Dr Ajay Menon of SusBioME. Image: Nick Bradshaw/Fotonic
Bioenergy from agriculture, forestry and organic waste feedstock is the main source of renewable energy in the EU. This UCD-based start-up wants to make the process of capturing it more efficient.
SusBioME, an early-stage start-up that has found a way to efficiently produce renewable energy from biomass, has won this year’s VentureLaunch Accelerator programme run by University College Dublin (UCD).
Run by NovaUCD, the start-up and innovation hub based in UCD, VentureLaunch helps early-stage projects and companies hone their knowledge and skills to succeed in the start-up world. The idea is to build a commercially viable business plan by the end of the programme.
Led by Dr Ajay Menon, Prof James Lyng, Norman Maloney and Bernie Fitzpatrick, SusBioME is developing technology for use in the anaerobic digestion process to increase renewable gas yields from biomass.
Bioenergy produced from agricultural, forestry and organic waste feedstock is the main source of renewable energy in the EU. According to a report by the European Commission last October, it accounted for nearly 60pc of renewable energy consumption in the bloc in 2021.
“Everyone knows why renewable energy is important, but few know how much of it is sourced from biomass,” said Menon, who is based in the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science.
“Renewable gas, made using anaerobic digestion, is the most promising and important kind of bioenergy and is a huge and growing industry. However, a major bottleneck in the process is that the feedstock cannot be digested very well – leading to unrealised gas yields.”
By the direct applications of electric fields, SusBioME claims its technology physically disrupts feedstocks, which rapidly makes them more biodigestible.
“The SusBioME technology which we have successfully trialled addresses this issue and results in gas yield improvements of up to 30pc, an important development for the sector,” he said.
The start-up is currently halfway through the Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund project and has already secured three trial partners for pilot demonstrations. Menon said that SusBioME plans to spin out of UCD next year, raise around €500,000 in pre-seed funding and commercially launch its product.
As winner of the accelerator, SusBioME received a prize worth €30,000, which is a mix of cash and professional services. The start-up will also get incubation space at NovaUCD.
Other participants in this year’s programme were GalMAX Biotech, Maternitec, Mirror Security, Neuropause Medical, Real World Data and WeiSyn.
“Our focus through the UCD VentureLaunch Accelerator Programme is to support members of our research and entrepreneurial communities who want to accelerate the creation of exciting new start-ups,” said Tom Flanagan, director of enterprise and commercialisation at NovaUCD.
“I wish SusBioME and all the participants on this year’s programme every commercial success and impact, not only here in Ireland but on the global stage.”
The event held on Tuesday (16 April) also featured a panel on the impact of AI on innovation and start-ups. Speakers on the panel were entrepreneur Ronan Murphy, who is on the Government’s AI Advisory Council, academic Prof Kate Robson Brown, who recently became the new vice-president for research, innovation and impact at UCD, and Prag Sharma, global head of AI at Citi.
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