Karan Chavan, Ph.D. is the founder of ECOICE. For twelve years he has taken climate work from evidence, to a decision, to a plant that runs. He advises chief executives and boards, runs projects as the person in charge, and does the technical work himself.
Now buildinga 50 KLPD green urea plant
12+Years in practice
18+Client engagements delivered
11 MtCO₂e a year in one industrial roadmap
5Operating divisions
10Public events since Sep 2024
98Citations, published research
Water-fuelled stoveSewage to potable waterAutonomous solar boatEmissionless pyrolysisGreen ureaWildfire suppressionBiomass biopolicyClimate comedyWater-fuelled stoveSewage to potable waterAutonomous solar boatEmissionless pyrolysisGreen ureaWildfire suppressionBiomass biopolicyClimate comedy
Why it matters now
Five problems the world is paying for. Five things already being built.
Each row is a pressure the work answers. Open one to see the project behind it.
Figures come from the models behind projectbiourea.com and biopolicy.ca, and from ECOICE project reports. Modelled values are labelled as modelled on their own pages.
How the work is done
One practice, worked at three levels
Most climate careers sit at one altitude. This one moves between the boardroom, the project office and the plant floor, often inside the same engagement.
Executive
Adviser to the chief executive and the board
Brought in by the people who run the organization. Frames the problem and its cost, sets out the options, negotiates with vendors and regulators, and carries the recommendation to the decision.
Six separate mandates from the leadership of one sugar and co-generation group
30% off a control-system upgrade, won in vendor negotiation
An 11 Mt CO₂e a year decarbonization roadmap for National Aluminium Company
Founder of ECOICE, with full P&L ownership
Project in-charge
Owner of scope, budget, vendors and schedule
Runs the job from purchase order to handover: engineering packages, procurement, fabrication, site installation, commissioning and the client's sign-off.
A three-year turnkey production facility in Himachal Pradesh, from P&IDs to installed plant
A steam, sterilization and compressed-air package commissioned in 2026
Project Droplet, built through a four-company consortium across four countries
Technical
Hands on the design, the trials and the data
Does the work the recommendation rests on: process design, bench and pilot batches, field measurement, lifecycle modelling. Nothing goes to a board that has not been through this level first.
Bench-to-pilot scale-up batches for Aditya Birla Science & Technology Company
Field study at the Damanjodi alumina refinery, Odisha
Plant power-quality surveys with a class 0.2S analyser
ISO 14040 lifecycle assessment, exergy and energy analysis
Worked withAditya Birla Science & Technology CompanyNational Productivity CouncilNALCONetsurfFluid AnalyticsTBDC
Client work · 2020 to 2026
What clients asked for, and what was delivered.
Six engagements from the ECOICE order book, with dates and scope taken from the contracts, purchase orders and invoices. Clients are named where the name is public. The rest are described by sector.
National Productivity Council, for National Aluminium Company (NALCO), a Government of India enterprise
An ISO 14040 lifecycle assessment of the Damanjodi alumina refinery, contracted in stages through the National Productivity Council. The field study on site was completed by April 2024, and the assessment became a decarbonization roadmap for the producer.
Field study and data collection at the refinery
Lifecycle inventory and impact modelling
Decarbonization roadmap aligned to India's national climate commitments
ExecutiveProject in-chargeTechnical
11 MtCO₂e a year covered by the roadmap
Multi-mandate retainer · Pune district & Mumbai
Owner's adviser to a sugar and co-generation group
Client name withheld
One client, six unrelated problems, each handed over directly by the group's leadership. The range of the brief is the point: plant engineering, a commercial negotiation, an infrastructure concept, an energy audit and a public river project.
cGMP sanitiser plant. Basic engineering, techno-commercial report, 3D layout for a multi-product facility, work heads, timelines, vendor list and organization structure.
Control-system upgrade. Analysed a global automation vendor's DCS proposal, wrote the counter-offer and guided the negotiation calls to a price 30% lower.
Eco-industrial park. Concept and phasing with the architects, benchmarked on the Kalundborg industrial symbiosis in Denmark.
Electrical installations. Assessment across three sites, reported with action points.
Energy audit. Sugar and co-generation campus, with an estimate of savings from retrofit.
