Public Funding for Wase Limited

Organic wastes including food and drink residues, contaminated wastewaters and agricultural wastes are unavoidable. However, they are often lost to landfill or in the case of wastewater, require significant, energy intensive treatment before they are suitable for reuse or discharge to rivers which represents a significant business cost. These organic waste streams contain energy and nutrients that can be harnessed to generate power/heat, clean water and a treated residue suitable for use as fertiliser. WASE Limited have developed a novel, patent pending electromethanogenic waste treatment system that can be deployed to harness the value within waste. WASE systems treat/digest the waste under anaerobic conditions (no free oxygen), but in contrast to other anaerobic digestors, WASE's technology includes a bio-electrochemical electrode array within the reactor resulting in waste processing mechanisms that produces 80% pure biomethane as well as water, and a digestate fertiliser. Increasing the purity of the biogas WASE produces would make it suitable for use as an alternative fuel source for hard-to-electrify commercial and agricultural vehicles and machinery such as tractors. As the initial target markets for WASE are breweries, food producers and farming, this would essentially mean WASE systems could provide a power source for the machinery in use at those businesses, protecting them from volatility in the energy markets, and providing a green source of fuel from their own waste. In this project WASE will work with Korean partners BioX, Pusan National and Jeonbunk National Univerities, who are developing a microbial electrolysis technology. When integrated into WASE's EMR technology using 3D printed bioelectrodes in development at the University of Wesminster, this should enable WASE's bioreactors to produce biomethane and biohydrogen at \>98% purity.

Organic wastes including food and drink residues, contaminated wastewaters and agricultural wastes are unavoidable. However, they are often lost to landfill or in the case of wastewater, require significant, energy intensive treatment before they are suitable for reuse or discharge to rivers. Furthermore, business costs for energy and waste processing are increasing, e.g., natural gas prices up 360% during 2021, with ongoing volatility and the threat of energy outages as we enter 2023, exacerbated by political/geographical/pandemic issues. Consequently, costs are increasing for businesses to the point where businesses are reducing staff, operations hours and stopping completely; 'no energy means no food' \[EURACTIV, 2022\]. These organic waste streams contain energy and nutrients that can be harnessed to generate power/heat, clean water and a treated residue suitable for use as fertiliser. WASE Limited have developed a novel, patent pending electromethanogenic waste treatment system that can be deployed to harness the value within waste. WASE systems treat/digest the waste under anaerobic conditions (no free oxygen), but in contrast to anaerobic digestors, WASE's proposed technology includes a bio-electrochemical electrode array within the reactor resulting in electro-methanogenic waste processing mechanisms to produce bio-methane. Our systems are 2 -- 3X faster solid waste/10X faster wastewater treatment and our biogas streams are 80% biomethane. Our target users are SME food and drink manufacturers and farms who create significant, local wastes. WASE biocentres comprising the reactor and supporting pumps, remote control and monitoring systems and combined head and power equipment can be deployed on site to increase the sustainability/circularity of the business. Using WASE allows the SME to make savings on waste management costs, access carbon neutral, fixed cost power and minimise their environmental impact overall. Our project will support development and trial of our industriWASE system at an end user site; a small UK brewery. By proving operation in real life conditions, we will be able to develop our business models and business case for users, fully quantify our benefits to users and potential for carbon savings and move from research and development to commercial operation.

Organic wastes, including food and drink residues, contaminated wastewater and agricultural wastes, are unavoidable. However, they are often lost to landfill or in the case of wastewater, require significant, energy-intensive treatment before they are suitable for reuse or discharge to rivers. Furthermore, business costs for energy and waste processing are increasing, e.g., natural gas prices up 360% during 2021, with volatility ongoing into 2022, exacerbated by political/geographical/pandemic issues. Consequently, costs are increasing for businesses which in turn will be passed to consumers. These organic waste streams contain energy and nutrients that can be harnessed to generate power/heat, clean water and a treated residue suitable for use as fertiliser. WASE Limited have developed a novel, patent-pending electromethanogenic waste treatment system that can be deployed to harness the value within waste. WASE systems treat/digest the waste under anaerobic conditions (no free oxygen), but in contrast to anaerobic digestors, WASE's proposed technology includes a bio-electrochemical electrode array within the reactor resulting in electro-methanogenic waste processing mechanisms to produce bio-methane. Our systems are 2 -- 3X faster solid waste/10X faster wastewater treatment and our biogas streams are 80% biomethane. Our target users are SME food and drink manufacturers and farms that create significant, streams of wastewater/slurry. WASE biocentres comprising the reactor and supporting pumps, remote control and monitoring systems and combined head and power equipment can be deployed on-site to increase the sustainability/circularity of the business. Using WASE allows the SME to make savings on waste management costs, access carbon neutral, fixed cost power, and minimise their environmental impact overall. Our project will support the development of low-temperature wastewater-to-energy systems for low strengthen high flow of wastewater streams in the food and drink sector. The project will develop a key operating process that makes it feasible to treat and recover energy from low-strength wastewater.

