Carbon Masters: Converting garbage into a fortune

All major cities face the twin problem of poor waste management and climate change. The first results in large quantities of waste going to landfills, causing social and environmental problems. The second is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, accelerating climate change.

Carbon Masters, a Bengaluru-based energy start-up, is an effort to address this twin challenge by converting the waste to energy. It has pioneered the development of India’s first branded bottled bio-CNG (compressed natural gas) product, branded Carbonlites. Organic waste is turned into clean and renewable energy, and organic fertiliser. A carbon-neutral alternative to the use of fossil fuels for commercial cooking, transport and back-up power generation.

It has proven applications for commercial cooking, displacing LPG, and for transport and back-up power generation, displacing diesel. It is made from bio-methanisation of organic waste streams producing biogas, purified and compressed into cylinders. The opportunity is big, says Som Narayan, co-founder. For, the scale of both problems is huge.  

“In Bengaluru, some 2,000 tonnes of organic waste is sent to landfills every day, which emit methane, a potent GHG. India is the fourth largest market in the world for LPG, of which 39 per cent is imported. So, reducing the country's dependence on LPG not only reduces the country’s carbon emissions but increases energy security,” he explains.

The focus is on selling Carbonlites’ cylinders directly to hotels, restaurants and catering companies in Bengaluru. While the gas is priced at par with competitors, the company’s product would give a 15 per cent saving to the customer, since it offers stronger and longer performance, he said. 

It has also partnered with Mahindra & Mahindra, which has built a large-scale waste to energy plant at Malur, two hours from Bengaluru. Carbon Masters operates it. Similarly, it has built and is operating a facility at the ISKCON centre in Bengaluru. The model is to tie up with another organisation, which will own the project; the facility would be operated and the products sold by Carbon Masters under its brand. On June 29, it announced the raising of an undisclosed amount from Indian Angel Network (IAN) and Sangam Ventures, a clean technology venture fund. The round was led by IAN investor Nagaraja Prakasam, and Mridula Ramesh and Karthik Chandrasekar from Sangam Ventures. Prakasam and Chandrasekar would join Carbon Masters as board members.

What attracted him to invest is that they were able to crack the technology to improve efficiency and compress the gas in a cylinder, said Prakasam. “I have been watching this technology for four years and even gave a term sheet to a company four years back in the same space. But, they were not able to crack the technology. I am really happy that Som was able to,” he said. A restaurant in Bengaluru has also been using Carbon Masters’ product for a year.  

Prakasam also has an investment in a zero-waste management company, Saahas. It would be able to provide wet waste to Carbon Masters. Another investment is into Freshworld, a start-up which delivers fruits and vegetables directly from farms to homes, which can use the bio-CNG in its electric vending vehicles and distribute the organic fertiliser to the farmers it works with. 

“The challenge would be that we need to pursue the market to scale up the business, which is addressable,” he added.

The company is planning to utilise the funds in product developments, marketing and engineer hiring, among others.

“Our vision is to make Carbonlites the biggest renewable energy brand in India. Our immediate focus is to sellout the capacity from our bio CNG plant in partnership with Mahindra & Mahindra and expand across India. Our next focus would be Andhra Pradesh,” he added.