Alps Ecoscience awarded UK government funding for green fuel development research
Alps Ecoscience UK Ltd has received UK government funding for its green fuel development programme as part of £19 million awarded to British entrepreneurs to develop greener technologies. Thirty-seven British companies, including small and medium sized enterprises and start-ups, will get a share of the £19 million Energy Entrepreneurs Fund (EEF9) through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP). The money will drive forward their innovations to reduce carbon emissions, develop clean energy and improve energy efficiency in people’s homes.
Alps Ecoscience’ (Alps) EEF9 project seeks to create an innovative pre-treatment process for organic waste. Named, SMASH-BIO TECHNOLOGY, it utilises the organic waste as a feedstock to produce bioethanol; a green fuel and a raw material for bio-hydrogen.
The SMASH-BIO mechanism can be used to extract more energy out of an existing feedstock or can be applied to complex or fibrous organic wastes, which are traditionally very difficult to break down, introducing this as a new, previously inaccessible feedstock. After the bioethanol is extracted, the remaining organic slurry can be used as a feedstock to produce biogas, an alternative to natural gas from fossil fuel.
The SMASH-BIO project will improve the economics of bioethanol production by processing a cheap, problematic feedstock in a novel way to make a valuable output and will reduce the biogenic carbon emissions associated with this waste stream.
The process can also replace energy crops, such as maize and sugar, usually grown for bioethanol production. This will help to mitigate the biodiversity, land use and land erosion problems associated with growing these crops. This method of bioethanol production is potentially carbon negative and will reduce the need to produce ethanol from petroleum-based resources.
Using the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) will assist in diverting waste from landfill or incineration which is a significant contributor to carbon emitted into the atmosphere. It also adds to the portfolio of onshore green energy resource, contributing to UK energy security and sustainability.
The new Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, Grant Shapps said:
“The UK is a nation of innovators, and this funding will help the next generation of energy pioneers develop cheap and green technologies of the future. This will not only deliver more green jobs and cheaper energy but also create world-leading solutions to help us reach net zero and economic growth.”
Managing Director Mike Platt, said:
“This award recognises Alps Ecoscience as an innovator in biological engineering and enables us to develop and accelerate the commercialisation of our green technology. We appreciate the support the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero is providing to UK’s energy entrepreneurs, thank you.”
The EEF9 grant is the second funding award Alps Ecoscience has received in the last twelve months. In 2022, Alps participated in phase 1 of the Hydrogen BECCS programme. Successfully developing a novel technology for the biological production of Hydrogen using Dark Fermentation. The first phase of this project closed in January 2023, with final reports being published soon. The second phase of the programme is now underway with participants submitting funding applications to demonstrate their Hydrogen technology at scale. Read more here.. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hydrogen-beccs-innovation-programme
For more information about Alps Ecoscience, visit www.alpsecoscience.co.uk
About Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
Leading economy-wide transformation by backing enterprise and long-term growth, generating cheaper, cleaner, homegrown energy, and unleashing the UK as a science superpower through innovation.
This funding has been made available from the government’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, which aims to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative clean energy technologies and processes through the 2020s and 2030s.
About Alps Ecoscience UK ltd
Alps Ecoscience is a biological engineering company. We help convert organic waste into green fuels to maximise sustainable energy generation and minimise carbon emissions. We support the entire Anaerobic Digestion lifecycle from analysis and feasibility, commissioning, and optimisation. We undertake project work as well as operate managed service contracts and conduct research across the UK and Ireland.
Alps was founded by Mike Platt and Wade McRoberts in the UK in 2017. Their aim has been to develop sustainable ways of processing waste into a resource for energy, biochemical manufacture, and soil improvement.
Innovation through research
Alps Ecoscience is perpetually curious. Our research facility delivers innovation in green fuel production, nutrient recovery, and emissions reduction. Current projects include contracts from the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero to develop novel technologies for the Dark Fermentation of bio-hydrogen from OFMSW and to extract bioethanol from organic waste. We collaborate with academia and industry in equal measure.
We focus our efforts on developing ways organic waste can be processed to replace hydrocarbons and lower primary resource usage. In so doing Alps Ecoscience believe that, “we can change the world together” and preserve our precious, life-giving resources for future generations.
Please contact Alan Beesley, Commercial Director at Alps Ecoscience for additional information on any aspect of green fuel production.
