Fifteen years ago, Will McKnight’s grandfather and uncle created a process in which food waste was ground up and used to power generators. Now, McKnight is working to bring that technology to people in need.

McKnight, a senior history major at Syracuse University, started a company called Farm to Flame, along with senior chemical engineering major Kwaku Jyamfi and Sayje Lasenberry, a junior SUNY-ESF sustainable energy management major. The group competed in the 2018 RvD iPrize competition, held in late March at SU, and were awarded $3,000 for their internationally patented biomass generator that could create sustainable energy.

McKnight first had the idea to establish Farm to Flame last September, when he decided that he wanted to do something with the process his relatives created. Jyamfi and Lasenberry decided that they wanted to be part of the project, and the three combined their skills in engineering and entrepreneurship to create the business.

“This is an incredible transition,” Lasenberry said. “It’s the first step in replacing fossil fuels.”

After graduation, Jyamfi and McKnight plan to take their technology global to provide energy to people in need. They’re working on creating a generator and communicating with generator companies in Africa with the goal of providing electricity.

The entrepreneurs are trying to focus on Liberia, and are talking with the former president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Jyamfi said. She wants to have their technology on her farm to provide electricity to a nearby village of about 600 residents, he said.

“I’m from Ghana, and I talk to my cousins there,” Jyamfi said. “And every month they have at least one blackout.”

The three feel they can spread the invention in the United States by partnering with local farmers and generator companies. They have patented the process, McKnight said, but the next piece to their puzzle is getting enough funding to build their own generator.

“We’re building relationships with our first customers so once we get the thing built we have people that want it already,” McKnight said.

Aside from pioneering the science behind this project, they have also been working on their business skills to market their project to companies and buyers.

McKnight is the only one who has studied business, with a minor in entrepreneurship, but they have gotten advice from the Blackstone LaunchPad program at SU. Although they don’t have much business experience, they don’t feel they’re at a disadvantage, Lasenberry said.

“You can be as creative as you want to,” Lasenberry said. “You don’t have to work out of a framework. When you have extra information (from business school), it can be useless at times. It’s better to actually use your own mind and information. You’re not spoonfed.”

To the group, the project isn’t just about starting a business. It’s also about helping people and helping the environment since the combustion process is smokeless, odorless and emits less than half the carbon than their competitors who also use biomass feeds, Jyamfi said.

“The plan is to help people realize that we can bring more environmental solutions home,” Jyamfi said. “It goes to show that there are multiple avenues to create and provide energy. It’s an educational process as much as it is an economical one.”

Published on April 3, 2018 at 10:36 pm

Contact Sarah: srslavin@syr.edu