River cleaning. State-of-the-river analysis for the Mula (Pune) and Mithi (Mumbai), and a proposal for drone and in-line sewer assessment over an 18 to 19 km stretch.
ExecutiveProject in-chargeTechnical
6mandates from one client's leadership
Oct 2021 – Sep 2024 · Pune · Parwanoo, Himachal Pradesh
Biofit production facility, turnkey
Netsurf (Netsurf Research Labs and Netsurf Biotech)
A bio-based agricultural inputs plant taken from a blank sheet to an installed facility over three years. ECOICE was responsible for the chemical engineering and for each package that followed.
2021Basic and detailed engineering, plant layout and P&IDs
2022Reverse-osmosis water treatment plant, 4,000 litres an hour, skid-mounted with clean-in-place
2023Structural steel for the bioreactor train, and the effluent treatment plant
2024Stainless-steel material handling, site installation and close-out
ExecutiveProject in-chargeTechnical
3 yearsfrom first P&ID to installed plant
Apr – Sep 2022 · Taloja, Maharashtra · Pune
Scale-up of an organo-phosphorus material
Aditya Birla Science & Technology Company
A material developed in the client's laboratory, carried from the bench to pilot production. ECOICE provided the team and the infrastructure and worked alongside the client's scientists.
Bench batches of 1 to 3 litres to fix reaction conditions, equipment and yield
Pilot trials at 50 and 200 litres towards a 100 kg production target
Stage-by-stage product analysis to optimise yield
Process notes for a 6-tonne commercial production stage
ExecutiveProject in-chargeTechnical
1 L → 200 Lbench to pilot, with a route to 6 tonnes
Nov 2025 – Sep 2026 · Pune, Maharashtra
Steam, sterilization and compressed-air package
Herbal-products processing facility
The process utilities for a herbal processing line, specified, sourced, delivered and commissioned as a sequence of packages for one client.
2025Ribbon blender, 500 kg batch
2026Industrial steam autoclave, 3,300 × 1,650 × 1,860 mm
2026Dual-fuel steam boiler, 400 kg an hour, with gas train, chimney, piping, installation and commissioning
2026Variable-speed air compressor, 42 CFM, with refrigerated dryer and 370-litre receiver
ExecutiveProject in-chargeTechnical
4utility packages, one client
Nov 2020 – Nov 2021 · Pune district, Maharashtra
Plant energy and power-quality programme
A precision-gauge manufacturer and a toughened-glass manufacturer
Introduced ELESOL, a CE-marked noise-attenuation plate for inductive loads, to two manufacturers through instrumented before-and-after trials. The results and the payback case were written up for each company's directors.
Load selection and survey of the electrical installation
Eight-hour incomer readings before and after installation, on a Fluke 434-II class 0.2S power-quality analyser
Energy analysis report and payback model for the directors
Plant-wide installation of 45 units at the glass manufacturer, ordered within two months of its trial report
ExecutiveProject in-chargeTechnical
45 unitsplant-wide order after the trial
Results on record
The numbers the clients kept
−15.4%kWh on the instrumented load, gauge-manufacturer trial, eight-hour before and after
−42%street-light energy with PIR-sensor dimming, about 75 MWh a year
−30%on a control-system upgrade, through counter-offer and negotiation
4,000 L/hreverse-osmosis plant, skid-mounted with clean-in-place
45ELESOL units ordered plant-wide, two months after the trial report
Plant and equipment delivered
Consultancy that ends in hardware
Each line was specified by ECOICE and built or supplied under its own name.
Equipment
Rating and build
Installed for
Year
ELESOL power-quality plates
45-unit plant-wide installation on inductive loads
Toughened-glass plant, Pune district
2021
Reverse-osmosis water treatment plant
4,000 L/h; skid-mounted, pre-filtration, clean-in-place, high-pressure feed and RO pumps, control panel and instrumentation
Biofit facility, Himachal Pradesh
2022
Effluent treatment plant
With structural steel for the bioreactor and process equipment
Biofit facility, Himachal Pradesh
2023
Emission-less bio-oil unit
100 kg per batch demonstration unit, concept through commissioning
ECOICE demonstration, India
2023
Screw conveyor and blender feed hopper
SS304, 100 NB × 6,000 mm, with vibrator-assisted inlet cone
Biofit facility, Himachal Pradesh
2024
Ribbon blender
500 kg batch
Herbal processing, Pune
2025
Industrial steam autoclave
3,300 × 1,650 × 1,860 mm
Herbal processing, Pune
2026
Steam boiler
400 kg/h, dual-fuel with gas kit, non-IBR class; wall-supported chimney, water-tank structure, interconnecting piping, installation and commissioning
Herbal processing, Pune
2026
Compressed-air system
42 CFM permanent-magnet variable-speed compressor, 45 CFM refrigerated dryer, 370 L receiver, moisture separator and filters
Herbal processing, Pune
2026
Division 01 · ECOICE · Pune 2018, Toronto 2023
Five elements, one mission: emissionless systems.