Food & Beverage Manufacturers (FBM) is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the UK. The industry has been significantly affected by COVID-19, rising energy prices and waste management fees. The food supply chain generates significant volumes of organic waste and wastewater. There is an opportunity to implement on-site circular waste treatment. The waste contains valuable chemical energy, water and nutrients that can be recovered with appropriate technologies. Treating waste on-site can reduce carbon emissions, lower operational expenditure (OPEX), create a sustainable bioenergy supply, and reduce water demands. However, current waste to energy solutions such as Anaerobic Digestion (AD) has a large footprint and slow treatment time of 20-30 days. WASE is developing a novel approach to decentralised wastewater and organic waste treatment. We have developed a patent-pending electro-methanogenic technology to provide a circular approach to waste treatment with our industriWASE system. industriWASE allows Food & Beverage manufacturers to generate biohydrogen and biomethane that can be converted into electricity and heat, and they can recover water and nutrients that can be sold as fertilisers. industriWASE is a modular, containerised solution that can treat 1-2 tonnes of organic waste a day or 10,000L of wastewater. Our patent-pending technology treats solid waste 3 times faster and has up to 10 times faster flow rates when treating wastewater compared to AD. Our process further breaks down waste to generate 10-30% more energy than AD and reduce the amount of sludge produced. The accelerated performance comes from our novel electrode technology that accelerates the breakdown of organics. Using our process, we integrate biosensing to understand the health of the bacteria in the reactor in real-time. The real-time analysis removes the need for skilled engineering operators and makes decentralised treatment feasible in places it wasn't before. industriWASE has a low ROI (3-5 Years) and provides multiple benefits over conventional AD, including the reduced footprint and associated civil costs, the increased energy generation and higher waste removal rates.

Food & Beverage Manufacturers (FBM) is one of the UK's fastest-growing sectors in the UK. The industry has been significantly affected by COVID-19\. Due to reduced sales have resulted from the forced closures of the on-trade such as restaurants, cafés and bars. FBM generate significant volumes of organic waste and wastewater that is rich in organics. There is an opportunity to implement onsite circular waste treatment at FBM. The waste contains valuable chemical energy, water and nutrients that can be recovered with appropriate technologies. Treating waste onsite can reduce carbon emissions, lower operational expenditure (OPEX), create a sustainable supply of bioenergy and reduce water demands. However, current waste to energy solutions such as Anaerobic Digestion (AD) have a large footprint and slow treatment time of 20-30 days. WASE is developing a novel approach to decentralised wastewater and organic waste treatment. We have developed a patent-pending electro-methanogenic technology to provide a circular approach to waste treatment with our AgriWASE system. AgriWASE allows Food & Beverage manufactures to generate energy-rich biogas (80% methane), recover water and nutrients that can be sold as fertilisers. AgriWASE is a modular, containerised solution that can treat 2 tonnes of organic waste a day. Our patent-pending technology treats waste up to 10 times faster and generating 40% more energy than AD. The accelerated performance comes from our novel electrode technology that accelerates the breakdown of organics. The biogas from AgriWASE is energy-rich, increasing methane concentrations from 50-60% to 70-80%. AgriWASE has a low ROI (<3 Years) and provides multiple benefits over conventional AD including the reduced footprint and associated civil costs, the increased energy generation and higher waste removal rates. Through developing a system that can remotely operate and control AgriWASE, WASE and their customers will be able to dramatically reduce site visits, helping the environment thought cut emissions and enabling both parties to more effectively social distance.

no public description

The project is testing a novel biodigester technology in humanitarian settings, developed by WASE, a Brunel University London (BUL) spinout. The system treats human waste (and other organic matter) producing biogas with a higher methane concentration compared to traditional AD systems. Other byproducts are water and sludge rich in nutrients that can be used to irrigate wood lots. WASE's EMR solution outperforms traditional biodigesters on several fronts, reducing processing time and plant size while generating more energy. The project is structured in three subsequent feasibility trials, with this being the second stage. The first phase (ongoing with World Food Programme (WFP) funds) is assessing the technical performance of a prototype system in the controlled environment of UNHRD, a Humanitarian Procurement Centre managed by WFP, in Brindisi, IT. In this project, the system will be tested in Dadaab, Kenya, in a WFP camp and will look at construction solutions that use local materials and recognise the influence of contextual factors on performance and usability. The third and final phase before commercialisation (beyond the scope of this project), will test the system with beneficiaries in a WFP school and/or camp to refine viable business models.

There has been significant investment into solar panels and biogas digesters within Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet the poorest members of off-grid communities remain unable to afford these assets, and are prohibited from accessing such energy sources, whilst those with assets have an energy supply that exceeds the capacity of their current storage options and/or their own consumption needs. Modifying existing techniques and technologies for combined application in a new context, will create opportunities for business model innovation. This will enable surplus energy generated to be packaged into bitesize amounts for distribution via virtual, rather than physical, grids or transferred to other productive uses. As a result, the Smart Energy Exchange Network (SEEN), will facilitate greater entry level access to low carbon, energy supplies for those at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid as well as transformative change at a community level through the provision of new energy services (refrigeration, milling, irrigation).