Whether it is in India, where farmers burn crop stubble, or B.C., where loggers burn harvest slash, a lot of potential energy and nutrients are going up in smoke unnecessarily. Takachar, a startup out of the University of BC, is hoping to address this problem with a mobile bio-reactor that will allow farmers and loggers to turn their forestry or agricultural waste into useable products, like biochar. …“Current technologies for turning biomass into usable products are large-scale and centralized, which means they only work well if the source is nearby,” Kung said. …Takachar currently has five machines undergoing field tests in India, California and B.C. The machine uses pyrolysis to turn organic waste into products like biochar, which can be used as a soil nutrient in regions with acidic soil, while sequestering carbon.