ECOICE engineers emissionless systems across fire, water, wind, earth and heart. Each product closes a loop that makes a piece of centralized infrastructure obsolete.
Fire element
Jalagni
Water-fuelled cooking stove
A clean cooking stove that runs on water as its fuel. It makes hydrogen on-site by electrolysis and burns it for a sootless flame. A direct LPG replacement: no cylinder, no pipeline, no fossil fuel.
On-site electrolysisHydrogen flameReplaces LPG
Water element
Jalshuddhi
Decentralized sewage to potable water
Ultrafiltration, then ozonation, then automation. Modular and zero-discharge, validated in the lab at Hydrotech Laboratory. It removes the need for centralized sewage infrastructure.
150–500 LPDZero dischargeLab-validated
Wind element
Project Droplet
Solar autonomous surface vessel
Built with Fluid Analytics. Zero-emission, AI-driven navigation, satellite-connected. Water-quality monitoring, surveillance, parcel transport, aquaculture support and algal-bloom tracking.
Zero emission500 kg payload18+ parameters sensed
Earth element
Trayambakam
Emissionless pyrolysis and gasification
A patented solvent-scrubbing process turns cellulosic, municipal and hazardous waste, in-house, into biochar, syngas and bio-oil. The oil is upgraded to biofuels, gasoline and sustainable aviation fuel. Biochar locks carbon away for more than a thousand years.
BiocharSyngasBio-oil to SAFPatented scrubbing
Heart element
Net-Zero Farming
Agricultural carbon neutrality
Biochar soil amendment, biofertiliser, and ISO 14064-compliant greenhouse-gas accounting for each farm. Biochar sequesters 2 to 5 tCO₂e per hectare per year. A CFIA and PMRA pathway covers the Canadian market.
2–5 tCO₂e/ha/yrISO 14064CFIA / PMRA pathway
Partner technologies
Two technologies ECOICE brings to clients
Made in Canada · with Fuselage Innovations · TRL 7
FIA QD50
Heavy-lift firefighting drone. Up to 50 kg of suppressant payload, deployed precisely from the air. 35 minutes of flight, 120 m height, a 4 to 6 m spray. GPS-assisted and AI-integrated.
With VIVIRA Process Technologies
VORTA Cavitator
A vortex cavitation reactor. Biogas yield up 18 to 22% across three field digesters (1,200, 725 and 320 m³ a day of feed), and methane up 25 to 41% in bench trials. No chemicals, no enzymes, low-capex retrofit.
Built, not rendered
Trayambakam · pyrolysis unit under fabrication, India
The technology is fabricated and commissioned, not only modelled.
Trayambakam's emissionless pyrolysis units are built at workshop scale in India before field deployment. The same discipline now applies to Project BioUrea's 50 KLPD facility, under construction at SUPA MIDC, Maharashtra.
Division 02 · Project Droplet · and FireShield
We stopped waiting for permission.
The first deployment was not on a clean waterfront inside a funded pilot. It was on Pune's Mula-Mutha river, thick with sewage and industrial discharge. No grant. No approval. A working machine, and a decision to stop waiting.
ARYA-N · no rudder · no submerged propeller
9Prototypes designed
5Executed in real waters: Waterloo, Pune and Coimbatore
18+Water parameters sensed live
$15KSupport raised
Team Project Droplet · TBDC launch, Toronto CA
ARYA-N
Autonomous Rudderless Yaw Drive Architecture for Navigation
No rudder and no submerged propeller. Differential air propulsion handles steering and thrust, so nothing fouls on weeds or debris. Rated for 500 kg payloads and connected by satellite.
