Bio

Hei-Young Kim is a Research Scientist at the Appalachian Energy Center at Appalachian State University. She leads STEPS-supported research on converting slaughterhouse waste (animal bones) into bone char via pyrolysis and evaluating its use as a sustainable phosphorus source for soils through field trials, co-composting systems, and laboratory analyses. Her research focuses on waste-to-energy and waste-to–value-added products for the circular economy, building on previous work conducted with local farms to develop and demonstrate an integrated system that uses biomass pyrolysis to provide greenhouse heating energy and biochar as a soil amendment.