VOICES OF VOW

Originally from Ukraine, she has one of the six different nationalities in our Vow R&D team. With extensive experience working with porous materials, she keeps exploring new applications for biochar. Meet Nataliia Kasian.

Nataliia came to Norway to work as a researcher within porous materials, carbon materials and biochar

Seven years ago, I came to Norway to work as a researcher within porous materials, carbon materials and biochar. I’m originally from Ukraine, but I have 20 years of experience from academia and several research groups in the Czech Republic, France and Belgium.

Curiosity has always been my main driver

It made me study chemistry and start working with research. Curiosity also led me to the University of Oslo, and further into a Norwegian start-up that developed biochar production five years ago. Today I work in the Vow R&D team developing biochar and other carbon-based products; very versatile materials that can be used in agriculture, the metallurgy industry and as an energy source.

The production capacity of biochar has doubled every year the last five years

Biochar is an elegant form of waste management. Any kind of waste can become biochar, which can be further developed into a variety of things. One example is to improve soil health, get more harvest and eliminate the need for fertilizers. Norway is one of very few countries who started with financial incentives to support utilization of biochar and carbon storage in soil (Trøndelag Fylkeskommune).

The production capacity of biochar has doubled every year the last five years. Significant changes in the industry will only increase this number going forward.

The future is bright for Vow

There is a very short way from idea to implementation. This is our main key to success. In academia you often need five to twenty years to see implementation of your research. In Vow we see the results in short time, and we quickly see our technology solve global problems. That impact is very inspirational to me.

As a researcher I’m used to work as a pioneer, to use creativity to reach ambitious milestones. The level of innovation and implementation in Vow is much higher than I have experienced before, and I am excited to experience our next steps.