Build log
Nine designed, five executed
Stage 03 · Current
ARYA-N kayak platform
Coimbatore, India · live trials IN
An advanced kayak hull fitted with full ARYA-N autonomy. No rudder, no submerged prop. Rated to move 500 kg loads, satellite-connected, and running real missions in public waters now.
Stage 02
Inflatable catamaran
Mula-Mutha River, Pune · first float, hardest water IN
Deployed straight into real-world conditions on a flowing, polluted river instead of a test tank. Surviving failure conditions on day one shaped every design decision since.
Stage 01
First autonomy
Waterloo, Canada · TBDC & Velocity incubator CA
A full engineering pass. The prototype where the platform first navigated on its own rather than being driven, turning a working boat into a working robot.
Pilot sites
Planned, live and past
Status
Site
What is being tested
Planned
Lake Ontario, Harbourfront CA
Port Lands to Humber Bay and Harbourfront to Toronto Islands zero-emission crossings
In build
Lake Ontario CA
Continuous water-quality sensing pilot
Live
Coimbatore, India
Air-propulsion navigation and 500 kg payload, satellite-connected
Past
Pashan Lake, India
Hull stability and navigation ahead of the Pune public launch
Past
Royal Connaught Boat Club, Pune
Public demonstration, covered by 7+ regional publications, 12 Dec 2025
Past
Victoria Park Lake, Waterloo CA
Early prototype trial with the Waterloo–Toronto founder network
The consortium
Four companies, one loop
Toronto · Pune, est. 2018
ECOICE
Canada · India
Houses Droplet as its Wind element. Brings the lifecycle assessment, greenhouse-gas verification and process engineering that make Droplet's environmental claims defensible.
AquaGrid water-risk intelligence
Fluid Analytics
US · Singapore · India · Chile
Already deployed with Veolia and municipal utilities, monitoring more than 600 million litres of daily urban discharge. Calls for robotic ground truth. Droplet is that robot.
Kerala · Toronto
Fuselage Innovations
DGCA-certified UAV manufacturer
Builder of the FIA QD50 heavy-lift firefighting drone (TRL 7). Brings certified aerospace-grade hardware discipline to a marine platform.
High-density power for AI compute
Liquid Energy
Canada · US · China
Founding partners from the original Waterloo–Toronto crew. They squeeze every watt out of tight energy budgets, which is also a solar boat's core survival skill.
FireShield · the same rigor, applied to wildfire CA
Engineered against the published spread-rate classes, not marketing claims
A tiered, autonomous wildfire suppression system, engineered against the Canadian Forest Fire Behaviour Prediction System's own published spread-rate classes.
7–10Days to mobilize
750m/hr per team, sustained
5.5×Margin held on rear and flank fire
1:1000+Cost ratio, ignition versus established fire
Autonomous aerial response. 25 minutes of endurance, 10 km range.
Built on LCES, the same safety discipline wildland crews already operate by. The system hands head-fire response to conventional air tankers, because that is where physics, not resourcing, sets the honest boundary.
Reference diagram · team composition, ground rig layout and standoff positioning for a live flank or rear deployment
Division 03 · Project BioUrea™ · National fertilizer security
India imports fossil energy to feed itself. We think that should end.
70 to 80% of urea's production cost is natural gas, and domestic supply covers only a third of demand. Project BioUrea™ replaces imported fossil hydrogen with renewable hydrogen from bioethanol. Same fertilizer, different molecule of origin, on a proprietary process called ETHANABER™.
FeedstockBioethanol
→
ProprietaryETHANABER™ catalytic dehydrogenation
→
StepRenewable H₂
→
StepHaber-Bosch
→
StepRenewable ammonia
→
ProductBioUrea™
₹184.5Cr/yrModelled total revenue from ethyl acetate, BioUrea™ and CO₂ only
₹19–47Cr/yrModelled core EBITDA range
~65,000tCO₂e a year avoided, about 28,000 cars off the road
40,700acres of Indian farmland reached with green fertilizer
Why B-Heavy
The route that keeps both sugar and fertilizer alive
Route
L ethanol / t cane
Cane required
Sugar co-produced
Verdict
C-Heavy molasses
10.8
1.83M t
210,800 t
Sugar-dominant, mill about 7× larger
B-Heavy molasses
21.75
910,345 t
86,483 t
Selected. Balanced
Full juice / syrup
84
235,714 t
0 t
No sugar business at all
The grave reality this solves
The most expensive molecule in the field
₹1.19lakh Cr/yrIndia's urea subsidy, its single largest direct subsidy line
₹20K–61Kper tonneThe government absorbs this above the farmer's flat ₹5,360
~33%of gas demand is met by domestic fields
A war 3,000 km away can change the cost of feeding a billion people.
