Developing Cascading Biomethane Biochemicals and Biofertiliser Systems for a Circular Bioeconomy in Ireland (CABBBIE)

Project Description

Ireland must transition to a completely decarbonised economy by 2050 as stated in Ireland’s 2021 Climate Action Plan. To sustainably decarbonise the economy, the production of food, energy and materials must transition to a circular bioeconomy from the current linear “take, make and dispose” fossil-based economy. In a circular bioeconomy, upgraded biogas (biomethane) from anaerobic digestion (AD) can replace natural gas and diesel, and decarbonise the hard to abate sectors of industry, heavy transport, and agriculture. Photosynthetic biogas upgrading using microalgae can improve the economics and environmental sustainability of the biomethane production process by value-added co-production of bio-products (from micro-algae) with biomethane in a Cascading Algal Biomethane Biorefinery System (CABBS). Such systems would bring industry to rural farming communities. However, CABBS is a nascent technology and significant research is required to optimise and commercialise the process. This research, therefore, aims to advance CABBS towards commercialisation for an adaptive, flexible and secure Irish bioeconomy by 2050 by:

1) studying the detailed performance and scale-up of the biogas upgrading process utilising microalgae;

2) selecting and investigating microalgae biorefinery of appropriate microalgae species specifically suitable for the Irish climate;

3) performing multi-criteria decision analyses on environmental and socio-economic performances to select optimal process configurations and co-products of CABBS;

4) establishing business models, policy requirements and roadmaps to enable replication of CABBS across territorial contexts in Ireland.