Enzymatic Biofuel Cells for Renewable Energy Generation in Wastewater Treatment

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Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK

£243,400

May 31, 2023

Nov. 30, 2023

**The Problem**

Climate change threatens UK and world ecosystems and economies with consequences such as large-scale drought, famine, mass extinction and mass poverty. There is an urgent need to prevent average global temperatures from rising more than 1.5° C above pre-industrial levels. This has led to government-backed strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050\. Wales is especially at risk of flooding due to climate change and has adopted more ambitious Net Zero targets than most of the UK.

Over 7000 water treatment plants exist in the UK, which consume on average 2800 GWh of energy per year, resulting in 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. Water companies need to significantly reduce their Scope 2 emissions to achieve decarbonisation goals. Existing renewable energy technologies such as anaerobic digesters and wind turbines are expensive, difficult to maintain, and require large plots of land. Moreover, current renewables solutions, even in combination, usually do not help achieve more than 20-50% independence from fossil fuel-based energy purchased from the grid. This means that new, economical renewable energy solutions are required to help wastewater and other companies achieve energy self-sufficiency.

**The Solution**

**Pipeline Organics Ltd's project relative to this grant is a prototype renewable energy device for demonstration to customers. Our prototype represents a new class of product which generates electricity from liquid organic waste, such as can be found in the wastewater treatment process.** The product can be rapidly produced and deployed due to simple, scalable manufacturing methods. It is a minimally invasive, plug-and-play solution that is easy to install in existing infrastructure, and does not require the large land and financial investments of other classes of renewables. It is innovative in its design and application, and can be adapted to many operational environments, including brewery, dairy and soft drinks. Demonstration of the operational prototype in wastewater treatment as a result of this project will allow Pipeline Organics to gain industry confidence and seek further funding to scale up renewable energy solution production and deployment. We envision that this R&D project to lead to an early operational prototype at Technological Readiness Level 5 will lead to pilot projects with large wastewater treatment companies. Our ambition is to use our success to gain advocates and operational data in the wastewater industry, after which our product's scope and application can be expanded to additional target industries.