No drought, no crop failure, no change in Indian farming. One unstable shipping route and fertilizer prices nearly triple. Project BioUrea™ changes the source of the hydrogen, not the price the farmer pays.
Status
A 50 KLPD facility under physical construction at SUPA MIDC, Maharashtra
Revenue, EBITDA and emissions figures are modelled. Full workings are on projectbiourea.com.
Division 04 · Biopolicy Research
Every figure graded, not just given.
Two public policy tools, one for Canada and one for India, sharing one method. Each number is graded High (field-measured), Medium (a real phenomenon on proxy data) or Low (modelled or speculative). No number gets averaged into a category it does not belong in.
Canada CA
National Biomass Mobilization Biopolicy
Canada's forest floor holds biomass that has exactly two fates: it rots slowly, or it fuels the next wildfire. This policy prices it instead. It pays CA$250–300 a tonne to whoever collects it. The money comes from EI and pension claimants fulfilling part of their claim as a service requirement (3 hours a day, 4 days a week), plus open public participation.
India IN
Swachh Bharat Rojgar Yojana
A proposal, not yet policy. It turns unpaid civic cleanup labour (shramdaan) into paid employment, funded from money already sitting inside India's sanitation budgets rather than new taxation. The proposed rate is ₹5,000 a tonne collected, or a flat ₹250 an hour capped at 3 hours a day so income spreads across more people. Payment by direct benefit transfer within 48 hours, verified by geo-tagged photos, depot weights and supervisor sign-off.
Canada · the confidence grades
Four biomass streams, graded
High confidence
Logging residueField-measured
20–25M t/yr · $5–6.25B/yr · 40,000–56,000 jobs
Medium confidence
Fire salvageReal phenomenon, proxy data
16–42M t, one-time · $4–10.5B · 20,000–40,000 jobs
Low confidence
Deciduous litterfallTheoretical, no pilot data yet
~100M t/yr
Low confidence
Conifer needle litterThe fine fuel that carries fire itself
~375M t/yr
Order-of-magnitude check
What wildfire burns, next to what nuclear makes
Average fire year
51 TWh
Nuclear fleet, per year
~95 TWh
2023 record year
296 TWh
In an average fire year about 51 TWh of biomass energy is lost to combustion, around 54% of Canada's entire nuclear fleet output. In 2023 it was roughly three times that fleet. The comparison sits against $60–70B+ in committed nuclear capital spending (Ontario refurbishment and SMRs).
India · the scale of the ask
Where the work is, and where the money already is
62M tMunicipal waste a year, with about 19M t never collected
11.2%Graduate unemployment, three times the national average
78%of the elderly have no pension, among 149M Indians aged 60+
₹1.16lakh CrFinance Commission grants tied to sanitation and waste, 2026–31
Assessments that shaped policy
Earlier work that already moved something
Year
Work
Where it landed
2017
Lifecycle assessment of PET bottles, for the PET Association for Clean Environment (PACE), New Delhi
Now underpins the National Green Tribunal's EPR recycling-rate policy
2023–24
Lifecycle assessment of calcined alumina, for the National Productivity Council on behalf of NALCO
An 11 Mt CO₂e a year decarbonization roadmap
2023
"No Open Land Policy" CA
Presented at the 6th International Conference on Public Policy, Toronto. A swift transition to renewable energy without land conflict
2025–
Biopolicy Research CAIN
Confidence-graded tools for Canada and India, live on biopolicy.ca
Division 05 · Climate Roast · and the events behind the projects
Climate, in the room.
Hackathons, launches and comedy nights. Ten public events since September 2024, in Toronto and Pune, hosted with TBDC, MCCIA, the Institution of Engineers India and others.
