits. Later, I got incubated at College of Engineering, Pune’s (COEP) BHAU Institute and got selected at Cornell Maha 60 programme for startups.”
“Industries need fuel for boilers and biofuels cost less, emit 57 per cent lesser CO2 and the raw material was available locally. I had developed a mobile unit comprising a shredder, a heating chamber, and moulding and compacting unit to convert agricultural waste into biochar. This unit can also be used for plastic waste too. Improving upon my products, I brought uniformity in the size and increased the calorific value of the briquettes. We got good support from the NCL Venture Centre, Indian Agricultural Research Institute and Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola,” said Krunal.
“While most companies focus on energy storage or cosmetics industry, I realised the steel industry was a bit ignored. Hence, I approached the Steel Authority of India and started working with them. Presently, I am also working as the member (non-IAS) of the National Task Force for Ministry of Steel to promote the ‘Green Steel’ Initiative,” he said.
Explaining the unit economics, Krunal said, “We have two revenue streams. One is from the sale of our machine and second is from sale of pellets and briquettes. The machine commercialisation is in final stages with some product improvisation in line. We usually pay ₹3 to ₹4 per kg for sawdust and ₹2 for rice husk. The processing cost is of around ₹2 and selling price is ₹10 to ₹15. Biochar price points are between ₹20 to ₹30.”
Next moves
Sharing the expansion plans, Krunal said, “We are getting requirements from companies for fulfilling their extended producer responsibility (EPR) policy to encourage waste reduction and environmental impact in general. We are beginning our vehicle commercialisation from April which will help us scale up rapidly. Today we are strong in tech, and having a team of 15 socially and environmentally responsible members. In the long run, we are confident of becoming a prominent player in the entire waste to value circular economy and sustainability. We are evolving as a green energy solution and trying to make a positive impact on our society, environment, and our nation. We have an 80-year plan for our company as we believe that the biomass, biochar, biofuel industry is a sunrise industry.”
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