by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Celtic Renewables raises $2M, partners with Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant
Celtic Renewables, the Edinburgh-based biofuel company, has signed an agreement with Europe’s foremost biotechnology pilot facility to undergo next stage testing of its process to turn whisky by-products into biofuel that can power current vehicles.
The partnership, which will allow the company to develop its technology at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP) in Ghent, has been made possible by second round funding worth £1.2million ($2M), including more than £800,000 from the UK Government, to help meet its ambition of growing a new £100 million-a-year industry in the UK.
Celtic Renewables, a spin-out company from the Biofuel Research Centre at Edinburgh Napier University, has already proved the concept of producing biobutanol from draff – the sugar-rich kernels of barley which are soaked in water to facilitate the fermentation process necessary for whisky production – and pot ale, the yeasty liquid that is heated during distillation.
It will spend the next few months seeking to replicate work done in its Scottish laboratory at an industrial scale.
It is the first company to trial biobutanol technology at the Belgian demonstrator pilot facility and also the first Scottish company to sign a partnership with BBEPP . READ MORE