10Public events, Sep 2024 to Jan 2026
5Climate xChange hackathons, BlueX and GreenX
70Rappers at Climate Roast Pune
500In the audience at Climate Roast Pune
Sep 2024 · Toronto CA
Project Droplet launch
The public launch of Project Droplet, with the physical prototype in the room.
Hosted by Toronto Business Development Centre
Oct 2024 · Toronto CA
Tribute event for Ratan Tata
A community evening honouring the industrialist and philanthropist.
TBDC
Nov 2024 – Jan 2025 · Toronto & Pune
Climate xChange, five hackathons
BlueX and GreenX, run in Toronto and in Pune. Toronto editions sat with TBDC and Startup Ecosystem Canada. Pune editions ran with MCCIA, the Institution of Engineers India and two architecture colleges. The GreenX Pune series drew press coverage from five Marathi and Hindi outlets.
Partners: TBDC · Startup Ecosystem Canada · MCCIA · Institution of Engineers India
Jun 2025 · Toronto CA
BioPolicyX
BioPolicyX, run in the same hackathon format as Climate xChange.
Hosted with TBDC
Nov 2025 · Toronto CA
Climate Roast, stand-up
Ten comedians, fifty in the audience, at Key's Comedy Club.
Climate literacy through comedy
Jan 2026 · Pune IN
Climate Roast, rap battle
Seventy rappers, an audience of 500 and a CA$2,500 prize, at 2 BHK Diner & Key Club.
Pune
How a hackathon is judged
Three hours, teams of three to five, five equal criteria
Teams submit an idea in products and technologies or in services and policies. They state the problem, the solution, the impact and the feasibility. Each criterion carries 20% of the score.
20%Novelty
20%Implementable ease
20%Carbon impact
20%Scalability
20%Cost-effectiveness
The record
Twelve-plus years, logged.
Every assessment and every plant, dated and, where public, verifiable.
Doctoral and postgraduate research at the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. 98 citations across 7 publications, and 5+ international conference presentations.
Journal article
Arsenic Removal From Natural Waters by Adsorption or Ion Exchange: An Environmental Sustainability AssessmentDominguez-Ramos, A.; Chavan, K.; Garcia, V.; Jimeno, G.; Abo, J.; Marathe, K.V.; Yadav, G.D.; Irabien, A. · Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Feb 2014, Vol 53, No. 49, pp. 18920–18927
Journal article
Exergy Analysis of Micellar Enhanced UltrafiltrationChavan, K.R.; Marathe, K.V. · International Journal of Exergy, May 2016, Vol 20, No. 2, pp. 139–149
Journal article
Comparative Assessment of Treatment of Malathion Laced Wastewater by Single Species (Pseudomonas stutzeri) vs. Activated Sludge in a Submerged Membrane BioreactorChavan, K.R.; Gopalan, S.; Marathe, K.V. · Indian Journal of Chemical Technology, March 2019, Vol 26, pp. 153–157
Book chapter
Lifecycle Analysis of PET BottlesMarathe, K.V.; Chavan, K.R.; Nakhate, P. · in Recycling of PET Bottles, William Andrews Applied Science Publishers (ISBN 978-0-12-811361-5)
Credentials
Qualifications on record
Doctorate
Ph.D. (Tech.), Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, 2018
Canadian licensure
P.Eng. candidate, Professional Engineers Ontario. Technical Examination in Lifecycle Assessment passed (90%), NPPE passed. Registration Committee hearing in progress. CA
International research
GreenTech New INDIGO Fellowship, European Commission. University of Cantabria, Spain, and University of Oulu, Finland, 2013
Technical practice
GaBi · OpenLCA · Umberto · SimaPro · Aspen HYSYS · MathCAD, practised under ISO 14040, GRI, TCFD and the GHG Protocol
Current appointment
Founder & Managing Director, ECOICE Sustainability Services. Founded in Pune, 2018. Incorporated in Toronto, March 2023. R&D and manufacturing in Pune. CA
Earlier degrees
M.Chem.Engg., Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, 2009 · B.E. Chemical Engineering, University of Pune, 2007
"Karan has a strong background in sustainability. He has shown a strong commitment to the activities of the research group, with a deep understanding of the latest developments in corporate sustainability."
Antonio Dominguez-Ramos, Associate Professor, University of Cantabria, Spain
